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Alfa Romeo RL Lusso Zagato

The Alfa Romeo RL Lusso Zagato.

Vehicle Overview

The Alfa Romeo RL Lusso Zagato was a limited-production coachbuilt variant of the RL series, manufactured by Alfa Romeo between 1922 and 1927. The RL was Alfa Romeo’s first post-World War I six-cylinder model and was offered in multiple configurations, including Normale, Sport, and Lusso. The Lusso version, positioned as a more refined touring model, was occasionally bodied by external coachbuilders, among whom Carrozzeria Zagato produced a small number of bespoke examples. The RL chassis featured a front-mounted, inline six-cylinder engine. In its Lusso specification, displacement varied between 2,916 and 2,994 cubic centimetres, depending on production year. The engine employed overhead valves and was mated to a four-speed manual gearbox. Power output ranged from approximately 56 to 61 horsepower. Drive was delivered to the rear axle through a tubular propeller shaft. Suspension was by semi-elliptical leaf springs at both front and rear, and braking was initially applied to the rear wheels only, with later adoption of four-wheel mechanical drum brakes. Carrozzeria Zagato, based in Milan, applied its trademark lightweight construction techniques and aerodynamic design principles to a small number of RL chassis. The resulting Lusso-bodied examples were generally characterized by closed or semi-enclosed tourer configurations, executed in aluminium over wood or steel frameworks. These bodies exhibited restrained styling compared to Zagato’s more sporting designs, intended to reflect the RL Lusso’s touring purpose. Total RL production across all variants reached approximately 2,640 units. Of these, fewer than 1,000 were Sport and Super Sport models, and a substantially smaller subset—likely fewer than twenty units—were delivered to Zagato for Lusso bodywork. The low number of documented examples, combined with the absence of centralized records for coachbuilt chassis, renders precise production figures and chassis identification uncertain. Surviving examples are held in private collections and occasionally appear in concours exhibitions, though few retain fully documented provenance. The Alfa Romeo RL Lusso Zagato represents an early instance of collaborative work between Alfa Romeo and Zagato, predating their more widely recognized postwar models. It embodies the transitional era of Italian motoring in which industrially produced chassis were paired with hand-crafted bodies tailored to individual client requirements.