Hemmings Book Reviews: “The Art of Conservation: Alfa Romeo SZ Coda Tronca” and “100 Years of Legends”

ART OF CONSERVATION: ALFA ROMEO SZ CODA TRONCA

By Corrado Lopresto, Guatam Sen, and Paolo Di Taranto 

Dalton Watson Fine Books   

daltonwatson.com 

ISBN 9781956309058 

$110 

★★★★

Hundreds of books have been written about particular automakers, with even more celebrating individual models like the Corvette and Mustang. It’s extremely rare, though, to find a book of substance that focuses on a single automobile—and that’s what this 216-page hardcover represents. The 1,300-cc Giulietta SZ Zagato was a low-production variant of Alfa Romeo’s hugely popular late-1950s Giulietta, that company’s first affordably priced mid-market model that held equal appeal to families and motorsports competitors. The first SZ Zagato of an updated design would end up, decades later, the object of serious interest for many reasons. 

This 1961 SZ Coda Tronca, or truncated (Kamm-style) tail, was designed by famous stylist Ercole Spada at Carrozzeria Zagato, and Spada personally discusses the production of the one-time race car in a chapter of this book. Five decades after it was built, chassis 00170 was discovered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in complete but derelict condition, and it would be purchased by collector Corrado Lopresto. The new owner of this car commissioned a forensic preservation that drew on archeological and art-museum techniques, with a finished half-untouched/half-retouched presentation that was virtually unique. More than 260 illustrations and photos detail the car’s journey, and the book’s text is in both English and Italian. It’s a fascinating exploration of an extraordinary automotive experience. —Mark J. McCourt

24H LE MANS: 100 YEARS OF LEGENDS – 1923 – 2023

By Denis Bernard, Basile Davoine, Julien Holtz, Gerard Holtz 

Evro Publishing 

evropublishing.com/en-us 

ISBN 9781910505885 

$94 

★★★★

Technically, the 100th anniversary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans was last year, but that hasn’t discouraged publishers from introducing new titles on the fabled round-the-clock race. This one, with no less than four authors, is different than most, first because it’s an authorized history sanctioned by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, the organizers of the race. It’s also unique in that the text consists of a huge array of subtopics regarding Le Mans, all done in compact format, to the point where the table of contents spills completely across two of the book’s 336 hardcover pages. 

Besides the expected capsulized year-by-year race reports, the book presents a delightful barrage of other data, which runs from the demographic to the technical. You may know that Jacky Ickx is the greatest Belgian driver to ever conquer the Sarthe, but who are the rest? The full rundown is in here. There’s chockablock technical information, too, some of it delightfully arcane, such as a development history of racing steering wheels and their controls down through the years. An interview and career record of Henri Pescarolo, the greatest Frenchman to contest the race, is also included. So are overviews on gas turbine power, supercharging and turbocharging, electric motors, plus brief chapters on the unsung medics and marshals who are essential to the show. You’ll find yourself returning to this impressive volume again and again. It’s seriously good, just like the race.  —Jim Donnelly

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