Exotic Alfa Romeo SZ Trofeo goes on sale

A rare 1993 Alfa Romeo SZ in the racing Trofeo spec is looking for a new owner in Italy. It has 22,000 km (13,670 miles) under its belt and goes for €185,000.

The original SZ model was designed with some help from coachbuilder Zagato (see video). The Trofeo version was released specifically to participate in a one-make racing series hosted by Alfa Romeo. In the early nineties, the SZ Trofeo race served as a support race to the Formula 1 Grand Prix.

Alfa Romeo largely pieced the original hatchback together from its own production cars, only sprucing it up with a few racing components designed from scratch. The Trofeo version featured a stripped interior, tweaked suspension and a roll cage. Its 3.0-liter V6 varied from 210 to 230 PS from one example to another (207–227 hp; 154–169 kW). The listing only points out that the engine is stock, but doesn’t specify the output figures.

In total, the Italian company produced around 1,000 of Alfa Romeo SZ hatchbacks. Different sources indicate that only between 13 and 20 of them were upgraded to the Trofeo spec. The one seen here had a rich background, running in the F1 Monaco Grand Prix Support Race and finishing multiple Italian Supercar GT races.

It was later bought by the now-retired racing driver Andrea de Adamich, who proceeded to drive it casually for ten years, but sometimes hit the racetrack, too. The car has visited such iconic circuits as the Hockenheimring, Spa Francorchamps, Mugello, Red Bull Ring, and others. Unofficial reports claim that even the legendary Porsche rally and test driver Walter Röhrl took it through its courses on one occasion.

The seller says the car is in a pristine condition, fully authentic and defect-free. That’s very rare on the used racecar market, but not unheard of. It is also officially approved for FIA retro car racing events.