As this blog grows, I find myself writing increasingly of the design of a car, rather than its specifications. I suppose that this is only to be expected in that I have always admitted to being more interested in the look of a car than how fast it is or how reliable.

This leads me naturally to speak of designers and I confess to preferring some above others. Everyone has heard of Pininfarina, for instance, but I consider their designs to be slightly conservative although always successful.

Much more to my taste is the work of Zagato. If any designer is going to take a risk or break new ground, it is Zagato. Often Zagato designs seem strange at first and it is only later that we can see what the intention was. Almost always the cars they design come to be classics in time, however.

Have a wander around the Zagato website, particularly the gallery, and you will see what I mean. Note how the modern Zagato Aston Martin DB7 echoes the classic DB4 that the company designed in the sixties.

These days the Germans produce some very clean and purposeful designs and the Japanese too have some interesting designers. But, if it’s pure, unadulterated beauty you want, the answer must come, as it always has, from Italy. And Zagato is one of their best.