Unique Cars and Parts: Lamborghini

Historical article recovered from a Wayback capture dated 2004-12-09.

The Lamborghini Diablo was launched in 1990 as successor to the legendary Countach. It was developed under the investment from Chrysler which bought Lamborghini in 1987.

With more money, no wonder the Diablo was better developed than any other previous Lamborghini. Eventually, it survived for 11 years and 2884 cars were built, breaking the record held by Countach. The name Diablo means “Devil” in Spanish (not Italian).

Like Countach and many other Lamborghinis, it was designed by Italian styling master Marcello Gandini, no wonder the car has strong resemblance to its predecessor, such as slant front end, steeply raked windscreen and scissors doors.

However, the final design was refined by Chrysler’s studio in the USA, smoothened all sharp edges and corners, improved cooling and aerodynamics. In the end, it was changed so much that Gandini was very angry. As a revenge to Chrysler and Lamborghini, he simply adapted his original design and offered Cizeta Moroder V16T. However, it is undeniable that the Chrysler-refined Diablo was more beautiful and more enduring than the Cizeta.

It looked pure yet aggressive, futuristic yet mature. Chrysler designers’ attention to details complemented what Gandini infamous of. Most important is that it felt truly EXOTIC, which was exactly what contemporary supercars lack of. McLaren F1 and Jaguar XJ220 might look sexy, but not exotic enough.

The Lamborghini was different. Its styling meant velocity, acceleration and power. Even in standstill, its appearance told you it was a 200mph supercar, no, perhaps 250mph ! if you let me name the most beautiful supercar design during the 90s, Diablo will always be the first one I think of. However, technology-wise, Diablo was just an extension of Countach.

When the Countach was launched in the early 70s, its spaceframe chassis, aluminium body and transmission layout were rather advanced. Entered the late 80s, Porsche 959, Ferrari GTO and F40 started a supercar revolution by using lightweight construction, twin-turbo engines and space-age carbon-fiber materials. In contrast, the Diablo still rested on the laurel of Countach without any significant changes.

The chassis, body and the big V12 were just evolution from the old one. And unsurprisingly, it gained more length, width and wheelbase as well as a touch more (desperately needed) cabin space. As a result, a standard Diablo tipped the scale at more than 1600kg, about 130kg heavier than the last Countach.

Straight-line performance was never a problem to the Diablo, because its 5.7-litre V12 produced close to 500 horsepower. It was recorded 0-60mph in 4.5 second and a top speed of 202 mph - the wild claim of early Countach was finally fulfilled by its successor.

At the time of writing, the Diablo still holds the record of being the fastest production car. Of course, some limited production supercars did record higher speed. The V12 was always the jewel of the crown. Powerful, sharp throttle response aside, it impressed most with its thundering roar, a roar that resonant your heart beat in sync with rising rev. Louder and rawer than Ferrari’s V12, the Lamborghini engine noise could hardly forgettable.

The problem of Diablo was actually handling. Its philosophy of “big and powerful supercar” was almost old-fashion since its launch. It was too heavy, too wide, too bulky to handle. Although its supercar tires produced massive grip while its extra track aided cornering stability, it never felt as agile as a smaller supercar, or even a Porsche 911 Turbo.

Poor visibility front and rear also limited driving confidence. Unless on smooth and wide racing track, the Diablo could hardly keep up with a 911 Turbo which cost less than half ! even on racing track, its brakes were not big enough to handle its weight effectively.

During its 11-year life, Diablo evolved gradually (see article below). The SV from 1995 to 1999 was perhaps the best Diablo, thanks to the diet it underwent. The GT of 2000 was even developed into a respectable racing machine, pushing performance to the peak.

Because of the emergence of many super-expensive supercars in the early 90s, such as Bugatti EB110, Jaguar XJ220, McLaren F1 and Ferrari F50, the Diablo was almost forgotten. Being slower, heavier, cheaper and less exclusive, the Diablo failed to recapture the fame of Countach which was regarded the world’s top supercar for many years.

Admittedly, Diablo was the only product of Lamborghini so that it must be relatively cheap to build in order to sell 300 to 400 cars annually, in contrast to the aforementioned one-off exclusive.

This relegated it to the “second division” supercar club whose members left only the last breed of boxer Ferrari, that was, 512TR / F512M. Undoubtedly, the Lamborghini was always rated as the best one of its kind. Since the death of F512M, the Diablo became the only mid-engined production supercar in the world.

Then people could only compare it with the front-engined GTs such as 550 Maranello and Aston Vantage. Diablo’s production dropped gradually despite of a revision every 1 or 2 years. Perhaps people became more concern about drivability and comfort, perhaps the old Diablo could no longer get people excited, it had to retire in 2001.

However, we will always remember the best things of Diablo: the exotic appearance and the thundering V12.