In the opinion of many Alfa Romeo enthusiasts, the race-developed Giulia Tubolare Zagato, or TZ-1, was the ultimate embodiment of the marque’s popular four-cylinder model line. This striking example claims original ownership and period racing use by a colorful cultural figure, Dmitri Nabokov. Nabokov was the son of the highly acclaimed literary novelist Vladimir Nabokov, the multilingual intellect most widely known for penning the legendary Lolita and Pale Fire.

But although Dmitri Nabokov may have been the son of one of the world’s most celebrated writers, he was so much more: An accomplished academic writer and translator in his own right, Dmitri was also a talented athlete and an aspiring opera singer who once took the stage with Luciano Pavarotti. On top of all that, the younger Nabokov was a dyed-in-the-wool sports car enthusiast, at various times owning a Triumph, Bizzarrini, Dodge Viper, MG, and several Ferraris, among many others.

Completed in April 1964, chassis number 750061 was finished in Bianco paint over Nero leather-upholstered seats and built with a double-bubble roof. As Nabokov measured nearly six feet, five inches with a racing helmet, he claimed to have personally specified this feature. The car is the only TZ-1 delivered new with a double-bubble roof—a feature so closely associated with Zagato coachwork today—making it extraordinarily rare and desirable from the outset.

Nabokov immediately set about campaigning the Alfa Romeo, entrusting the car for competition preparation to the well-known Italian driver/tuner Carlo Facetti, and then running in some 23 different races over the next season and a half. During that stretch, the TZ-1 achieved numerous class wins and top-three finishes at various events at Monza and in European hillclimbs throughout 1964, and it placed 4th in the GT 1.6 at the 1000 Kilometers of Monza in 1965. That August, Nabokov offered the Giulia for sale, and it was acquired by Alec Mildren, an Australian driver/dealer who soon resold the car to fellow Aussie Max Brunninghausen of Sydney.

Brunninghausen campaigned the Alfa Romeo in the well-known Tasman Championship, achieving a 1st-overall finish at the Warwick Farm International in February 1966. As detailed in the April 1969 issue of Sports Car World magazine, a copy of which is on file, when Brunninghausen was able to acquire a TZ-2, he traded the TZ-1 back to dealer Roy Compton, although Martin Ubelher and Patrick Dasse’s well-researched book Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ claims that the privateer continued to race the car during 1967 for Ian Hindmarsh Motors.

For the 1968 season Compton repainted the coachwork in bronze (as it appears in the article) and updated the mechanical components, including installation of a fresh engine, which is presumably the currently equipped motor. The local racing authorities disqualified the TZ-1 on a technicality, however, so Compton detuned the engine and sold it to Fred Calloway, the owner at the time of the magazine feature.

Passing to Nick and Leonie Langford by 1984, the TZ-1 was eventually offered at a Sotheby’s Australia sale in November 1990, by which point the coachwork had been repainted red, and the car was noted to be equipped with the currently installed 536-series block from a 1966 Giulia GT. Owned by Neil Marsden of Melbourne, the Alfa Romeo remained in Australia until 1991, when it was sold to the current owner, a dedicated marque collector.

The consignor immediately re-commissioned the TZ-1 for vintage racing, taking runs at Moroso, Sebring, and Watkins Glen during the early 1990s. During the 2010s, a renewed effort was invested in the car’s racing condition, and it was fitted with a new fuel bladder, a correct ring-and-pinion set, and a proper airbox that was custom-built in the correct factory style. Following participation in the 2012 US Vintage Grand Prix and July Sprints, the consignor commissioned PHP Racengines, Inc. of Wauconda, Illinois, to conduct a full engine rebuild to competition specifications in 2015.

Well-documented with a parts catalogue, owner’s manuals, owner’s correspondence, and maintenance invoices, this beautifully presented TZ-1 is an ideal candidate for further event enjoyment or display at marque gatherings and owner’s club meets. Also a strong basis for full restoration to its original factory configuration, the rare TZ-1 “Double Bubble,” with unique and unrepeatable provenance, promises to thrill both marque purists and racing aficionados alike.