The unlikely car loved by these automotive icons

What do you drive when you design the fastest cars on the planet? A French-built, Italian-modified modern day interpretation of a forgotten 1960s race and rally special, of course…
Unless you’re a Francophile or have a passion for automotive oddities, chances are you’ve never heard of the Zagato AGTZ Twin Tail.

Based on the Alpine A110 that had a short and unspectacular life in Australia, the AGTZ Twin Tail is a special creation from Italian design house, Zagato. Taking inspiration from Alpine’s racing glory days of the 1960s, this special car lives up to its name in spectacular fashion.

You see, when you buy one of these Zagato’s you get a fully functional car – and an extra piece. They didn’t call it Twin Tail for no reason, with Zagato carefully crafting a bolt-on extended tailpiece that lengthens the whole car.

Why? In tribute to the Alpine A220 of the late 1960s, which began life as an aerodynamically streamlined Le Mans racer, only to struggle on the circuits. So the Alpine designers and mechanics cut off the tail and the A220 became a successful, short-tailed rally car.

It’s the kind of low-volume, weird backstory car that only appeals to true car lovers. Which explains why two AGTZ Twin Tail owners include Professor Gordon Murray and Christian von Koenigsegg.

When these two design geniuses aren’t crafting their own lightweight or super-powerful hypercars, they are driving their Zagato specials.

Speaking to PistonHeads.com recently, Murray explained he was due to take delivery of his custom created AGTZ Twin Tail soon, and may use it as his daily driver – replacing his standard A110.

He said: “I have eight or nine Zagatos from different periods, and I thought this would be a nice bookend. They’re only making a handful of them, so it’s probably a good investment. It’s all carbon, so it should be light and fun. If it drives well, I’ll use that instead of my ‘normal’ A110. I didn’t buy it purely to stick in the collection.”

Murray’s specially commissioned Zagato is finished French racing blue but with bright green highlights and his personal racing number – #47.

Von Koenigsegg’s version is a direct homage to the racing A220 that competed at Le Mans. It features a blue and white paintscheme with large white number rondels and a tricolour chevron on the roof.

Alpine is set to return to Australia in the future, under new distributors Ateco, with plans for the A390 electric hot hatch to lead the comeback at a time yet to be determined.

What’s your favourite automotive oddity? Let us know in the comments…