The first official images and information about the exciting and powerful new SpadaConcept supercar project have finally broken cover, revealing a very uniquely-styled car, which draws on several historical references and which has been dubbed the 'Codatronca'.

The SpadaConcept design studio was recently set up by legendary well-travelled automotive designer Ercole Spada (along with his son Paolo) to offer his talent and long-experience, in the fields of automotive and industrial design. The Codatronca is the first high-profile project to be completed by the studio and is based on the Chevrolet Corvette C6, continuing a long-standing theme of Italian designers re-interpreting the big American 'muscle' sportscars, most recently exemplified by Giorgetto Giugiaro's makeover of the Ford Mustang. The Codatronca's sharp, commanding frontal lines clearly recall Corvette models from the 1960s and 1970s, while Spada's "coda tronca" Kamm tail form, seen in the 1960s on the famous Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ and Giulia TZ1, clearly influences the rear design.

First introduced on the Giulietta SZ, Spada’s Coda Tronca vastly improved the aerodynamics and hence the performance of the car, which initially had a rounded tail. So impressive was the advance in performance, that Alfa Romeo engineers adopted the aerodynamic shape on their Giulia compact saloon car, which at the time achieved the same drag coefficient as a Porsche 911.

Ercole Spada is one of the motor industry's most famous design names, with a string of significant cars to his name. Born in 1938, Spada joined Italian firm Zagato in 1960 and here he instantly blossomed, putting his name to an array of legendary niche designs including the Aston Martin GT4 Zagato (1960), Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ (1960), OSCA 1600 GTZ (1960), Alfa Romeo 2600 SZ (1962), Lancia Flavia Sport (1962), Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ (1963), Lancia Flaminia Super Sport (1963), Lancia Fulvia Sport (1965), Alfa Romeo Junior Z (1969) and Volvo GTZ 2000 (1969). After a decade at Zagato he briefly joined Ford's Italian Ghia studio (where he worked on the stillborn Ford GT70) and Audi, before moving to BMW where he introduced a new styling language with the successful E32 7-series and E34 5-series.
 

In 1983 Spada returned to Italy joining the I.DE.A studio where he was responsible for a string of very successful 'new generation' mass-production designs, including Fiat's revolutionary Tipo and Tempra, Lancia's Delta Series II, Dedra and Kappa, Alfa Romeo's 155 sedan and Daihatsu's tiny city car, the Move. Spada returned to Zagato in 1992 for a second stint (where he was responsible for the Ferrari Testarossa FZ 93 concept) before leaving to set up SpadaConcept with his son Paolo, Domiziano Boschi and Wojtek Sokolowski.

The new Codatronca project has been realised in association with UK Garage, one of Italy's leading independent tuning firms. It has improved the Corvette's robust mechanicals, adapting it to the fresh demands required by Spada'a new design, and boosted the engine's power. UK Garage are the official importers of a whole swage of UK and US niche brands, including Mosler, Ginetta, TVR, Noble and Radical. They are also closely involved with UK, US and Japanese brands, tuning cars American from Cadillac, Hummer, Chrysler, Dodge, GMC, Saleen, Saturn and Shelby, putting the firm in an ideal position to improve the characteristics of the Corvette C6.

Interesting features of the new Codatronca include a novel digital screen mounted within the high tail which itself is quite unique in its realisation, and the sharp air vents which exit above the rear wheel. There will reportedly be three versions of the supercar, which is scheduled to enter very limited production later this year: the 'entry level' TS (Tourism Sport) with 512 bhp; the TSV (Tourism Sport Veloce) with 513 bhp; and the hugely-powerful TSS (Tourism Super Sport) model which will have 700bhp. With a top speed of over 330 km/h and a 0-100 km/h time of around 3 seconds, this power will be translated into very useable performance.