Italian design and engineering company Zagato has worked with anumber of other Italian brands in the past, including the best-known ofthem all, Ferrari. As a 90th anniversary celebration they arecollaborating with Maranello once again. The last time the two cametogether was for the 575 GTZ made for Japanese collector Yoshiyuki Hayashi in 2006.
The new cooperation involves five carefully selected Ferrari 550Barchetta examples sourced from around the world. After finding themthey were shipped to Ferrari, stripped bare, rebuilt from the ground upand passed on to Zagato for bodywork and trim. Curiously the finishedarticle bears a very close resemblance to Mr Hayashi's car but withoutthe roof.
The original 1996 550 Barchetta was powered by a 361kW (492hp)5.5-litre V12 with a 0 - 60mph time of 4.2 seconds and a top end of199mph (320km/h). No performance details were provided for the Zagatointerpretation but such a base is quite a good sign.
Prices are set at over £1 million (€1.1 million/ US$1.6 million)each and it seems all five units have already been snapped up. The carscould become future classics as it is probably the last time Zagato oranyone else is officially allowed to modify a Ferrari. New companyrules dictate that all post-production tuning will now be done in-house. |