OMG: Zagato takes the Alpine A110 to new lengths
Limited edition AGTZ Twin Tail uses the '68 A220 as a stepping-off point for a coachbuilding masterclass
You’ve got to hand it to Zagato, it really knows how to push our buttons. The last time we encountered it in the news, the legendary Italian coachbuilder had been spending its time pruning the Alfa Giulia Quadrifoglio down from a four-door saloon down to a one-off, two-door SWB, a car we fawned over for the better part of a week. Now, in partnership with famed Polish dealer La Squadra, it has turned its attention to the Alpine A110 and gone in the opposite direction, creating the remarkable-looking AGTZ Twin Tail - a limited edition model you can actually buy.
Well, sort of in the opposite direction. The remarkable thing about the Twin Tail - as the name suggests - is that you can choose between ‘the tailored elegance of a long tail or the muscular punch of a short tail’. That’s right: the rear section is detachable, which means that Zagato is effectively supplying you with two cars: one, an agile 4,305mm-long sports car, the other a 4,802mm-long work of art meant to hark back to a bygone era ‘60s Le Mans' cars.
One car in particular, in fact. The Alpine A220 was the final version of the sportscar prototype that started out with a super-efficient 1.0-litre inline-four and then, several iterations later, ended up with a Renault-built V8. The car did not enjoy a hugely successful racing career - of the four A220s it entered at Le Mans in 1968, only one finished - but it looked the part. And it looked even better when the (presumably somewhat frustrated) engineers decided to remove 30cm from the aero-finessed rear end of one car and enter it in shorter race formats, where apparently it did pretty well. Or well enough for Zagato to take note five decades later.
“We didn’t want to make a pure racing car because technology, aerodynamics and power have changed a lot since the ‘60s. Instead, we wanted to capture the inspiration and design innovation of the A220 short-tail and create an authentic Gran Turismo in the true Zagato tradition,” explained company CEO, Andrea Zagato. “The task of coachbuilders is to provoke the car world with alternative design languages. Playing with a round or truncated tail was always in the design ethos of Zagato for its Gran Touring models. With AGTZ Twin Tail we are producing a car we believe is consistent with our heritage.”
So two become one, as the Spice Girls put it. And while Zagato admits that as a coachbuilder it is being deliberately provocative, it is also serious about selling (via La Squadra’s very high-end operation) an entirely bespoke car that can evoke the aerodynamic intent of the A220, while ‘an ode to the muscular A220 short-tail’ sits beneath it, presumably awaiting a change in its owner’s mood. Quite how long said owner will need to make the physical transition - and how much help he or she will require - is not made clear. But we like to think you’d have fun finding out.
At the very least you probably won’t put your back out; predictably enough, the redesigned bodywork is made entirely of carbon fibre. And when it’s not in use, Zagato will apparently supply you with a custom-made stand so you can admire the rear end when it’s not in use. Probably you’d be inclined to do that if only to feel like you’d got your money’s worth: the AGTZ Twin Tail costs from 650,000 euros (or around £555,000) before taxes, after all, and just 19 examples will be made. Production has already begun and Zagato reckons the ‘order book is filling fast’. It doesn’t mention whether or not any additional modifications have been made to the A110 underneath - but it hardly needs to. This, surely, is one car you buy on look alone.
It seems 100% on cue for Zagato; take an elegant but somewhat retro/conservative design and make it a dose more edgy and striking - it's not always been a route to clearly better looking car, but they achieve what they're out to achieve.
I love quirky, and got excited by this. Quite oddly, I don’t love it’s looks, but really really happy it and Zagato exist.
The original, by contrast, I think looks fantastic!
I got to the bottom and thought it looked better in the racing livery, and then I realised why! Even then the long tail version looks a bit clumsy, the short tail though!! 
Strapping weight to the back also seems an odd thing to do to a car known for its agility.
So take this one off and you're left with a rear end that looks quite good but it's attached to a front end that is still a 60s/70s retro pastiche but not from the 80s like the new rear end so it it's kind of a mess almost akin to sticking the rear of a late Countach onto the front of a Miura, it's a tale of two halves but where those two halves aren't making a whole but a hole.
However, there are two big positives from this project. Firstly, you can see that Renault has finally remembered some of its history and that initial errors can be fixed by using a V8 and the second is that this car will be awesome at children's parties, like the ultimate must have, where first the children can play big money pin the tail on the donkey after which they can take bats to the piñata and open it up to get a near lifetime supply of sweets.
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