Alfa RomeoSSZ Stradale

Despite its place in the Alfa Romeo index, the SSZ Stradale was not a factory model from Milan. It was developed in Wisconsin by Alfa racer and restorer Tom Zatloukal, and the initials mean Sprint Speciale Zatloukal. His starting point was the Giulietta Sprint Speciale: the earliest prototypes reworked original Alfa chassis into lower, wider and lighter cars. What began as a personal one-off drew interest at Alfa club events, prompted a second commission, and eventually led to the formation of SSZ Motorcars.

The production cars moved far beyond a simple rebodied Alfa. The Mark 1 introduced a purpose-built tubular chassis and a Kevlar-reinforced fibreglass shell around an Alfa V6. Later versions followed Zatloukal's racing ambitions rather than any single factory recipe: the Mark 2 adopted a turbocharged Nissan engine, the competition-only Mark 3 used a twin-turbo Electromotive unit, and later cars could carry a Chevrolet V8. Across the series, the Sprint Speciale supplied the visual idea, while SSZ Motorcars supplied the engineering and identity.

Production ran from 1984 through 1999 and remained tiny: the published variant totals add up to only 28 prototypes and completed cars. Stradales appeared in American club racing, World Challenge and the United States Road Racing Championship, with street and competition specifications often overlapping. The most accurate description, then, is not an Italian Alfa Romeo production model but an American specialist car built from deep Alfa enthusiasm—Alfa-derived, sometimes Alfa-powered, and unmistakably Zatloukal's own.