History of the development and production of the GT 1300 Junior Zagato

[Zagato_Olaf]

Hello forum members,

In another thread I added some information on the earliest Junior Zagato's (prototypes, preproduction and early production examples).
I would like to add the same information in this chapter and hope that other members can add information to complete the history of our GT 1300 Junior Zagato.

Concerning the prototypes and start-up of the production:

According to 'Guida all'identificazione Alfa Romeo' by Maurizio Tabucchi (Giorgio Nada, 2000) the chassisnumbers 1800004 and up were produced in 1970. However, there are reasons to believe that the first production examples of the GT 1300 Junior Zagato were produced in 1969.

Style Auto nr 23 (last quarter of 1969) did an article on the Junior Zagato with a lot of pictures of the production and early production examples of the JZ. The early production cars can be recognized because they also have the early style doorlatches without the metal surrounding the doorskin. This makes it plausible that early production JZ's were produced in 1969. Attached you will find some of the pictures.

In the book 'Le Zagato Fulvia Sport - Junior Z' by Michele Marchiano (Edizioni della Libreria dell'Automobile, november 1986) the writer states that Giovanni Luraghi, president of Alfa Romeo, went to greet the Zagato brothers at their stand during the Turin Motor Show of October 1967.
Luraghi said; 'We want to build a new coupe on the Giulia chassis'. On the second of January 1968, the first chassis arrived at the coachworks of the Zagato brothers.
'The aluminium prototype was delivered to Alfa Romeo in July 1968 for the first road tests. It was red. The second and fifth cars were subjected to torsion testing. Subsequently they were refurbished and painted yellow and metallic grey. Number four was white and the 1800006, the first to be placed on sale, was Lesonal red.'
When the Junior Z was shown at the 1969 Turin Show, production had just begun. By the end of that year (1969) 208 cars had been delivered to Alfa. Sales to the public began in February 1970 at 2.235.000 Lires.

According to Luigi Fusi in 'Tutte Le Vetture dal 1910' (Emmeti Grafica Editrice, published in 1978), the JZ was introduced at the Turin Motor Show in november 1969. He states that the type was built from 1969 to 1972. Seems likely to me when we combine this information with the other sources.

There are pictures from JZ prototypes, preproduction and production examples. Attached you will find some from the book 'Zagato' by Gianfranco Fagiuoli e.a. (Automobile Club d'Italia/L'Editrice dell'Automobilia, published in October 1969). The yellow car looks like a preproduction example to me. Look at the front bumper (it looks thicker than the definite version), lack of trim around the centre part of the plexiglass covering the front, the place where the Z logo and side indicator are put (high up on the side of the car). Also have a look at the early style doorlatch this car has as is seen on the production models. Could this be #1800002?

Please forum members; challenge me if you have more and other information.

I hope I have contributed to the knowledge of this forum on the GT 1300Junior Zagato!

Ciao! Olaf Roeten

[Zagato_Olaf]

Hello Forum members,

Find attached a picture from the book 'Le Zagato Fulvia Sport - Junior Z' by Michele Marchiano. We see the two Zagato brothers (Giovanni and Elio) looking at a Junior Z car. The book states that this is a Junior Z Prototype. Why?

Have a look at the exhaust that's located almost in the centre of the back of the car. There is a cutout in the bumper in the centre where as on the production version, the cutout is on the extreme lefthand side of the bumper.
Have a look at the dashboard that's not like the dash of the production version (shape of the glove compartment, the facia and the shape of the dashboard itself). The top of the console looks different to.
If I am not mistaken, the support for the rear hatch is on the lefthand side on the production version (it is on my example). Could other owners please check that on their cars? And the hatch itself seems a lot shorter than the hatch on the production version that has a longer metal lip on it.

There is another picture of the front of this car where we can see a completely different style of frontbumper and indicatorlights.

Any other differences between this car and the production version?

Ciao, Olaf

[giulia_veloce]

Great story Olaf
Keep them comming
Mines on the left.
maybe the pic is reversed and its a RHD ?
joking

Robert

[Zagato_Olaf]

Thanks for the reply Robert!

Here we see the front of a painted prototype or preproduction car (top). And we see an unpainted prototype (bottom)? Both pictures from the same book as the one in post nr. 2.

The front has a completely different front bumper. The plexiglass hasn't got the trim round the center, where as production vehicles do.
Notice the Alfa emblem on the bonnet? It looks like a black and white version like they used earlier in history. Different too. Notice the Alfa Romeo emblem on the far right?
I do see some contours of the separation plates that channel air to the radiator but I do not see the slots in the plexiglass that feed air to the carburettors.
I have reason to believe that this front belongs to the car discibed in the second post. The front looks painted and on the floor we see tools as we do in the picture in post nr. 2.

The unpainted prototype is discribed as the original prototype chassis. The book by Michele Marchiano says; 'The tail was truncated, like that on the TZ - the classic expression of the Alfa/Zagato partnership. At first the design followed that of its famous forebear with the tail curved into a prominent lip. Both the scale model used for wind tunnel testing and the prototype shared this feature. But the design was dropped as it would have created assembly problems and increased the cost of the moulds'.
So this could be the first prototype of the Junior Zagato on full scale.

And look at another picture of the preproduction car. It has the exhaust further to the left although the cutout in the bumper is still more in the middle. No 'Alfa Romeo' emblem on the rear, the license plate lights look different from the production model and the 'Junior Z' on the right hand side beneath the rear light cluster is missing.
The trunklid seems to have the normal length beneath the glass part. Could this be #1800002 that was painted yellow according to Michele Marchiano?

Ciao, Olaf

[Nob Z]

Hello Olaf and forum memmbers

I live in Japan,by owner of juniorZ(1800360)
I know the car of 1800003(yellow),this car is my friend's car before

Please look at photo

Ciao

[Nob Z]

and one more

[Zagato_Olaf]

Hello Nob Z,

This is great news!!! I never saw any evidence of 1800003 existance!
This looks very much like the yellow car in the pictures of 'Zagato' by Fagiuoli!

Thank you very much for sending this pictures, Nob Z.

Up to now #1800015 was the earliest car know to exist to me.
Could you tell us something about the history of #1800003?

Ciao, Olaf

[Nicola]

Note: the door handle surround...

[Nob Z]

He was shop owner of Alfa Romeo in Japan GIFU,80's
This car was imported from Italy
The store collaped after that and the car was sold
I am meeting him for 15 yeras or more.this car was takenout with usedcarshop(NAGOYA) to sale till last year

The feature of this car is the sidemarker position and rear bumperholes
There are many holes

There are 1800005(silver) and 1800008(red) in JAPAN

[Nicola]

I note on the #03? car the hatch switch is centered at the top of the console unit. On mine, and all others I have seen or have photo records of, the switch is on the top right. Mine has a cigarette lighter on the left and the emergency flashers in the middle. Others I have seen have no cigarette lighter.
Note the size of the side markers on #442 car formerly owned by Bill Gillham and Fred DiMatteo.

[Pat Garrett]

Olaf, Here are some shots of my front air dam,.
Regards,
pat

[Zagato_Olaf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nicola I note on the #03? car the hatch switch is centered at the top of the console unit. On mine, and all others I have seen or have photo records of, the switch is on the top right. Mine has a cigarette lighter on the left and the emergency flashers in the middle. Others I have seen have no cigarette lighter. Note the size of the side markers on #442 car formerly owned by Bill Gillham and Fred DiMatteo.

[Zagato_Olaf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nob Z He was shop owner of Alfa Romeo in Japan GIFU,80's This car was imported from Italy The store collaped after that and the car was sold I am meeting him for 15 yeras or more.this car was takenout with usedcarshop(NAGOYA) to sale till last year The feature of this car is the sidemarker position and rear bumperholes There are many holes There are 1800005(silver) and 1800008(red) in JAPAN

[JPF]

wow, this is fantastic stuff. thanks for starting this thread Olaf! thanks also Nob and Pat for contributing. fantastic!

-jason
WA, USA