SZ’s – Giuliettas

November 16, 2016

Market 549: SZ 00072 – project auctioned in France

Update November 16, 2016: The process of democratic capitalism has spoken – this car sold for 288,000 Euros; $307, 414 Trump Box at time of writing. Occasional correspondent Stuart shares this insight: “From bitter experience I can tell you that to restore an SZ properly you have to de-clench all the aluminium panels as there is electrolytic action between the unprotected steel tubing and the skin of the car. Leaving original panels in place is not really an option. And that is only the start!

How much all this costs is anyone’s guess but it will be a significant sum….the real question is will it come close the value put on an SZ by FJ?”

I know some collectors who have salaried staff maintaining and restoring (how do I get that gig??) their investments, maybe the cost is simply a craftsman’s wages for a year.

November 10, 2016: Giulietta Sprint Zagato (SZ) 10126*00072. Contrasting considerably with market 548 (and estimated to be considerably less expensive) is this project SZ that was auctioned in France by Aguttes on November 5, 2016. I hunted around for a result, but have yet to find one. Anyone here catch it?

The car has an interesting early history, but has spent most of it’s life waiting for recovery from a wreck in 1968. An SZ in project form is a rarity these days, most having been sniffed out by clever car hunters. Taking on the task of seeing an SZ project through to completion is not for everyone – there are parts needed that simply must be produced from scratch – that might as well be made out of gold.

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Not your average grocery-getter. I’m curious to see the other side of the nose where repairs were made. If the nose was wrecked, where did the trim seen here come from? Wasn’t there a car found in Caracas and listed on ebay out of Los Angeles a decade ago that looked like this?

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November 11, 2016

Market 550: SZ 00102 – another fine specimen

Giulietta Sprint Zagato (SZ) 10126*00102, 00120. Paul Russell and Company (thanks for pointing them out Frank) have on offer the George Fogg III delivered SZ, one of only 6 delivered new to US based customers. Provenance is extensive as one would expect, but that can probably be said of pretty much all SZ’s – even the fakes! I say this not to diminish the history and individuality of a car like this, but SZ’s are like presidents – even those of lesser accomplishment have stories to tell. Price is $495,000 (about $275 per pound), soberly reasonable compared to the other three I’ve had the honor of mentioning this month. Four SZ’s is just under 2% of SZ production. Have I mentioned all four are red?

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I see a lot of Miata’s and the like with the yellow tow hook and arrow. It’s cool because of cars like this. Headlight rims are aluminum along with most of the rest of the car. I bet Zagato weighed tires before settling on a set.

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November 8, 2016

Market 548: SZ 00113 – exceptional

Giulietta Sprint Zagato (SZ) 10126*00113, 00120*00633 completed January 26, 1961. $775,000 delivered to the fine folks at Fantasy Junction will buy you this fully restored, ready for the morning commute SZ. It has more than the usual SZ provenance, coming from the collection of the late Martin Swig who used it as it was intended to be used, and took very good care of it, while originally shipping to Libero Liberati, one of Italy’s most famous drivers (and a national hero) in the late 1950’s – early 1960’s.

sz-seaside

Nice seaside overcast shot of a lovely car. Zagato rewrote a masterpiece almost entirely and yet managed to pay perfect homage to the original while producing a masterpiece of it’s own. Imagine if they had made 200,000 of these instead of about 160.

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October 26, 2016

Market 544: Sprint Zagato 10126 00207: other-worldly transport

Sprint Zagato 10126*00207, 00120*00634 (probably original), Body 634. This amazing piece of functional art is available now from the good folks at Fantasy Junction for a mere $585,000. With a generally accepted production run of 44 examples, the second series Giulietta Sprint Zagato, colloquially known as the Coda Tronca for practical reasons, is the third of what I imagine being four time-lapse frames. Frame one is the original run of Sprint Veloce Zagato one-offs that inspired frame two: the first series Sprint Zagato Coda Tonda. Frame three is the series represented by this car, and frame four is the Straight out of science-fiction Tubolare Zagato or TZ if you’re the sort to worry about pronouncing foreign words correctly. I suppose frame five would be the Tipo 33, but that fellow is its own can of beautiful worms with quite a few interesting permutations to explore.

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Behold: the rarest production Giulietta by production number – and also my personal favorite. I doubt I will ever own one, or even drive one for that matter, but aspirations being necessary for a healthy human brain and work ethic, I’ll set my sights here. A regular Giulietta Sprint looks BIG next to one of these.

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December 31, 2012

2012 SZ and SVZ market review

I realize SVZ’s should probably be grouped with Sprints and Sprint Veloce’s, but the hand of Zagato and the hefty price tags makes me think they are better grouped with SZ’s. There are never many of either changing hands, likely the result of there being 250 or so of both models combined potentially existing world-wide. There do seem to always be a few changing hands every year -and a few more on offer as evidenced in this post. I still think a late Coda Tronca SZ is my ultimate Giulietta. Market 418 was SZ 10126*00051, a nice one that sold at auction in Monaco for $340,000.

Market 379 was this Sprint Zagato Coda Tronca -one of a very few made, and whose number I never caught, with an asking price of 270,000 Euro’s -about $356,000.

Market 380 was an unidentified Sprint Zagato with a 300,000 Euro asking price – about $396,000.

Market 384 was Sprint Veloce Zagato 750 E 1493* 06184, a stunning example of a SVZ, selling for 414,400 Euro’s – about $546,000!

May 16, 2012

Market 418: SZ 00051 at RM in Monaco

Update 5/16/12: This car sold for 257,600 Euro’s or about $340,000. I would be tempted to call this a bargain. With supplies this limited, and nearly the usability of a modern car, these can’t help but get more expensive.

**Giulietta Sprint Zagato 1012600051, 0012000175.** This SZ is going to be auctioned by RM on May 12th along side some other interesting Giulietta’s. Auction estimate is €240,000 – €280,000, ‘only’ about 3 times what a top SS goes for at auction, where SZ’s used to be 10 – 12 times more expensive. If you don’t believe SS values are in a bubble, then you should consider SZ’s a bargain, since they only made about 200 of them. I don’t know SZ’s like I do Sprints, but this car looks good to me.

Does indeed look amazing. It’s important to remember that while a lot of the mechanical parts are in common with some other Giulietta’s, the coachwork has to be restored or hand-made replaced and most of these cars saw a decade of hard use before becoming desirable collectors items. Note the jack point covers in aluminum. Nice touch.

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February 7, 2012

Market 380: restored Sprint Zagato in Italy

Giulietta Sprint Zagato. Sharing warehouse space with yesterdays SZCT in Italy, and also on offer on Autoscout is this very clean Sprint Zagato. Asking price is €300,000, a lot of money for a little car, but these have always been 2 to 3 times the cost of a Sprint Veloce Lightweight, so maybe comparatively speaking they have lost a little ground. Not enough of these change hands to form a basis for a sound cost analysis, so the money has to be relative to your ability to buy it. As with yesterdays SZCT, I’m far form expert so will reserve my commentary to appreciation for design -always a safe ground to stand on with Zagato products of the 50’s and 60’s.

A very potent race car in its day. Short, low and light. Zagato had a head start on the design since they had converted crashed cars into Sprint Veloce Zagato’s for customers, with the final iterations being VERY similar in appearance to the Alfa sanctioned SZ seen here. Period alloy wheels?

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February 6, 2012

Market 379: Sprint Zagato Coda Tronca in Italy

Giulietta Sprint Zagato ‘Coda Tronca’. Elmar sent me a link to this car on Autoscout, for sale out of Italy for €270,000. They made about 200 SZ’s, the last handful of which were ‘Coda Tronca’ (CT is how I abbreviate it other places) with the Kamm tail. I have no authority to say anything about these cars, so will keep the commentary to a lot of ‘oohs’ and ‘aaahs’. Anyone know the VIN of this car?

A handsome critter. Note they figured out how to incorporate a wind deflector into the hood. I wonder if it also provides pressure relief for the engine compartment like the louvers on an SS hood? Helps keep the front end from getting light at speed. That nose is like a big egg; white, bulbous and extremely fragile. No parallel parking allowed in a car like this.

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October 29, 2011

Market 137: SVZCT 10126*00184 pretty please???

Update 10/29/11: Auction has been pulled. Almost certainly a scam.

Update 10/29/11: This car is on eBay right now out of Morrison CO. Picture are the same as those marketing the car at Fantasy Junction in 2009.

Update 4/9/11: This charmer is going to be auctioned by RM at Villa d’Este on May 21st. Still my favorite! I just noticed I don’t have a register for Zagato variants and I don’t have many pictures. Anyone want to share their collection?
Seems to have been treated well since the last visit to these pages.
Originally posted 8/1/09: Giulietta Sprint Veloce Zagato II ‘Coda Tronca’ 10126*00184. That’s one mouthful of a name. This desirable object is probably parked beside the subject of Market 136 in the Fantasy Junction showroom. For the $355,000 asking price of this jewel you could buy two of those Lightweight Sprints and throw in the Fulvia Zagato with the remainder and still pay most of the tax and reg.
Austere is a good word for these -at least the ‘markedly simple’ part of the definition. The beautiful form of a shape derived solely to fulfill a function. Light weight, low drag coefficient, low center of gravity and yet unmistakeably a Zagato creation. This particular model, of which so few were made, is possibly my favorite.
Continue reading “Market 137: SVZCT 10126*00184 pretty please???”

January 4, 2010

SZ SVZ and other rarities Market review 2009

Below are the cars that sell in such small numbers that it doesn’t make sense have a separate review for each. Still in order of least to most expensive with in most cases just the asking price identified. I’ll try to find enough Giulietta Sedans and SZ’s this year to have reviews for each next year.

Market 94 was this 10109 Giulietta TI for 750 pounds, about $1200. Rusty, complete and cheap. Continue reading “SZ SVZ and other rarities Market review 2009”