When you think about Cadillac and Ferrari, it would probably never occur to you to compare them in one sentence. However, there was a little piece of time that witnessed the American luxury brand wanting to compete with the Prancing Horse.
In 1968, General Motors had an idea of creating a sports car to rival the iconic Italian supercar manufacturer. For that mission, they hired Luigi Chinetti, famous Ferrari racing driver and the exclusive Ferrari US distributor between 1947 – 1970. The result was the very interesting Cadillac NART Zagato, with all three bearers of the name playing a significant role in the project.
General Motors provided Cadillac Eldorado’s 472 V8 engine and its matching Turbo Hydra-Matic transmission with FWD transaxle. The chassis was also from an Eldorado, but the drive unit was mounted in the rear and reversed for RWD, so that it could resemble more to the European exotics.
The NART part of the name came from Chinetti himself, since he was responsible for engineering the car. He was one of the founders of the North American Racing Team, and the logo combined the Ferrari’s Prancing Horse, Stars and Stripes and NART initials.
And the Zagato part came from the famous Italian coachbuilder that designed and created the car. They have built an all-aluminium coupe body with a 2+2 seating arrangement, added ‘Z’ badges on its front fenders and completely restyled Eldorado hubcaps.
Other components for this car came from various manufacturers: Pontiac donated the taillights of their ‘68 GTO, many European car parts were used for interior details and the seats were taken from an Oldsmobile Toronado. Mind you, some even say that the dashboard, steering column and disc brakes once also belonged on a Toronado.
The car was presented in 1970 and it actually caught the eyes of many journalists. With its ‘European look’, many people believed it was either a special Ferrari or a Toronado in a fancy dress. Personally, I like the way it looks. Some details need to be changed, but it is not a bad – looking car at all. It actually reminds me of a Ferrari 365 GTB Daytona, but maybe that is just me.
The problem for the NART Zagato occurred when GM dropped out of this project due to various delays and economic difficulties. So, not only did GM leave, but so did the hopes for NART Zagato making it into production.
Some orders were taken for the car, but only one was ever made. There were even plans to make a NART Zagato Mk II, which was supposed to have a redesigned ‘humpback’ rear. Another plan was to make a breadvan-styled wagon. Unfortunately, neither made it past the drawing board.
The Cadillac NART Zagato remained a (forgotten) one – off. In 1987, it was bought by Melvin A. Olshansky, who purchased it directly from the Chinetti family. He had spent 21 years restoring the car with the help of Mill Creek Motors and Upholstery Unlimited. And then, in 2006, the owner decided to sell the car. At an RM Auction, the Cadillac NART Zagato was sold for just $57.750, which for a one – off car is shockingly low.
Photo credits: FavCars, Coachbuild
Published in Car Stories
I love this concept! Very rarely see it. Every once in a while a new generation discovers it. Caddy was a player back in the day. This was the end of their “hey day”. They made another gasp in the 90’s with the Cien. But this was something innovative in terms of styling. Outside of the box for Caddy. Oh well, concepts are great fun. We all lament that certain ones were not put into production and the reason, 100% of the time, are the bean counters. They said, “there’s no business case”. Sad, but they are just keeping the company afloat and saving it from flights of expensive fancy. That’s business.