Alfa Romeo TZ. The Cars, the Race Results
By Philippe Olczyk
It came as something of a surprise to find myself pictured behind the wheel, on page four of Olczyk’s TZ book, in a picture that has never been released of a totally nonexistent car!
Well, the car exists but it is neither a 1965 TZ prototype, nor is it an Asardo as implied in the text, nor was the Asardo the inspiration for the Giulia TZ, nor was the car pictured a “TZ”. In place of a proper history of the Giulia TZ is an article by Karl Ludvigsen copied from a 1959 “Sports Cars Illustrated” about an American kit car called the Asardo. This article wasn’t even copied carefully, as the reader of this very expensive book will find that columns do not match and therefore the content does not make sense. Pages copied from “Road & Track”, “Classic and Sports Car”, and the TZ Owners Manual make up the only textual content, and my inquiries reveal no permission was given for this use. Alfa Romeo was acknowledged for its support of this book in the promotional material but have subsequently said that they gave no endorsement.
Sadly, the story of the TZ is generally well known, in that it was a car that would fit the GT competition rules of the mid-1960s, would be a suitable race machine for privateers, could do well in international long-distance races, and used some existing Alfa components. However, none of this comes across in the book. Instead the author hangs the tale on a totally unsupported notion that the TZ came from the Asardo. In fact, the car depicted as the TZ prototype by Olczyk is actually a 1965-built project of Ludovico Chizzola, who was one of the two brothers who formed Autodelta with Carlo Chiti. What makes Olczyk’s premise so absurd is the fact that the first TZs predate this “prototype” by almost two years.
The details listed above are meant to serve as a warning. A really comprehensive book about the lovely Alfa Romeo TZ would have been a very welcome addition to anyone’s bookshelf; however, the Olczyk tome appears to be little more than an expensive print-out of a fairly outrageous Web site listing of cars. Sadly, many current TZ owners have been shocked to find their cars labeled as non-genuine in this work, without any supporting evidence. All in all, this a book to be avoided.
