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Lamborghini Diablo

Diablo
Vehicle Model

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Wikipedia: Lamborghini Diablo Page Sections History Photographs Merchandise Article Index

A sports car produced by Lamborghini from 1990-2001.

History

The following section is an excerpt from Wikipedia's Lamborghini Diablo page on 28 September 2018, text available via the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

The Lamborghini Diablo is a high-performance mid-engined sports car that was built by Italian automotive manufacturer Lamborghini between 1990 and 2001. It is the first production Lamborghini capable of attaining a top speed in excess of 200 miles per hour (320 km/h). After the end of its production run in 2001, the Diablo was replaced by the Lamborghini Murciélago. Diablo means "devil" in Spanish.

At a time when the company was financed by the Swiss-based brothers Jean Claude and Patrick Mimran, Lamborghini began development of what was codenamed Project 132 in June 1985 as a replacement for the Countach, Lamborghini's then flagship sports car. The brief stated that the top speed of the new car had to be at least 315 km/h (196 mph).

The design of the car was contracted to Marcello Gandini, who had designed its two predecessors. When Chrysler Corporation bought the company in 1987, funding the company to complete the car's development, its management was uncomfortable with Gandini’s designs and commissioned its design team in Detroit to execute a third extensive redesign, smoothing out the infamous sharp edges and corners of Gandini's original design, and leaving him famously unimpressed. In fact, Gandini was so disappointed with the "softened" shape that he would later realise his original design in the Cizeta-Moroder V16T.

The new car was named Diablo, carrying on Lamborghini's tradition of naming its cars after breeds of fighting bulls. The Diablo was named after a ferocious bull raised by the Duke of Veragua in the 19th century, famous for fighting an epic battle with 'El Chicorro' in Madrid on 11 July 1869. In the words of Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson, the Diablo was designed "solely to be the biggest head-turner in the world."

The development is believed to have cost a total of 6 billion Italian lira.

The Lamborghini Diablo was sold as the Lamborghini Costanga from 1993 through 2000 in Mexico due to controversy against the "Diablo" name. For the Mexican market, the engine was detuned from 492 PS to 440 PS. U.S. magazine Motor Week tested the Costanga and found it capable of accelerating from 0–60 mph in 5.4 seconds and completing the 1/4-mile in 13.2 seconds at 111 mph.

Photographs

	1998 Styling Prototype No drivetrain, displayed on the Lamborghini factory wall Photo ©2012 Bill Crittenden for $40,000 at the Mecum 2012 Fall Premier Auction View photo of 1998 Lamborghini Diablo Styling Prototype - 2.5MB
	1998 Styling Prototype No drivetrain, displayed on the Lamborghini factory wall Photo ©2012 Bill Crittenden for $40,000 at the Mecum 2012 Fall Premier Auction View photo of 1998 Lamborghini Diablo Styling Prototype - 3.5MB
	1998 Styling Prototype No drivetrain, displayed on the Lamborghini factory wall Photo ©2012 Bill Crittenden for $40,000 at the Mecum 2012 Fall Premier Auction View photo of 1998 Lamborghini Diablo Styling Prototype - 3.0MB
	1998 Styling Prototype No drivetrain, displayed on the Lamborghini factory wall Photo ©2012 Bill Crittenden for $40,000 at the Mecum 2012 Fall Premier Auction View photo of 1998 Lamborghini Diablo Styling Prototype - 3.7MB
	1998 Styling Prototype No drivetrain, displayed on the Lamborghini factory wall Photo ©2012 Bill Crittenden for $40,000 at the Mecum 2012 Fall Premier Auction View photo of 1998 Lamborghini Diablo Styling Prototype - 3.4MB
	1998 Styling Prototype No drivetrain, displayed on the Lamborghini factory wall Photo ©2012 Bill Crittenden for $40,000 at the Mecum 2012 Fall Premier Auction View photo of 1998 Lamborghini Diablo Styling Prototype - 4.4MB
	1:24 scale Revell kit Cobra Colors Azzurro Monaco Metallic Photo ©2008 Bill Crittenden 2008 Summer NNL August 3, 2008 View photo of Lamborghini Diablo Model - 3,594KB
	1:24 scale Revell kit Cobra Colors Azzurro Monaco Metallic Photo ©2008 Bill Crittenden 2008 Summer NNL August 3, 2008 View photo of Lamborghini Diablo Model - 3,015KB

Merchandise

Type & Item #	Name	Details
Die Cast - Speed Wheels 575661		Series XIII, small scale, Lamborghini Diablo, metallic pink
Die Cast - Fleer	Lamborghini Diablo	All Stars of Today, 1:32 scale, Blue w/Red & White Stripes, #21, Chicago Cubs emblems, photo of Sammy Sosa on the roof, Production: 2000 Serial Numbered

Article Index

Date	Article	Author/Source
21 July 2016	Notice of Receipt of Petition for Decision That Nonconforming Model Year 1995 Lamborghini Diablo SE30 Passenger Cars Are Eligible for Importation	Federal Register: NHTSA (Jeffrey M. Giuseppe)