Grab the most expensive and elegant Dodge Viper on the planet
Zagato works in curious ways, having gone from being one of the wildest Italian coachbuilders to making body kits for Toyota SUVs and helping out Aston Martin whenever it needed a special edition. Recently, Zagato’s even licensed its brand to aftermarket engineering firms like England’s R-Reforge. However, back in 2010, German collector Martin Kapp commissioned Andrea Zagato’s team to come up with a homage to Alfa Romeo’s 1963 TZ1 and 1965 TZ2 pair, celebrating the brand’s centenary with an 8C-based, V-8 one-off called the TZ3 Corsa.
Three years later, Zagato presented the Stradale version, an edition of nine street cars based on the mighty Dodge Viper ACR-X. I saw the prototype of this carbon-bodied Viper-Alfa at the 2013 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este and found it to be rather brilliant. Zagato did well with the Viper’s front-mid-engine proportions, adding sexy curves plus a Kammback and double-bubble roof to that mad V-10 package with the six-speed manual.
I never expected to see another TZ3, yet now, a prime example popped up for sale in California, showing off its leather-heavy interior as well. What’s more, number seven of the nine TZ3s comes with a brown metallic finish.
Apparently, somebody bought his car in 2013 for around a million dollars, only to put 525 miles into it in seven years without so much as leaving California. Now this brown-over-chestnut wonder is being offered for $700,000 by TSG Autohaus, which may seem steep for a used 2013 Viper ACR-X, but gets more reasonable once you consider that this is an ultra-limited, 640-hp, carbon-fiber creation hand-built by no lesser name than Carrozzeria Zagato of Milano.
Wild pricing or not, a TZ3 is certainly a more special proposition than the other re-bodied Viper I just stumbled across: the Fisker-designed 2018 VLF Force 1 specified and built for the master himself. This show car is now offered by Canepa, with a price on request, a six-speed manual, 745 hp, and 638 lb-ft of torque.
However, if you need to haul stuff, you’ll certainly want to choose the Alfa, which should still be more than adequate with its 640-hp racing V-10. A carbon tailgate for anybody?
