Before it came to mean a fuel-saving technology that married electric and internal combustion power, “hybrid” in some contexts meant a sophisticated European car motivated by a powerful American engine. The DeTomaso Pantera is arguably the most memorable of all these creations, but there were many running the gamut from the Franco-American Facel Vegas to the British oddities like the Gordon Keeble. Zagato’s newest creation, the Iso Rivolta GTZ, is an homage to an early 1960s classic hybrid: the stunning Iso Rivolta Grifo A3 cars, particularly the sharp A3/C cars bodied by Drogo.
That car’s wild lines came courtesy of Giorgetto Giugiaro of Bertone, with thin slit-like intakes that gave the Grifo such a distinctive face that Zagato’s homage reinterprets in a fresh way. Overall, it’s a clean design that feels more vintage-inspired than straight retro. That goes for the powertrain, as well. In the original Grifo, a reliable, powerful, and easily available Chevy small-block V-8 found in the Corvette was an inspired choice, putting out plenty of power for its time.
That’s perhaps an understatement for the new GTZ. It’s based on a seventh-generation Corvette Z06 automatic, so under the hood is the awe-inspiring LT4 engine, a blown 6.2-liter marvel making 650 hp and 650 lb-ft (in the GTZ, it’s up to a claimed 660 hp). Maybe too much power, that the Z06 had trouble putting down—a recurring theme in our various encounters with the Z06. It’s not likely that the luxurious, touring-oriented GTZ will spend much time on the track, so perhaps its behavior on the edge of its limits is less important than its prodigious thrust. Zagato claims this creation will hit 62 mph in just 3.7 seconds.
The GTZ’s carbon fiber does a reasonable job of hiding its origins, but the same can’t be said for the interior, which still features plenty of GM switchgear and design cues—likely unavoidable given the situation. It also doesn’t look much like Zagato’s earlier riff on the Iso theme, the IsoRivolta Vision Grand Turismo, designed for Gran Turismo Sport back in 2017—whose physical manifestation was also Corvette-powered.
Zagato will build just 19 GTZs, like the Monza Green example you see in these photos. Nine have been ordered at the time of this writing.
