Zagato Ferrari 575 GTZ

Yoshiyuki Hayashi is a famous Japanese car collector, who owns numerous cars of great historical value, including several Ferraris such as the 166MM, the 250 Spider California, two Daytonas – a coupé and a spider – and the Enzo. In the classic tradition of the wealthy exclusive car enthuisiasts who stimulated the creativeness of Italian coachbuilders in the 1950s and 1960s, Hayashi asked Zagato if it would be possible to create a body for his 575M, in the style of the famous 250GTZ berlinetta. When Zagato received this request, it informed Ferrari of the project, which would be a good opportunity to celebrate the model’s anniversary, and then created a car that harked back to the 250 GTZ, built around the Ferrari 575. Like its forebear, the 575 GTZ has an all-aluminium body, and, as a tribute to Ferrari and to two-seater Italian sports cars, it has joined an exclusive group of custom-built cars.

Like the 250 GTZ, it sports two-tone paintwork with styling cues and volumes that explicitly refer back to the 1950s, and sublimates the character of the many cars built by Zagato to clothe original engineering, with the pure style of traditional sports cars. For Zagato, the project represented an opportunity to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Ferrari 250 GTZ of 1956, one of the most outstanding GT cars, which has already gone down in history.

The model, which was also commissioned by a gentleman driver and collector, in the best Zagato tradition, is a sublime synthesis of prestige and performance, elegance and sportiness, to the point that it can boast the highest value of any car in the luxury period sports car market. The 250 GTZ has won numerous competitions and concours d’élégance, and it represents a dream come true, because experts and fans consider it one of the most beautiful cars in the world.

The new 575 GTZ has the Ferrari prancing horse on its bonnet and the Z of Zagato on its side, an expression of eternal Italian excellence in its form and content. It is a winning combination, linking the most powerful, famous engineering in the world with the most refined, fascinating sporting style, both made strictly in Italy.

The concept of sporty elegance, functional design that does not merely follow the trend of the moment but strives for pure performance, and the ultra-light aluminium body are Zagato’s strengths which become a universally recognised value.

Just as in the 1956, the 250GTZ was showed at the most important concours d’elegance, 50 years later, the 575GTZ will be presented in a world premier at Villa D’Este Concours D’Elegance, Cernobbio (Italy) April 22 th -24th.

Ferrari & Zagato

Ferrari and Zagato have crossed paths several times, and each occasion has generated something special and unique. These contacts have always arisen out of meetings, on a personal and an industrial level, between two important figures in the automotive world: Enzo Ferrari and Ugo Zagato. It is a relationship that has produced proposals and projects which have never progressed, but above all a number of unique models. However, most of the Ferrari Zagatos were the result of the intervention of racing drivers and gentlemen drivers, who demanded from their Ferraris that extra something, a mixture of lightness and aerodynamic efficiency, that Zagato expressed with such outstanding skill. The Ferrari Zagatos are unique because the combination of the prancing horse on the bonnet and the Z on the side brought together prestige and performance, elegance and sportiness

166 MM PANORAMICA 1950

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