Tuesday 25th April 2006

Zagato-bodied 575M revealed

First public outing for the stunning supercar

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Zagato-bodied Ferrari 575M

At the recent Concorso D'Eleganza Villa D'Este car show, some very exciting cars made their debut. First was the Zagato bodied Ferrari 575GTZ, commissioned by Japanese car collector Yushiyuki Hayashi. The body was built by Zagato and based round a Ferrari 575M in the style of the famous 250GTZ Berlinetta (right).

Hayashi owns numerous cars of great historical value, including several Ferraris such as the 166MM, the 250 Spider California, two Daytonas – a coupé and a spider – and the Enzo. He asked Zagato if it would be possible to create a new body for his 575M. Zagato then told Ferrari and Modena thought it would be a good opportunity to celebrate the model's anniversary, and created a car built around the Ferrari 575 that harked back to the 250GTZ. Like its forebear, the 575 GTZ has an all-aluminium body.

Perhaps the most interesting car came from Russia. Called the Russo-Baltique Impression, it looks quite wild, has a AMG-sourced V12 pushing 555bhp, a carbon-fibre chassis for low eight and high rigidity -- and a price tag to make even the Bugatti Veyron look affordable: US$1.8million. That's £1million to you, sir.

Russo-Baltique says it only plans to produce three cars a year -- how many will ever be made isn't clear. The marque originated in 1907 and made luxury cars for the Czar until he abdicated in 1917.

Links

• More at Supercars.net
• Related story: Zagato builds new body for 575M

^{Thanks to PistonHeads regular Nauman Farooq for the story}

[runnersp]

Its nice to see coachbuilders doing their own thing, but I'm not entirely sure if this car is such a good example.

[dinkel]

More pics.

[mindgam3]

An aston fezza?

Faston Martin

A Astarri?

i'll get my coat

[speedy_thrills]

That’s a nice car, I especially like the jet engine styled air intakes and re-worked roof.

[SWoll]

The b*****d child of Ford and Fiat!

[antonyb]

yikes. not keen on that one.

[micky g]

Looks like a cross between a Cerbera, Tuscan and 240Z

Needless to say I like it! (But not at £1M)!

[waynepixel]

Please make it stop. WTF was he think.

[errek72]

I love it to bits.
I love the looks, the name, the underpinnings and the attitude.
It's an automotive überbabe. In a rubber cage. Coated with honey.

[xjib]

I like it, though it needs different wheels.

[V12AML]

£1,000,000???

I'd rather have an Enzo and a nice house with the change.

[Top Trump]

Yuk, what a mess! Don't like that at all.

[Cotty]

This is what happens when you have more money than taste. You take a great looking car and turn it into a rubbish looking car. If I was him I would have asked for my money back

[FourWheelDrift]

It's a lot better looking than the Russo-Baltique Impression that's also mentioned on that story.

www.leftlanenews.com/2006/04/23/russo-baltique-impression-russian-german-supercar-concept/

[HCT]

Really ugly.

[_VTEC_]

Might look nicer in red. But as it stands, that is one super ugly car.

[housemaster]

Bloody awful mish mash of a car. Just looks all wrong, though I never have been a huge Zagato fan myself, but thats just a mess!

[LongQ]

Well, it's certainly one way to ensure you will always own a one off car.

Front wings inspired by that little LHD only FIAT 2 seater thingy I reckon. Forgotten its name - Barichellota or something like that.

[k321]

it looks like the amdb7 zagato

[V8 Archie]

I see an awful lot of TVR TUscan in that body.