Alfa Romeo Sz Coda Tronca: The Art of Conservation - Hardcover

by Corrado Lopresto (Author), Gautam Sen (Author), Paolo Di Taranto (Author)

Details how a rare and influential car was miraculously discovered and recovered.

Alfa Romeo SVZ Coda Tronca presents an unforgettable story of an abandoned yet influential vehicle's rediscovery and restoration. Hidden away in a barn for the better part of five decades, a single Alfa Romeo SVZ Coda Tronca--a rare and highly significant car in the company's design development--was found in a nearly perfect state of preservation. Drawing on art and archaeological techniques and taking painstaking care to save as much as possible of the original body, prominent Italian collector Corrado Lopresto decided to clean only half the car, leaving the other half frozen in time. In the uncleaned half, Lopresto preserved everything (including the dust) under a thin layer of transparent lacquer. The cleaned part has not been fully restored either but has been saved by retouching in such a way that the original aspects are not affected. This book captures the rediscovery of this historic vehicle and the way it has been preserved--a fascinating tale of art meeting automobile.

Author Biography

Corrado Lopresto is an Italian car collector. Gautam Sen is a vice president at Fédération Internationale de Véhicules Anciens (FIVA), jury member of the Le Mans Classic, founder of The Indian Auto Journal, and the author of numerous books. Paolo di Taranto is a brand and heritage consultant at Zagato.