You might not be seen the Cadillac NART Zagato before
Unique ONES Previously, Luigi Chinetti's name was closely associated with the Ferrari's cars, because he was an exclusive importer and distributor of pracing horse-logoed cars for North America in the 1960s to 1970s, but he had one desire that had not been fulfilled, namely to build his own car.
The NART Zagato is a sports car designed by Luigi Chinetti Jr. and built in 1970 under independent brand of NART in the collaboration with GM and Zagato. (Picture from: MotorTrend)
As qouted of MotorTrend, after years of success as an exclusive Ferrari dealer in the US and as the founder and the owner of the famous racing team NART (North American Racing Team), finally Chinetti decided to engineer his own car designed by his son in 1968.
After completion the one-off prototype of the NART Zagao was shown at the Turin Motor Show 1971. (Picture from: MotorTrend)
For this reason, he then collaborated with General Motors (GM), one of the US automotive giants and the Italian coachbuilder company Zagato. In short, then this joint venture succeeded in designing a sports car which later known as the NART Zagato, where some parts of the joint venture car is took of several the GM's cars and then Zagato realized it into the real world according to its plan.
1970 NART Zagato is basically a heavily modified Cadillac is built on a chassis that was
started its life as a Cadillac Eldorado which has been rearranged to
move the 472 cu-in V-8 and FWD transaxle to the rear. (Picture from: MotorTrend)
If you look closely at the appearance, the car is basically a heavily modified Cadillac is built on a chassis that was started its life as a Cadillac Eldorado which has been rearranged to move the 472 cu-in V-8 and FWD transaxle to the rear. And the NART Zagato is advertised as having gotten an upgrade so that its engine can shoot up to 400 hp, from previously according to the GM factory specifications the power was only up to 375 hp.
1970 NART Zagato is basically a heavily modified Cadillac is built on a chassis that was
started its life as a Cadillac Eldorado which has been rearranged to
move the 472 cu-in V-8 and FWD transaxle to the rear. (Picture from: MotorTrend)
Some other features took from several other GM's cars can be seen in its taillights borrowed from the Pontiac GTO and the dashboard, steering column and four-wheel disc brakes from Cadillac. Despite its size, the car's weight remains low thanks to the extensive use of aluminum in its construction.
After completion the one-off prototype of the NART Zagao was shown at the Turin Motor Show 1971. (Picture from: MotorTrend)
After completion the one-off prototype was shown at the Turin Motor Show 1971. At the time, although Chinetti began taking orders and already had two revised designs on the drawing board, the US auto giant GM unexpectedly withdrew from the partnership, due to several delays in the project as well as the declining economy since 1969.
Since being left by GM, the car project has practically fallen into a mess and the end the car never entered the production line, while the only completed prototype stayed in the Chinetti family's possession until 1987, then it was sold to a collector in Illinois, who had it fully restored. After that, its whereabouts became a mystery for decades, and reappeared in 2008 on an eBay page that was hailing from Brussels, Belgium under a price tag of $25,000. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | MOTORTREND ]