Synonymous with Zagato, but embraced throughout the automotive industry, double-bubble roofs are one of the most striking design cues ever to emerge from post-WWII Italy. An already established coachbuilder with a lot of experience in lightweight materials, namely aluminum, Ugo Zagato was also among the first to experiment with aerodynamics, creating fast cars by making their bodywork light and slippery, just like he previously did with airplanes.

Before he came up with his most famous design, Ugo Zagato patented a domed roof with curved side windows in 1948, naming it Panoramica. The Panoramica design was an aerodynamic advancement, but still inherently flawed, as the dome heightened the roofline, increasing a car’s frontal section. Addressing this setback, he devised another roof design, the one that would come to define the company he founded in 1919.

From a functional standpoint, the double-bubble roofline design had two advantages over a conventional roof. First off, it gave more headroom for the occupants and their helmets while keeping the center section low while also making the roof stronger. Aesthetically, it differentiated Ugo Zagato’s cars from those of other coachbuilders, enabling him to leave his mark on the booming sports car scene.

What started off as a solution for competition cars thus became a trademark feature and many cars built by Zagato featured a double domed roof. As double-bubble roofs evolved into a powerful stylistic statement synonymous with sporting ambitions, the Milanese coachbuilder wasn’t the only one to use this feature. More than a few automakers had their own takes on this design and at least one iconic car sported this feature without any affiliation with Zagato.

Through these ten cars, we’ll cover the birth and evolution of double-bubble roofs throughout decades, starting from the era when Zagato dominated the European raceways, to the roofline’s expansion into the mainstream. While you’re taking a trip down the memory lane, make sure to tell us about your favorite double-bubble roofs.

1 1953 Fiat 8V Zagato

It’s probably hard to imagine now, but Fiat once had a respectable presence in European motorsport and it also produced quite formidable sports cars. In the 1950s, the brand’s halo sports car was powered by Dante Giacosa’s narrow angle V8 and was simply called 8V.

This compact and agile berlinetta was intended for racing and as such it received treatments by various prominent coachbuilders, Zagato included. The 8V Elaborata Zagato series was the first car ever to receive a double-bubble roof, Ugo Zagato’s novelty design at the time. The concept proved successful and the lightweight and rigid double-domed roof was here to stay.

2 1956 Fiat-Abarth 750 GT Zagato

Cars come in all shapes and sizes, but people and their helmets generally stay the same, so naturally, smaller competition cars built by Zagato had bigger domes relative to their respective sizes. Among Lancias, Alfa Romeos and Siatas, it was one particular Abarth that stood out both for its heroic status and adorable looks. The 750 GT Zagato was mechanically based on the Abarth-tuned Fiat 600 supermini, but with a handbuilt lightweight body, it was barely recognizable as one. The miniscule coupé was a fierce competitor in its class and apart from the double-bubble roof, it had a matching rear hood with inlets feeding fresh air to the aircooled engine.

3 1956 Maserati A6G/54 Zagato 2155

The connection between Maserati and Zagato is a deep one and it started during Ugo Zagato’s Panoramica era. Naturally, it evolved alongside Maserati itself and the carrozzeria was there to equip the A6G/54 with lightweight bodies for competition and road use.

The 2155 Chassis was one of 20 cars built by Zagato in total, and one of a few ones sporting two domes on the roof. Zagato-bodied A6G/54 cars recorded racing success throughout the late 1950s, but the double-bubble roof didn’t catch on afterwards, as the roofline appeared again on a largely forgotten 2007 Maserati GS Zagato Coupé.

4 1956 Ferrari 250 Zagato

Ferrari’s revered 250 Series has seen numerous different interpretations both from the factory itself and a host of independent coachbuilders alike. Naturally, Zagato was among them, creating five different lightweight bodies, three of them with the double-bubble roof. Chassis No. 0665GT was the most successful of them all, winning the Italian sportscar championship in 1957 in hands of Camillo Luglio.

To this day, Zagato has turned only a few Ferraris into limited production or one-off specials. Many of them are plain odd, like the 330 GTC or the FZ93. On the other hand, cars like the 575 GTZ or the Nibbio both share the DNA with the classic 250 Series Zagato, proving that double bubble roofs are a timeless design adored by all generations of most discerning Ferrari clients.

5 1986 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Zagato

As the 1970s came to an end, curves completely gave way to straight lines. All of a sudden, sports cars became sharp, wedge-shaped, and geometric. In such a design zeitgeist coupled with new aerodynamic discoveries, bubble tops seemed archaic, but Zagato still found a way to adapt its trademark feature to the decade’s prevailing trends.

Here enters the Aston Martin V8 Vantage a geometric brute of a car and a fresh take on the suave, but dated grand tourer. The double-bubble top wasn’t exactly bubbly, but it was the 1980s after all. This Zagato special proved that double bubble tops could survive the decade remembered for sharp automotive design, but that’s not the only reason why it’s on the list. V8 Vantage Zagato revived the partnership that started with the DB4 GT Zagato in 1960, and thanks to it, Aston Martin and Zagato reestablished a bond that lasts to this very day, producing truly spectacular sports cars in the process.

6 1996 Dodge Viper GTS

The Viper debuted as a roadster in 1989, while the GTS coupé followed in 1996 with the introduction of the second generation dubbed SR II. There, the Viper’s fastback roofline got helmet bumps, adding even more excitement to the already dramatic design, making the GTS look just like a head of its scaly, cold-blooded counterpart.

The double-bubble roof wasn’t a gimmick though as the second-gen Viper had an impressive racing career in its GTS-R guise. Most famously campaigned by Oreca, the Viper won numerous prestigious events, including 2000 Rolex 24 at Daytona, and three back-to-back class wins at Le Mans between 1998 and 2000. Viper’s double-bubble roof was there for all subsequent generations, each pushing boundaries of American performance, both on the streets and circuits across the world.

7 1997 BMW Z07 Concept Car

During the mid-1990s, the automotive design caught on with the retromodern craze and all of a sudden every major carmaker was on board, presenting their visions of the future by digging through the jewels of the past. In 1997 BMW unveiled the Z07 duo, a modern tribute to the BMW 507, the gorgeous disaster of a roadster that almost drove the company into bankruptcy in the late 1950s.

The pair of handsome grand tourers, one of them roofless and the other one sporting a double-bubble fastback roof, was unveiled at the 1997 Tokyo Motor Show, hinting at the upcoming Z8 flagship. In the end, the production car remained a roadster-only model, but Henrik Fisker’s double-bubble exercise was too brilliant not to end up on the list.

8 2008 Spyker C12 Zagato

Zagato made a name for turning exclusive, yet somewhat regular looking sports cars into extravagant creations, but what happens when the starting point was just as idiosyncratic as their own masterpieces?

The 6.0-liter W12-powered Dutch oddball named Spyker C12 was adorable in all its quirkiness, inheriting a lot of visual cues from its smaller sibling, the C8. The Dutch automaker hired Zagato to create a coupé variant of the topless C12 and the carrozzeria delivered big, sprucing up Maarten de Bruijn’s unique crossover of steampunk and early aeronautical visual cues. The double-bubble roof was made of two separate glass panels with a triangular roof scoop nested in between, thus preserving Spyker’s original spirit. Though Spyker planned a limited run of both cars, the C12 and the C12 Zagato remained one-offs.

9 2009 Peugeot RCZ

Even though this stylish French coupé has Zagato written all over it down to the letter Z in its name, it in fact had nothing to do with the famed Italian coachbuilder. But, it had a double-bubble, and what a roof it was! Peugeot’s design team claimed that the roof design was inspired by the contemporary Le Mans prototypes, but the connection was barely visible and the final result offered more style than substance.

The front-driven coupé was hardly a thoroughbred sports car, yet what can’t be denied is that the RCZ was impossibly stylish. The compact Mediterranean cruiser was Peugeot’s vision of a modern lifestyle coupé, a commonplace car in the 1960s, but a dying breed in the 21st century. The double-bubble roof instantly made the RCZ a modern classic and as it remained heirless, it will be a fun collectible car for in the future.

10 2020 Toyota GR Supra DB

 

Completing the transformation from a burly JDM grand tourer into a track-happy sports car, the current, fifth generation Supra got the roofline to match. The Supra was co-developed with BMW, sharing its platform with the Z4 roadster and that being said, The double-domed roof was a perfect solution for a compact coupé aimed at track-oriented enthusiasts.

Apart from Zagato’s specials, the fifth-generation Supra is the only car with a double-bubble roof currently in production. But, it wasn’t the only legendary Japanese sports car with an in-house double-domed roof. Do you remember which one it is? If so, write your answer in the comments below!