BMW Zagato Coupe: A Different Breed of Z Car The Concorso d'Eleganza at Villa d'Este, in Cernobbio, Italy, offers perhaps the most elegant backdrop of any motor show. The event also has become a reliable occasion for spotting new cars by Zagato. Work by the last of the independent Italian coachbuilders is rare. Built singly or in small numbers, Zagato versions of Astons or Alfas constitute an aristocracy unto themselves. Like most operas, they present exaggerated and passionate interpretations of older, perhaps more mundane stories. So it is with the BMW Zagato Coupe, a stagey, one-off pageant composed on the tale of the Z4, under the supervision of Norihiko Harada, the company's chief designer, and Andrea Zagato, his boss. Hand-crafted of aluminum sheet in a tradition that runs back to the beginning of the automotive industry, the BMW Zagato Coupe is composed around a theme of sweeping lines up front, the styling house's trademark double-bubble roof and a sliced-off rear. The most complex sculpture on the car's surface comes in the C-pillar hip area, where the sheet metal makes a dramatic, sweeping turn - the car's aria. In a media statement, BMW called this element, bridging the side glass and rear window, a "criss-cross" transition. "This aspect of the BMW Zagato Coupé design is particularly striking when viewed from above," it said. The concept's sheer Kamm back evokes the aero experiments BMW undertook with Dr. Wunibald Kamm, a pioneer of the aero look. BMW has leveraged its position as the principal sponsor of the concorso to exhibit some of the aero 328 models from before World War II at Villa d'Este. The side vents grow under Zagato's ministrations into deep grooves, like reversed machine gun ports on a fighter fuselage. The grille presents a complex interplay of Zs, a sort of metal variation of a fashion house's work-up of its initials; think Louis Vuitton luggage. The car is painted a wine-dark red, called Rosso Vivace, which shifts shadows and highlights to emphasize the surfaces. The oversize Z pendant worn by most Zagatos is found in silver below the side vents. Zagato and BMW have roots in aviation, a shared heritage alluded to by 19-inch 5-spoke alloy wheels, which echo aircraft propellers. Very little was left to chance. The car is not set for production even in limited numbers.