The arrival of the Alfa 8C Competizione sports car has stunned automotive enthusiasts’ across the globe since it was unveiled in full production specification late September at the Paris Mondial de l’Automobile. However just over a decade and a half ago Alfa Romeo’s last exotic limited edition sports car, the Alfa SZ, had just as big an impact, when it made its debut.

Styled by famed Italian design house Zagato, this car was controversial from the off, with a shape that divided opinion it incorporated advanced technology of its day and used a specially-tuned version of the glorious Arese-built Alfa V6 engine. To celebrate this dramatic sports car, Autodelta will present the Alfa SZ, alongside its even rarer sister, the convertible Alfa RZ, at the MPH Classic show which opens at Earls Court in London today.

The Alfa SZ was one of the cars to take part in the Autodelta European Tour 2006 during September, the actual car being an Autodelta supercharged example (car no 10) it will be presented on Autodelta’s stand in the classic section of MPH06 which is dedicated to the recent Tour. As well as the Ferrari 348 TB (car no 05) and the De Tomaso Pantera (car no 07), the stand will play a 30 minute highlight film of the Tour, which took a group of high-performance sports cars on a 6-day trip from London to Monte Carlo via Holland, Germany and Switzerland.

”The Alfa SZ is a genuine Alfa Romeo through-and-through,” says Autodelta’s Jano Djelalian, “it’s fast and uncompromising in every area, a true standard setter of its day. Alfa Romeo has never had much truck with going the conventional route and the awesome SZ certainly fits this criteria. The SZ is also a car Autodelta cut its teeth on so it is fitting that we will show it- and the even rarer RZ- at MPH06 this year, especially with the Alfa 8C Competizione now taking the Alfa sports car theme forward.” The Alfa SZ destined for MPH Classic this week belongs to long-time Autodelta customer Mladen Cvorovic. As well as being supercharged by Autodelta it features a complement of improvements, including 4-pot Brembo brake calipers and a full stainless steel exhaust.

Alfa SZ - History

The Geneva Motor Show in 1989 saw the first appearance of a new and controversially styled Alfa Romeo, the SZ (or ES30). Designed in-house by Alfa Romeo, it was effectively a heavily tuned 75 chassis and mechanicals with a new bodyshell. Production was carried out by Zagato, where around 1000 cars were built. The RZ (a cabriolet) was a pure Zagato project, and only 241 examples were produced. The latter shared few panels with the SZ and was some 100kgs heavier due to the strengthening required.

The 3 litre (2959cc) V6 engine from the 75 was tuned to give a total of 210bhp whilst the suspension was based around the Gp A Alfa 75 racing cars and effectively coped with the extra performance. The torsion bars were replaced by coil over units, and uniball joints replaced all the rubber. A hydraulic system which can be controlled from the cockpit can vary the ride height of the car (supposedly included to aid the crossing of speed-bumps and the like). The brakes were also taken from the 75 but enlarged. Other mechanical parts such as the final drive were modified 75 items.

The bodywork was developed extensively in the windtunnel, with a final drag coefficient of 0.30 as well as very low lift. All the body panels were made from a composite material ('Modar' resin plus glass fibre) with the exception of the roof (which was aluminium) and the tailgate spoiler (which was full carbon fibre). These panels were then bonded to the steel structure which retained the 75 wheelbase.

Autodelta and the Alfa SZ

The Alfa SZ is a car close to the hearts of Autodelta’s engineering team, a sports car that they have spend much time tuning to the performance edge and developing dynamically. All of the thousand cars were left hand drive. Of those that found their way to the UK, the chances are that Autodelta has worked on any one of them. In terms of maintenance and tuning, SZ drivers naturally turn to Autodelta to make their limited edition Alfa Romeos even more exciting. There are no less than nine 3.5 litre Autodelta SZs worldwide - specially created to give the car muscle to match its looks. In fact, there is even a unique right hand drive version SZ, custom-made by Autodelta for export as a mirror-image to be identical in every way to the original 'left-hooker' from the factory.

Autodelta Alfa SZ 3.5

The Alfa Romeo SZ has become a legend due to its superb handling and original styling. For those who seek more performance out of the original 210 bhp 3.0 V6 engine, look no further than Autodelta. Autodelta offer two high-output engines, with the first 3.5-litre series being launched back in 1992. With gas-flowed cylinder heads, the fuel-injected SZ powerplant is bored out to 3.5 litres and fitted with forged pistons. The compression ratio is hereby increased and the moving parts are dynamically balanced. The ECU is also remapped to give improved ignition and fuelling, and removing the catalytic converter give more horsepower. A high-flow air filter completes the conversion to boost power output typically to 256 bhp at 6,200 rpm before the rev limiter cuts in at 6,800 rpm. An impressive torque curve with a very flat band of over 230 lb ft between 3,250 and 5,500 rpm results in tarmac eating performance. To date nine of these 3.5 litre SZ conversions have been made for customers worldwide.
 

Autodelta Alfa SZ Supercharged

In 2004 Autodelta did it again, this by offering a bolt-on Rotrex centrifugal supercharger conversion (fully reversible) boosting the engine via a chargecooler to produce a very impressive 250 bhp conversion. For those who want it all there is even a 270 bhp engine on offer. This propels the SZ from 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h) in 5.8 seconds and endows it with massive mid-range torque.

Autodelta SZ Suspension & Drivetrain

In order to match the performance of the 3.5-litre engine conversion, Autodelta also improve the braking, handling and power-to-road transplant of the SZ and RZ. Improved braking is optimally realised through fitting Autodelta's custom-made front Brembo brake calipers with larger ventilated discs with alloy centre bells. Alternatively, Autodelta offer high-performance cross-drilled brake discs to be used with the original SZ / RZ brake calipers. Rear cross drilled discs are also offered alongside. A heavy-duty clutch, which results in less slippage under hard acceleration, is especially suitable for any modified SZ or RZ. Finally, a modified anti-roll bar improves the handling dynamics of the car.

Autodelta SZ Right Hand Drive

The challenge: to convert a brand-new left-hand-drive Alfa Romeo SZ to right-hand-drive, identical in every way - right down to the minutest detail.  Being based in Zimbabwe, where (as here in the UK) they drive on the left, the owner preferred to have the tiller on his Alfa Red LHD SZ on the other side. Only a thousand Alfa Romeo SZs were ever made (around 1990), and every single one of them were left-hookers. But for this particular customer, it was a matter of either 'right or nowt'! Historically, there are many cases documented of left-to-right Alfa conversions undertaken by other firms, notably on Spiders dating back to the early 60s, and more recently, 3.0 V6 Spiders, although these have generally tended to leave a lot to be desired. For one thing, they tend to incorporate "short cuts" that deviate from the original design adversely affecting handling and ride, not to mention build-quality.

By contrast, when Autodelta's Jano Djelalian agreed to take on the SZ project, he emphasised he would do so on one condition: that the end result would be virtually indistinguishable from the factory version in terms of accuracy and craftsmanship. Fortunately, the customer shared this purist view. On this mutual understanding, work began in earnest at Autodelta.

The first step was to disassemble the dashboard, taking great care to leave the wiring looms intact, ready to be re-installed precisely as before (but on the opposite side). Next, a "mirror image" (right hand drive) dashboard jig, shaped to follow the exact contours and symmetry of the original equipment version, was fashioned out of timber - a lengthy, time-consuming exercise requiring extensive experience in traditional carpentry and wood-turning skills. Once the dashboard and provision for the instrumentation placement had been determined, attention turned to the centre console and radio housing which had to be subtly re-angled to face the "new" driving position, again using a specially-crafted wooden template. Wherever carbon fibre-style trim featured originally, this was replaced with genuine carbon fibre to maintain authenticity. Steps were then taken to relocate the steering column, and to re-site the accelerator, brake and clutch pedals. Naturally, this called for precise surgery to the vehicle's transmission and power train to allow for these major alterations.

Detail is everything to Autodelta, which is why the conversion extended to those less obvious areas so often overlooked, but which overall are equally important. For example, all materials for re-trimming were carefully selected to match o/e in grain, stitching, shades and patterns. Even the windscreen wipers had to be facing the opposite direction. And the exterior door mirror lenses were changed to allow for the revised field-of-view required for the vehicles "new" near-side and offside. All in all, it took a thousand man-hours for Autodelta to complete this remarkable project, which Jano Djelalian describes as a "labour of love." To our knowledge, this unique Alfa Romeo has changed hands three times since the first owner took delivery back in 1994. These days, the SZ has a new home, in South Africa, where the roads are ideally suited for the one-and-only RHD Zagato-designed Alfa coupé to be found anywhere in the world.