Yellow (and beautiful) like the sun: best wishes rz!

We are in the late 1980s, a time when sports cars produced in limited and numbered series had awakened the interest of enthusiasts, not just Alfa Romeo. 

The SZ coupe, designed by the Zagato coachbuilder, had followed precisely this trend: from there to the launch of a roadster version the step was short, in fact very short.

Thus was born the RZ, Roadster Zagato, a so-called "instant classic" that immediately became a collector's car. It was produced in 278 examples, 241 made by the parent company and 37 by Zagato, all numbered with a plaque placed near the gearshift.

The one you see at the Museum, for example, is number 106 🙂 🙂

andrea zagato photographed for a special published by giorgio nada publisher on all the historic 1919-2014 models of the Milanese coachbuilder (the special can be found in the cozzi.lab)

below, andrea zagato at the museum at an event dedicated to the sz (with which we raced the 1000 miles!).

Some technical data. Three colors are available: Alfa Red with cream interior, black with burgundy interior, and of course yellow, like the example you see at the Museum, with black interior.

Did you know. Three more were produced in a metallic silver color, truly futuristic. 

Engine. 2959 cm3 displacement, with six V-cylinders with electronic injection and a powerplant that delivered 210 hp at 6200 rpm (a little low, perhaps, for a car of this type). The soft top opening mechanism would later be found on the 1995 Spider, with manual opening and springs. Leather seats and trim, from a surprisingly un-80s style. Reduced luggage, of course: it fits just the spare tire and little else. 

At the Museum we are doubly fortunate: to house an authentic sunshine-yellow RZ in the collection and to have an archive, the Cozzi.Lab, full of vintage cues, documents and magazines.

Among these magazines, as you know, we also have the collection of Quadrifoglio, the Alfista magazine . The 1992 issues, which we leafed through together last month, devoted entire pages to the RZ, launched that very year!

Here we discover a curious thing: the article reports Alfa Romeo's intention to produce 350 examples of the spider, although we know that then only 278 were actually produced.

From the article we also find out (but true enthusiasts like us, let's face it, already knew) that the RZ is the first spider, indeed roadster, created by Alfa Romeo with the "oldest bodywork in Milan, or with the eyes of today's Greater Milan."

We love our yellow RZ, which looks like something straight out of a Japanese manga or one of those nostalgic 90s TV shows!

Are you coming to see it too?