Il Factory Mostro
Like a broken record, we’ve been telling you for years now that the Alfa Romeo SZ, with its postmodern Zagato design and the highly modified racing version of Giuseppe Busso’s 3.0-litre V6 engine, is one of the key collectors cars to buy (and keep) from the 1990s. Powerful and well-balanced, the Alfa Romeo SZ was destined to be taken to the track, so in 1993 the SZ Trophy was born as a one-make race. Of the 1,036 coupés built, only 13 have been converted for the racing series and – according to Messina Classic – this factory works racing car was built for the 1993 Monaco Grand Prix VIP race. Track-tested in period by Walter Röhrl, Karl Wendlinger and Joachim Winkelhock, this special Alfa Romeo Sprint Zagato Trofeo is one of the most remarkable road-legal race cars of its time.
Blue as the Gulf of Monaco
Gulf Racing’s blue-and-orange paint is one of the most iconic racing liveries of all times – and certainly one of the most over-used, as it can be found on pretty much everything from delivery vans to socks. Saying that, the inflationary use of the Gulf livery has somehow made us forget what an amazing shade of blue the racing team did actually pick. So when this mind-blowing 992 Porsche 911 GT3 RS from Monaco popped up in the Classic Driver Market this week, we couldn’t think of a better colour to commission as a PTS shade (an add-on worth an additional 18k euros). Euqipped with the Weissach Package and many other must-have extras, the car has already covered 13,500 kilometres since it was built in May 2023. Even in terms of driving pleasure, the sky seems to be the limit for this pale blue machine.
En Plein Air
With spring in sight, we’re starting to plan the year’s first trips to the beach – and to discuss the right car for the occasion. While the most elegant waterfront shuttles were built in Italy (think Fiat Jolly or the recently features Autobianchi Giovani), the French have done a good job in this Mediterranean sub-genre of classic and contemporary car culture. The Citroën Méhari might be the jetset’s first choice to shuffle around Cap d’Antibes with time-lapse speed, but we feel that this 1990 Renault 4 Plen Air with its funky stance, cut-off roof, blue seats and orange wooden bumpers offers a cool and charismatic alternative.
Meno è meglio
There is something temptingly modest about the Ferrari 206 Dino, especially when painted in silver instead of the stereotypical red. It radiates a certain functional beauty, an airy allure which can also be found in the prototype of an Eames fiberglas chair, Ed Ruscha’s gas station and swimming pool paintings or a mid-century modernist Case Study House built by Richard Neutra. Appropriately, this Ferrari Classiche-certified, matching numbers 206 GT Dino has spent more than two decades of its life in Southern California, where elegant minimalism has always been adored, before finding its way back to good old Europe. Only 152 Ferrari 206 GT Dino were built, and this early example with its subtle ‘Argento 106-E-1’ paint and Similpelle Nera 161 seats with the iconic Panno Bleu inserts speaks to us like none of its unobtainable Colombo-V12 siblings ever could.
It’s a complicated!
If you were about to illustrate a book about the creative chaos of the Italian car industry in the 1970s and 1980s with its constant ownership changes, weird synergies and wild customizations, this Innocenti De Tomaso would make for a great cover car. Since the 1960s, Innocenti had produced Italian counterparts to the Mini with great success, until the brand was bought by British Motor Corporation BMC. But things did not work out, and Innocenti soon went back to Italy into the hands of Alejandro de Tomaso, who launched a Bertone-designed sports version of the Mini-based pocket rocket in the Mid-1970s.
In 1984, the car you see here was the subject of an experimental conversion by a workshop in Bassano del Grappa, which transformed the original engine into a Turbo powered Diesel, following the success of the Golf TD of those years. After its construction, it was used as a Workshop Van, offering specialized assistance for stranded De Tomasos and Maseratis – a rather demanding job. While the car is offered unrestored, we feel it could be a very cool addition to any collection of 1970s and 1980s Italian sportscars.
