{"id":499236,"date":"2021-04-19T14:27:18","date_gmt":"2021-04-19T21:27:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=117987"},"modified":"2024-08-19T19:14:22","modified_gmt":"2024-08-19T19:14:22","slug":"zagatos-vicious-monster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/zagatos-vicious-monster\/","title":{"rendered":"1990 Alfa Romeo SZ – Zagato\u2019s Vicious Monster"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Robert Opron passed away last month, tragically from complications due to Covid 19. His body of work would certainly warrant significantly more detailed coverage on his illustrious career than I can offer in this column, but I believe a most fitting tribute to his career can be summarized in the 1990 Alfa Romeo SZ, perhaps the most daring and ambitious of his car designs.<\/p>\n

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Photo: RM Sotheby’s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019ll never forget the first time I saw an Alfa Romeo SZ in person. I had been working as a professional designer for three years, focusing mostly on automobile design, but also enjoying freelance work in toy and scale model car development. One of my projects was working on a series of Galoob Micro-Machine designs for classic cars. These cars were about 2-inch long and had a spunky squished character; a bit like the \u201cCars\u201d movie franchise animated vehicles that would appear 20 years later. Having just completed a 300SL Gullwing, a Ferrari 250 GTO, and a Jaguar E-Type in this fashion, when I spotted the full-sized SZ, I thought immediately of the squat designs that I had playfully sculpted for Galoob. Only this was real. Powerful, angry, and proportioned like no other car I had ever seen before, the SZ was instantly memorable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n