Zagato Has Done Its Thing With The Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione
Zagato has always existed at the weirder end of the Italian car design spectrum, and one of its latest efforts probably won’t do anything to change that. Revealed over the weekend at Villa d’Este and based on the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione, meet the 8C DoppiaCoda Zagato.
‘DoppiaCoda’ may sound like a very strong coffee, but it translates as ‘double tail’. There’s no shape-shifting trickery going on here, though, like there was with last year’s Alpine A110-based AGTZ Twin Tail with its detachable rear end.
Instead, the name refers to the fact that the DoppiaCoda is supposed to combine two rear end treatments that have shown up again and again in Zagato’s designs over the years: an abruptly cut-off ‘Kammtail’, and a soft, rounded rear end.
Those two concepts may seem entirely at odds with one another, but Zagato has… sort of pulled it off? The DoppiaCoda’s rear end is sort of rounded, but also has a distinctive flat edge when viewed from above.
It hasn’t left the rest of the 8C alone, either. It has new, more aggressive air intakes up front, and the reworked headlights somewhat resemble the ones seen on the original 4C. Elsewhere, Zagato’s signature double-bubble roof is present and correct, and it’s also done away with the rear windscreen. Take that, Polestar 4.
The DoppioCoda is supposed to reference the legacy of the original straight-eight powered 8C, produced between 1931 and 1939. Built for both racing and road use, these cars wore many different bodies, plenty of which were styled by Zagato.
There’s no mention of any mechanical changes to the DoppiaCoda, meaning it’s likely powered by the 8C Competizione’s standard 4.7-litre, 444bhp Ferrari/Maserati V8, sending power to the rear wheels via a six-speed automated manual paddleshift ’box (unless whoever’s commissioned it sends it to Officine Fioravanti for a proper manual swap).
It’s not the first 8C Competizione to get rebodied, with a small handful having previously been transformed into the Disco Volante by fellow Milanese design house Touring Superleggera. Does either do the job for you better than the gorgeous original?
The first full sentence spoken by an infant Mike was a review of the ride quality of a Volvo 850. It was “Daddy’s car goes bumpy-bump on a bumpy road,” so would probably need proofreading a bit, but it was a start.
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