Ercole Spada and the history of the coda tronca

Ercole Spada

“as if we had a gigantic knife” The history of the coda tronca History of design Master in Transportation Design Instructor Michele Albera

Nicolò Vallauri

Ercole Spada is born in 1938 in Busto Arsizio, 40 Km from the centre of Milan. The 1938 seems to be a magic year for car design, since we also have the birth of Giorgetto Giugiaro, Marcello Gandini and Leonardo Fioravanti.

Back to Ercole, even as a kid, he is fashioned about cars and he spends his spare time drawing them, signing every model as ES from his initials; he is also a voracious reader of automotive magazines.

Of all the car industries he knows, he is particularly impressed by Zagato, the historic Milanese coachbuilder founded in 1919, since he sees again and again this name on top of every race result of that period.

He graduates at high school as a mechanical industrial technician and after two years of military service, he writes two letters of application, one to Alfa Romeo and another one to Zagato; some sources claim that he also wrote to Abarth in Turin.

Ercole Spada

In 1960 Ercole is invited at Zagato for the job interview, and here occurs one of the most famous anecdotes of the history of car design (at least the Italian one): Elio Zagato, son of Ugo, the founder of the company, asks Ercole only two questions: if he has a driver’s license and if he is able to draw 1 to 1 on a big board. Ercole shows his license and, for the second question, he firmly replies: “Yes, of course!”.

He is lying; he only used to draw 1 to 10, but he thinks it is almost the same thing, what he has to do is to sketch a little bigger. Anyway, without providing any additional portfolio, he is hired.

Hired at Zagato

“During the 60s, to do a 1 to 1 scale drawing I worked on a board long six meters: at the end of the day I had covered kilometres, going back and forth for the measurements. Today, the only movement designers do is the one of the fingers on the PC keyboard. I don’t envy who today does this job and stays all day long in front of a screen. Back in the days, I used to step into the workshop on a regular basis, and I always could try immediately the functioning of the object”.

Ercole, aged 23, becomes the only designer of one of the most historical coachbuilders in the World. He works in the old factory that survived the war in Via Giorgini 16, in Milan. They give him the darkest and dustier corner of the facility, where there’s a six meters board where he can draw 1 to 1 drawings with few papers and pencils, working side by side with experienced Elio Zagato, pilot but also designer, a person that expresses his ideas with few words, vague signs in the air and rough sketches.

Beside them, few meters away, the welders and the panel beaters, in Italian battilastra, work tirelessly and loudly with their instruments. It’s a dark and thunderous environment, not suited at all for drawing. However, Ercole finds all this magnificent, because he can see almost in real time his ideas taking shape under the skilled hands of the craftsmen, to whom he can provide directions, but also receive advices.

Working at Zagato

“What’s the point of saying that I can’t do it?

I try, then we will see what happens…”

The first project assigned to Ercole is one that could frighten even the most expert designer: to realize a lightweight coupĂŠ on a shortened Aston Martin chassis; the brief, to create an Aston Martin that could beat on track the Ferrari GTOs; the time given, less than seven months. Ercole, with an outstanding calm, accepts the task and starts drawing. In October, at the London Salon, the stunning Aston Martin DB4 GTZ is presented.

1960 Aston Martin DB4

This car is considered, with the Alfa Romeo TZ and TZ2, one of the masterpieces of Spada and it’s even more outstanding if we think where Ercole started.

The given car is really heavy, both in the chassis and the engine. The only way to improve its competitiveness is to work on the aerodynamic efficiency, trying to create a body that would be as tight-fitting as possible to the mechanics. The result is compared by some to the dress of a toreador, a close-fitting suit that let everyone see the muscles. With the intent of shaving weight and reducing the front section, he managed to create a striking body that also emphasize the identity of Aston Martin, rather than suffocating it.

Already from its first project, Ercole expresses its way of thinking that will be present in most of the cars of his career: the research for aerodynamic technical solutions. Before heading to the birth of the coda tronca, it’s interesting to see two other cars from 1960 that Ercole designs before the Alfa Romeos, the Bristol 407 GTZ and the OSCA 1699 GTZ, two cars that show his research on aerodynamic efficiency.

Giovanni Lurani, pilot, engineer (father of the Nibbio 1 and 2) and auto journalist, describes in this way the Bristol by Zagato on his magazine Auto Italiana: “…on the difficult Bristol 2 litre shortened chassis (fairly tall, with an engine that would be almost insurmountable for a sleek line) Zagato has figured out a Berlinetta with a really personal and successful style. During the past, we always admired Zagato more for the efficiency rather than for the cleanliness of its designs. This time, however, on top of the primeval endowments of the functionality, Zagato has added a master’s touch.”

1960 Bristol GTZ

On the same year, Ercole receives another difficult task, to create a Gran Turismo body for the OSCA 1600. At this time, OSCA, the racing car maker founded by Ettore, Ernesto and Bindo Maserati after they divested their homonymous brand to Orsi brothers, is losing clients, so they decide to launch their first road car.

The result from Spada is a completely new car that doesn’t belong to any former Zagato. The shoulder line is low, the cabin is pushed back and features the historic Zagato’s doppia gobba (double humps, created to add space for the driver’s helmet). This time, however, this trait is reworked with the addition of two air intakes to aerate the inside of the cabin.

Thanks to this particular back, compared by some to the one of a cuirassed reptile, this OSCA is quite uncommon and original.

1960 OSCA 1699 GTZ

The three cars analysed so far share a quite vertical rear that however is still characterized by rounded fillet, but it’s possible to spot an evolution that will lead Spada to the conceptualization of the coda tronca.

In 1959 Zagato soften the edges of the original Giulietta Sprint and unveils at the 1960 Geneva Motor Show the Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ for racing purposes. The car is light and rounded, and on track, despite being really quick in the corners, can’t compete to the fast and ultra-light Lotus Elite designed by Colin Chapman. Alfa Romeo asks Zagato to find new solutions to increase the speed on the straights of at least 18 km/h.

Elio Zagato and Ercole Spada start the research and immediately head to improve the aerodynamic efficiency by stretching the nose and the rear overhang. The two work tirelessly on this project, with young Ercole benefitting from the helps and tips provided by Elio as a long-time expert pilot.

1960 Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ coda tonda

“The final step was to test the efficiency of the design sitting on the side of Elio while he was driving at more than 200 km/h on highway. (…) At the time, the Milano-Bergamo highway was only a three-lanes road: one for each direction, and the third in the middle for the survivors of the overtakes.”

They start experimenting with a Giulietta SZ on the Milano-Bergamo highway, that for its geography becomes the low-cost wind tunnel of Zagato. They test some experimental body shells bolted on the round tail of the original car: Elio is driving at full speed on the central overtaking lane; next to him, Ercole, green with fear, stopwatch on his hand, takes the time using the milestones as a reference. Every time the maximum speed improves, but the added long tail affects the handling on the corners, while the aesthetical result is appalling.

1961 Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ coda tronca

But that’s when Ercole has the revelatory moment, as he recalls the experiments of Wunibald Kamm that in the 30s did some streamlining experiments about the clipped tail, without successfully proving what he theorized (picture on top). The problem, according to Spada, was that the tail, despite being vertical, was “…always smooth in one way or another.” No one before, even BMW, had the bravery to get rid completely of those roundings, so Ercole decides to cut abruptly the tail “…as if we had a gigantic knife”, creating the coda tronca.

With this feature, the Giulietta SZ reaches 227 km/h from the 200 of the rounded tail SZ.

This is the most successful aerodynamic experiment of Spada, and all the work to reach this result is a defining period for the young designer; research that will shape his design method for all his long career: direct confrontation with technicians and pilots, research of aerodynamical technical solutions and always an honest design, where every style element has its purposes and it’s always fitting with the manufacturer’s identity.

During his work at Zagato, Ercole always use the same method: first, he makes a prototype with the craftsmen; if this prototype works on track, he can start to design the definitive car. Often, many sketches of some particular models are actually subsequent to the presentation of these cars.

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Airman's Odyssey

Thanks to Elio’s teaching, the design philosophy of Spada is directly linked to the one of Zagato. At that time this is the only main coachbuilder in Milan, and it’s very distant to the big ones in Turin, in terms of kilometres but, most of all, in the approach.

“During the 60s there were many coachbuilders from Turin that were reinterpreting the production cars. They were always trying to get the inspirations from the American trend, so there were these fins, there was a lot of chrome, lots of added things. So, everything that isn’t added, doesn’t add weight”.

Zagato has always been the coachbuilder of the racing cars. Cars with lines that cannot lie: sooner or later, the race would prove if the models are effective or not. Less weight, less volume, more aerodynamics, these are the main points that lead Zagato to create impressive cars with a rough, spartan vibe. And the media coverage is good, since on every Sunday there is a Zagato-built race car on top of every racing category.

Zagato and the Turin’s coachbuilders

In this environment, Zagato gives to Ercole full trust because his cars provide racing successes and the clients are happy. All the most famous Zagato features, the doppia gobba, the way the daylight openings are shaped, the coda tronca are all conceived in this way, to be effective on track.

All the Zagatos are designed without the intention of being provocative, because as we saw, they are meant primarily for the efficiency. One of the few exception of this rule is the 1962 Lancia Flavia Sport; Carlo Pesenti, at that time head of Lancia, asks Zagato to make a shape “to be noticeable”, an impressive and uncommon design.

As soon as the car is unveiled, it causes debates for its uncommon look and for the striking styling features that had, as usual for a Spada’s work, functional purposes. The Lancia Flavia Sport’s main feature is the uncommon greenhouse, with the rear windows that go upwards and curve on the roof, in a citation to some Zagato with enhanced windows, like the 1947 Fiat 1100 coupé Panoramica or the 1949 Ferrari 166. The rear window is electrically operated and can be opened to ventilate the interior.

1962 Lancia Flavia Sport

In the same year, Ercole Spada designs the Alfa Romeo 2600 SZ that will be produced in 1966. Alfa Romeo wants a Zagato-bodied sports car based on the top-of-the-range Alfa Romeo 2600, available as a saloon, as a coupÊ designed by Bertone and as a spider from Touring. To make the work difficult for Zagato, Alfa Romeo specifies that the body should be made out of steel and not by Zagato’s favourite aluminium.

1962 Alfa Romeo 2600 SZ

The first prototype (the yellow one in the pictures) is similar to Spada’s previous works: the silhouette is characterised by a slightly recessed coda tronca, like in racing cars, and a sloped and curved rear window. The most interesting part is probably the single-piece bonnet, that has two prominent horizontal air intakes that stand on top of the negative inclined scudetto and the faired headlights. Unfortunately, these elements cause perplexity and the production car, unveiled in 1965 at the Frankfurt Motors Show, is completely changed; in the process it has lost its unusual features, becoming more stylistically balanced, but also less original. Despite being conceived as a race car, the production 2600 SZ is mighty and elegant, and very few of them are actually used in racing.

1962 is a busy year for Ercole, as he takes part of another project, the replacement of the successful Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ, this time based on the upcoming Giulia and to be raced in the Gran Turismo category: the Giulia TZ. The project starts in 1959, when Alfa Romeo’s legendary engineers Orazio Satta Puliga and Giuseppe Busso start thinking about a tubular spaceframe chassis and light all-aluminium bodywork. Zagato, that has to dress the car, starts the development of two prototypes: a spider based on a preliminary sketch by Ercole Spada, and a coupÊ.

1962 Alfa Romeo TZ

The design process is long and troubled, and Busso interacts with Zagato on a regular basis, visiting the coachbuilder almost every day. The spider prototype is quickly abandoned because the aerodynamic efficiency is low, although the car weights only 600 Kg. Elio Zagato and Ercole Spada decide to close the car, and after some attempts they decide to evolve the winning formula of the Giulietta SZ, with a roof connected to an even more extremized and elongated coda tronca, this time also recessed.

Alfa Romeo unveils at the 1962 Turin Salon the first version called GTZ characterized by squared headlights, but the definitive model of 1963, the TZ (Tubolare Zagato) has more coherent round lights. The TZ is considered one of the masterpieces of Ercole Spada, being streamlined and visually balanced thanks to the pushed-back cabin that shrinks seamlessly to the negative-inclined clipped tail.

After the racing debut in some minor categories, in 1963 the TZ starts its legendary racing career claiming the Coppa Fisa. The first main international success is the victory of the 12h of Sebring, followed by the victories of Targa Florio, 1000 Km of NĂźrburgring, 24h of Le Mans, Tour de France, Coupe des Alpes, Tour de Corse and, in 1965, again Sebring and Targa Florio.

“It was the most beautiful and easy-to-drive car of my whole career” Andrea De Adamich, racing driver

These huge racing successes lead Alfa Romeo and Zagato to think about an evolution for the TZ while this car is still racing and winning, correcting the weakest technical solutions, like the high centre of mass and the narrow wheels. Presented to the public in 1964, the TZ2 has almost the same tubular spaceframe of the predecessor, but the new fiberglass bodywork enhance the car’s rigidity. The engine now is inclined, while the suspensions and the steering-column are reworked to lower as much as possible the car. The result is an impressive height of only 99 cm combined to a streamlined body where Spada emphasize even more the concept of the TZ1.

The TZ2 is light and fast and handles perfectly, even on the wet. It can also annoy bigger and more powerful Ferraris. It’s one of the best front-engine racing cars of its era, and it wins the endurance races in Sebring, Monza, Targa Florio and Nßrburgring. This car will be replaced by the 33 in 1966.

1964 Alfa Romeo TZ2

“Looking back, I wasn’t paid very well. Yet I couldn’t care less. I was living my dream, working on race cars.”

Despite the successes of his cars and the aerodynamic innovations he created, Ercole Spada, in the 60s, is considered by Zagato as a mere employee as the other 30 people working there. In a 1961 article for Road & Track, where the journalist visits the coachbuilder with Gianni Zagato, brother of Elio, there is no mention at all about Ercole, and Gianni convinces the interviewer that all the designs are made by him.

Ercole keeps working for Zagato until 1969, and in this time frame he creates other masterpieces like the 1965 Lancia Fulvia Sport, Spada’s first car accessible by a bigger public (pictured above), and the 1969 Alfa Romeo Junior Z, a model born as a dream car that translates almost without modifications to a production car (previous page and red drawings). Especially the Alfa evolves the aerodynamic features of Spada’s earlier works, but here the designer creates a sharper wedge shape that will serve as an inspiration to cars like the GTV from Giorgetto Giugiaro.

After leaving Zagato he continues his stunning career, designing successful models like the Ford GT70, the Iso Rivolta Varedo, the BMW 5-Series and 7-Series, Fiat Tipo, Tempra, Lancia Dedra and Alfa Romeo 155 among many others, proving to be successful also at managing style centres, in addition to his design philosophy about elegant and clean lines supported by aerodynamic and technical solutions.