Zelo - A PMI-brand

Sharing Car Design Sharing Forum
1

Zelo, a PMI LLC brand, an Italian dream

Introduction

Zelo is a sports, super and hyper car brand owned by PMI LLC, and officially registered in Italy under PMI Zelo s.r.l. The brand is also marketed as PMI Zealous in the US.

Zelo was initially created as a Grand Prix motorracing team by Damiano Colombio and Rizzi Ioli in 1932, using their self-developed engines. Just after the Second World War, Colombio and Ioli restarted production with the development of a 2 litre V12 engine. While the engine was intended for the 1947 Grand Prix season, no funding was available to design a car around it.

The engine was sold to a local racing team, which created a hand-made aluminium race car, styled by Fininparina, the famous designer who later went on to design multiple Zelos. Next to race cars, twenty-six road-going cars of this type, known as the Zelo 122 C, were produced.

The issues in finding funding to finance their own racing team aspirations, rather than being a mere engine developer, brought Colombio and Ioli into contact with PMI Polloi. The PMI LLC headquarters saw a chance here, both for their own racing brand, PMI Racing, but to start creating a sub-brand for luxury sports cars. And thus, PMI Zelo was born.

Chapters

1. Early Beginnings
2. The First Success
3. The Odd One Out
4. Conquering America

5 Likes
2

Early Beginnings

1948 PMI Zelo 122 Competizione

The first Zelo car featured a racing chassis and a Fininparina styled body, and was handbuilt by in a local workshop outfitting racing team.

Powering the 122 C is the Colombio 12.20, a 1995 cc (60.0 mm x 58.8 mm) Direct-Acting Over-Head Cam 60° V12, producing 160 horsepower at 7100 rpm and 175 Nm of torque at 5600 rpm. Around the engine, a light, hand-made tubular frame and light-weight aluminum body paneling ensured this light road-legal race car could reach speeds over 180 km/h fairly comfortably.

Handling-wise, the 122 C was technically remarkable, with racing sway bars front and rear and finely tuned brakes, it did not suffer the twitchiness and nervousness of many of its competitors in the day.

Despite its exquisite driving abilities, and its success in late 40s, and early 50s racing, the car was very expensive and time-consuming to produce, and only 24 road-going examples were ever produced.


Stats – Zelo 122 C:

Suspension: F/R: Independent double wishbone
Engine: Cast Iron 1995 cc V12 DAOHC-24, double-barrel triple-carburated
Drivetrain: Front-engined rear-wheel-drive
Weight: 970 kg
Top speed: 195 kph
Acceleration: 0-100 in 7,4 seconds
Fuel Economy: 12,8 l/100 km at 50 kph; 13,9 l/100 km at 80 kph
Braking performance: 80-0: 37 meters
Wheels: F/R: P165/90C14 104H

1950 PMI Zelo Inter 122 S and 1951 PMI Zelo Inter 162 S

Using the same base engine block as the 122 C, but with a more road-friendly tune, a first true PMI Zelo car was developed. The Inter 122 S was not a sports car, but a 4-seater grand tourer, which luxurious interior. The 1995 cc engine now made a much lower 100 horsepower at 6100 rmp, but coupled to earlier accessible torque, with a peak of 158 Nm at 3200 rmp.

The chassis is a simple ladder frame with the engine and bodywork bolted on. This made the chassis available for coach builders, as well as other racing stall, which could modify the engine back into racing spec.

Feeling bold, PMI decided to start working on a V16 variant with the same (60.0 mm x 58.8 mm) bore as the 2 litre V12. The resulting 2660 cc engine was put into an even more opulent version called the Inter 162 S. With hand-made interiors and increased power output of 140 horsepower at 5800 rpm and 201 Nm of torque at 3500 rpm, the car was mostly intended for export.

Production was slow and limited, but the cars, luxurious and easy to drive though expensive, found a limited audience among successful post-war entrepreneurs, celebrities and among diplomatic missions.

Stats – Inter 122 S:

Suspension: F/R: Independent double wishbone
Engine: Cast Iron 1995 cc V12 DAOHC-24, double-barrel triple-carburated
Drivetrain: Front-engined rear-wheel-drive
Weight: 1221 kg
Top speed: 156 kph
Acceleration: 0-100 in 12 seconds
Fuel Economy: 9,4 l/100 km at 50 kph; 11,7 l/100 km at 80 kph
Braking performance: 80-0: 55,1 meters
Wheels: F/R: P155/105C15 108S


Stats – Inter 162 S:

Suspension: F/R: Independent double wishbone
Engine: Cast Iron 2660 cc V16 DAOHC-32, single-barrel quad-carburated
Drivetrain: Front-engined rear-wheel-drive
Weight: 1288 kg
Top speed: 179 kph
Acceleration: 0-100 in 9,6 seconds
Fuel Economy: 16,0 l/100 km at 50 kph; 13,4 l/100 km at 80 kph
Braking performance: 80-0: 55,1 meters
Wheels: F/R: P155/105C15 108U


3

These early Zelos would be very sought-after today, and with competition provenance and exclusivity on their side, it’s easy to see why.

2 Likes
4

The First Success

1952 PMI Zelo 252 Export

Rizzi Ioli was unhappy with the Inter automobiles. He found them lacking in styling, and betraying the duo’s racing pedigree. With the development on the way of a newer, larger V12 overhead cam powerplant, he sought out Fininparina to style him a grand tourer coupe.

The resulting car, the Zelo 252 Export, made use of the new 2563 cc (68,0 mm x 58,8 mm) OHV engine, and with simply yet elegant design, it was to become the first poster car of Zelo line-up; an instant classic. The chassic was a monocoque, but the suspension was less advanced that its pure race-bred predecessor platforms, with leaf springs in the rear.

Colombio, unhappy to be left out of the design process and feeling passed, saw nontheless the potentional in the car. To ensure domestic sales of the Inter line-up was not disrupted, he vetoed sale in Italy itself, but marketed the car specifically for the export markets.

Biggest innovation was the 5-speed manual gearbox, transferring the 120 available horses (at 5600 rpm) to the rear wheels. The engine produced 194 Nm of torque at 2400 rpm, and was able to run optimally on generally available fuel. Later Zelos would require higher quality commercial fuel to run smoothly.

Stats – 252 Export:

Suspension: F/R: Independent double wishbone / Leaf springs
Engine: Cast Iron 2563 cc V12 OHC-24, single-barrel triple-carburated
Drivetrain: Front-engined rear-wheel-drive
Weight: 1039 kg
Top speed: 179 kph
Acceleration: 0-100 in 8,8 seconds
Fuel Economy: 10,0 l/100 km at 50 kph; 10,3 l/100 km at 80 kph
Braking performance: 80-0: 30,9 meters
Wheels: F/R: P155/ 90C15 103B

1955 PMI Zelo 315 Export

In 1955, the Export, as it was now know, despite also being availble within Italy at this point, received a facelift. The tail got longer and the front was slightly revised, with additional headlights built into the front grille.

The model year also introduced a second engine option, a large 75,0 mm stroke x 59,4 mm bore V12, developed by Colombio, and dubbed the “Umbria”. The resulting 3149 cc engine produced 180 horsepower at 5400 rpm and 266 Nm at 3400 rpm.

The 315 Export gained a following because of its performance, with a top speed exceeding 200 km/h. But the 252 Export remained popular as well, due to its more nimble performance and higher every-day usability. The larger engined car sent a lot of power to those rear wheels, and more than one example was totalled in high speed crashes.

Stats – 315 Export:

Suspension: F/R: Independent double wishbone / Leaf springs
Engine: Cast Iron 3149 cc V12 OHC-24, double-barrel triple-carburated
Drivetrain: Front-engined rear-wheel-drive
Weight: 1118 kg
Top speed: 208 kph
Acceleration: 0-100 in 8,0 seconds
Fuel Economy: 10,6 l/100 km at 50 kph; 9,5 l/100 km at 80 kph
Braking performance: 80-0: 31,4 meters
Wheels: F/R: P155/ 90C15 103Z

3 Likes
5

The Odd One Out

1955 PMI Zelo 142 Competizione

A bit of an odd one out, the Zelo 142 Competizione, which was released in very limited numbers in 1955. Not at first sight, with the concept itself based on the 1948 Zelo 122 Competizione: an exclusive light sports roadster with a racing-spec based engine. Even the naming refers to the iconic first Zelo.

Nontheless, two elements jump out, and are very different from any of the old Zelos. First, we have the chassis and bodywork, which in the case of the 142 are a handcrafted tubular racing chassis with fiberglass paneling. A sidestep away from the classis monocoque and steel construction for the normal street factory models in the mid-50s and onwards.

Secondly, there’s the engine: this is the first twincam Zelo engine. As such not that spectacular, since many later Zelos would feature twincam V8s, V12s, and V16s. However, this particular engine was not developed in-house, it was adapted from a PMI Polloi racing engine by Colombio, and as such is the only 4-cylinder Zelo-engine ever made.

The unique 1985 cc (90,0 mm x 78,0 mm) four-banger makes 170 horsepower at 6100 rpm and 206 Nm at 5700 rpm and is coupled to the same 5-speed manual gearbox as in the Export series. Performance is smoother and more balanced than that of its spiritual predecessor from 1948, even if the numbers are not that much higher. The 2 litre engine itself was also used by PMI Racing teams in other projects, where especially its very good fuel efficiency for the time was seen as major asset.

Stats – 142 C:

Suspension: F/R: Independent double wishbone
Engine: Cast Iron with Aluminium Heads 1985 cc I4 DOHC-8, DCOE twin-carburated
Drivetrain: Front-engined rear-wheel-drive
Weight: 899 kg
Top speed: 184 kph
Acceleration: 0-100 in 7,1 seconds
Fuel Economy: 8,2 l/100 km at 50 kph; 6,6 l/100 km at 80 kph
Braking performance: 80-0: 32,3 meters
Wheels: F/R: P145/ 95C13 98U

3 Likes
6

lovely design, and sbsolutely good fuel efficency, good job! :slight_smile:

1 Like
7

A PMI Zelo 252 Export and a 142 Competizione are now available for you to test drive.

1 Like