:funTURIN, Italy — Castagna Milano, a small Italian coach-building firm, has brought Italian-American relations to a new high with its one-off prototype based on the Chevrolet Corvette.
Castagna Milano's Corvette-based Anzom sports-car prototype made its first appearance in May at the Top Marques show in Monaco, but in unfinished form. Now the historic coachbuilder has released images of the completed car, which is a modern reinterpretation of the original 1953 Chevrolet Corvette.
The Anzom has a 750-horsepower, 7.0-liter LS7 V8 engine that propels the two-seater to a top speed of 208 mph. Its grille resembles the original 1953 Corvette's front end. Interestingly, the rearview mirrors somehow recall certain Chapparal racing cars.
Castagna was one of the most famous Italian coachbuilders of the 1920s and '30s. In the mid-1990s it was briefly revived for a bizarre Alfa Romeo-based prototype. The firm re-emerged in 2004 with a Mini-based fun car, followed by a Mini-based woody wagon. Images of some of its past and present works are at the Castagna Milano Web site.
