1992 Alfa Romeo SZ Zagato

A fabulous example of 'Il Mostro'. Hand built by Zagato. Less than 1,000 produced

Sold new in Germany in 1992. Imported to the UK by our vendor in 2000

Only two owners. Current mileage 69,025 km. In storage 2004-2015

Fully recommissioned in 2015 with a new cambelt etc. Fresh MoT pre-sale

Very collectable This rare and highly individual supercar is much sought after.

Reviving its tradition of building special-bodied Alfa Romeos, including the original SZ (Sprint Zagato) competition coupe of the late 1950s, Carrozzeria Zagato unveiled its outrageous new SZ at the 1989 Geneva Salon. Assembled at the Zagato works at Terrazano di Rho, the SZ was a joint project that also involved the styling departments of both Alfa Romeo and its parent company, FIAT.

The cars' original works designation was 'ES 30' (Experimental Sports 3.0-litre) but soon became known within the company as 'Il Mostro' (The Monster). The aggressive-looking, two-seater coupe dispensed with the rounded styling and aluminium-alloy coachwork hitherto associated with Zagato's high-performance Alfas in favour of a dramatically angular bodyshell crafted in lightweight moulded plastic, alloy roof excepted, which was bonded to the floor pan of the existing Alfa 75. Lessons learned from the 75's IMSA racing programme influenced the SZ's suspension geometry, endowing the car with superb handling and road-holding, with some test drivers recording lateral cornering forces of up to 1.4G, which is a lot!

Powering the SZ to its highly respectable 152mph top speed was a 210bhp version of Alfa's superb 3.0-litre four-cam V6, widely recognised as one of the finest power plants of its day. Despite its somewhat rectangular appearance, the SZ was quite slippery with a very low drag coefficient of 0.30 Cd, the product of many hours spent refining the design in FIAT's wind tunnel. Demand for the 1,000 SZs scheduled for series production greatly exceeded supply, and today this rare and highly individual supercar is much sought after.

The SZ was only ever manufactured in left-hand drive form, and this lovely example dates from 1992 when it was registered to its first owner in Germany. The car was imported to the UK by our vendor in July 2000, with the odometer indicating 67,000 km, and he has owned it ever since. With the Alfa, there is German paperwork confirming one owner (in Germany) and that documentation shares the history file with UK MoTs for 2000,2001,2002, 2003 and 2004 when the SZ was put into storage at 68,888 km. In 2015, it was time for the SZ to come out to play again and at that point, it was fully recommissioned with a new cambelt. The current mileage is 69,025 km and the car will have a fresh MoT before the sale.

The Alfa is accompanied by all the usual service information, MoTs. and invoices etc. and additionally there is a rare, hardbacked-linen, original ES30 brochure and a copy of a Sunday Times Magazine with the SZ proudly featured on the front.

This is a wonderful opportunity to acquire one of these ultra-rare Zagato-built Alfa Romeos that can only become increasingly collectable.