Zagato

Zagato is a coachbuilding company. The design center of the company is located in Terrazzano, a small village near Rho, Lombardy, Italy. The company's premises occupies an area of 23,000 square meters (250,000 sq. ft.). Ugo Zagato was an Italian automotive designer and builder. He was born in Gavello, near Rovigo (June 25, 1890). He began his coachbuilding career in 1919 when he left Officine Aeronaut Aluminum Ti Che Pomilio to set up his own business in Milan. His intent was to transfer sophisticated constructional techniques that combined lightness with strength from aeronautics to the automotive sector. Cars of the time were generally still bulky and heavy-- Ugo Zagato conceived them as lightweight structures, with a frame in sheet aluminum similar to an aircraft fuselage. During the 20's, Zagato concentrated on racing cars. At the beginning of the decade, he was asked by Alfa Romeo to dress some Alfa Romeo G1, RL and RM. But in 1925, Vittorio Jano, Alfa Romeo's Chief Engineer, asked him to create a body for the Alfa 6C 1500, the Alfa Romeo P2's heir, which should be light and fast. Zagato, using his Aeronautics culture, succeeded in creating a sleek and light body for the car, which scored a 2nd place OA at the 1927 Mille Miglia and it won the 1928 edition. The 6C 1500 technical qualities were also improved on the Alfa Romeo 6C 1750, which was introduced in 1927. It was bodied in several versions (Turismo, Sport or Granturismo, Super Sport or Gran Sport) and achieved overall victories in the Mille Miglia in 1929 (Campari-Ramponi) and 1930 (Tazio Nuvolari, Achille Varzi, Giuseppe Campari and Pietro Ghersi filled the first four places). Enzo Ferrari, who started his career at Alfa Romeo, in 1929 founded Scuderia Ferrari as the official team for race Alfas. Ugo Zagato was his exclusive partner in the thirties. In those years, even Ansaldo, Bugatti, Diatto, Fiat, Isotta Fraschini, Lancia, Maserati, OM and even Rolls-Royce were clients of Zagato.