Our first Zagato-R build is completed and ready to hand over to Gordon Murray! We are very proud to have built one of our R-types for Gordon – not only does he have the most exacting standards, but he is also a true enthusiast & petrolhead and has been keen to push the boundaries with this build. The finished car is truly wonderful, both in its looks and the way it drives. The goal was to create a grown-up Grand Touring car with the highest level of performance combined with superb ride quality, a full suite of creature comforts and trimmed to the very highest standards to make the car practical and easy to live with. The list of jobs and specs is endless, but here is a list of the main details:-

Body/Chassis

• Full rotisserie body restoration to our usual concours standards & entire chassis seam welded
• Floors and rear bulkhead modified significantly to fit 6ft 5in driver
• RHD conversion
• Boot floor completely redesigned to central mount increased capacity fuel tank and injection pump assembly
• Air inlets redesigned to flow 230+BHP engine, cold air feed and oil cooler inlets incorporated into front valance
• New front grille assembly made with increased centre heart surface area to increase airflow to radiator and new perspexes bespoke manufactured
• New aluminium door skins manufactured to incorporate Ferrari Dino door openers
• Rear tailgate redesigned to stiffen c-pillar design, improve rigidity of shell & incorporate modern electric release tail gate with gas struts
• Re-design of rear bumper assembly to improve air flow under car and neaten the appearance of the rear of car
• Paint to sample colour chosen by Gordon

Mechanical

• 230BHP 2100cc Twin Spark engine
• Billet ITB system run on Motec ECU
• GTA-R suspension package with titanium top wishbones, billet uprights and double adjustable dampers
• GTA-R Superleggera 6-pot brake package, 300mm vented discs, dual circuit bias adjustable pedal box
• Speed sensitive EPAS built into billet aluminium steering box casing
• Mass damper flywheel & clutch pack
• Close ratio GTA-R gearbox build with billet quickshift kit
• Alfaholics competition high-torque propshaft
• Alfaholics LSD built axle with 4.1 long ratio to reduce motorway cruising revs
• Full tubular stainless steel exhaust system with bespoke silencer chamber volumes to match Gordon’s preference.
• Custom fabricated aluminium radiator, oil cooler, header tank, catch tank & airbox
• Custom fabricated aluminium foam filled fuel tank with built in anti-surge valves and GTA-R injection fuel pump assembly

Electrics

• GTA-R PCB and wiring loom
• LED headlights
• Remote central locking
• Remote boot release
• Heated seats
• Heated windscreen
• Electric windows
• Motec EFI

Trim

• Carbonfibre dashboard trimmed in alcantara & leather
• Custom seats, rear luggage area
• Custom leatherwork design throughout
• Customer headlining and alcantara roof cappings

List of major bodyshell mods include:-

• Additional air vents in front panel for radiator, oil cooler and cold air feed
• Modified radiator mounting/ducting for increased radiator size
• Modifed inner wing for cold air box
• RHD conversion including our electric PAS with adjustable steering column
• Dino door handle conversion
• Floor pans dropped
• Rear bulkhead moved back
• Boot floor converted for new fuel tank location and design
• Fuel filler relocated
• Rear bumper system complete re-design
• Complete re-design of tailgate including electric release

Witt the fit and finish of the reproduction Zagato front mask trim and perspexes quite as poor as it is, we had no option but to manufacture a new mask from scratch to ensure an excellent fit to the front body and matching the style lines and manufacture tools to mould new perspex covers. In the process of doing this we were able to tweak the dimensions of the heart a little to get a better air flow to the cooling system. With the engine’s cold air feed now supplied from the front valance, we also deleted the factory slots in the perspex, now redundant with our widened radiator and chassis ducting panels.

With the final prep work completed we now move to the paint prep stages, with full seam sealing of all joints prior to a complete coat of spray sealer for the underside of the car. A huge number of modifications have been done to the shell to not only customise the car to the desires of the new owner, but also to fit his tall frame in the car at all.

These photos show the extent to which we have dropped the floors and moved the rear seat bulkhead panel back to accommodate a suitable driving position, as well as the completely bespoke boot floor arrangement and of course the RHD conversion of the shell! The grille mask has been double copper coated and gets its final trial fitted before final polish prior to chroming.

Once the shell is painted, it will be possible to see all the modifications we have made to the outside of the shell as part of the customisation process of this very special car.

With the shell sensitively media blasted bare and etch primed, it is fitted to our Celette jig to ensure the chassis is square and then carry out the required chassis repair works.

With the shell stripped bare and ready to media blast we can see that the car is a nice accident free car with minimal corrosion, a great basis for an R-build!

Donor car for this Junior Zagato-R build is an early 1300 model with the shorter rear body and prettier resulting dimensions.