Zagato honors Alfa Romeo with the Viper ACR based TZ3 Stradale

In 2010, Alfa Romeo celebrated their 100th anniversary and to commemorate the centennial, Italian coachbuilder Zagato has announced the TZ3 Stradale – a limited edition supercar based on the record-setting Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR.

As you can clearly see in the images above, the TZ3 Stradale by Zagato sports a unique exterior design with a carbon fiber body clearly echoing the exterior design scheme of the Alfa brand. However, under this low-slung exotic lies the underpinnings of the 2010 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR that has set records around the world – from the Nürburgring in Germany to the famed Mazda Laguna Seca raceway.

The Zagato TZ3 Stradale uses virtually everything from the Viper ACR, including the rolling chassis, the 6-speed gearbox, the adjustable suspension setup and, of course, the 640 horsepower Viper ACR V10 engine. This vehicle is intended to pay tribute to the high performance Alfa road cars over the past 100 years so basing the mechanical workings on the 2010 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR - a vehicle that has proven itself to be one of the best-performing street legal cars in the world – should go a long way in helping this limited edition Zagato design secure its place in automotive history. Also, thanks to the heavy dose of Mopar muscle poured into the TZ3 Stradale, this car has the claim of being the first predominantly American Alfa Romeo.

The styling of the TZ3 Stradale originally debuted in the one-off TZ3 Corsa in 2009. The modern Alfa Romeo front end design coupled with the “Kamm tail” rear design pays tribute to the Alfa racers of the 1960s. however, unlike the race-only Corsa, the TZ3 Stradale has been designed to celebrate the high performance road-going Alfa Romeo whereas the Corsa was introduced to focus on the track heritage of the brand. While the long, sweeping lines between the Corsa and the Stradale are similar, the Corsa made use of a tubular chassis and a Maserati 4.2L V8 making 420hp instead of the 640hp Viper V10 and chassis. Also, where the Corsa saw just one unit built, Zagato is planning 9 Stradale units with the first example already promised to American car collector Eric King. The second and third TZ3 Stradale’s are also spoken for with unnamed destinations in Japan and Europe.

Even with the Dodge Viper tucked away in hibernation while the performance world eagerly awaits the spring-2012 unveiling of the 2013 models, the American supercar continues to make a name for itself thanks to applications like this one, with Zagato using the awesome Viper SRT10 ACR to produce a limited edition of truly unique vehicles bearing the Alfa Romeo name.

Source: Zagato

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