Wednesday, November 28, 2007

The Lamborghini Urraco

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The Lamborghini Urraco was a sports car manufactured by Italian automaker Lamborghini in the 1970s. It was introduced at the Turin auto show in 1970 but wasn't available to buyers until 1973.

The car was a 2+2 coupé with body designed by Marcello Gandini, at the time working for Carrozzeria Bertone. Rather than being another supercar, like the Lamborghini Miura, the Urraco was more affordable, an alternative to the pricier Ferrari Dino and Maserati Merak.

When production ended in 1979, 791 Urracos had been built. Twenty-one of these were labelled Urraco P111 for the American market. In order to comply with American regulations, these cars had larger front bumpers and less horsepower. The other Urraco versions were the Urraco P200, Urraco P250 and Urraco P300 with 2 litre, 2.5 litre, and 3 litre V-8 respectively.

Both the Lamborghini Silhouette, with its detachable roof panel, and its successor Lamborghini Jalpa, with a 3.5 litre V-8 engine, were based upon the Urraco.

A black Urraco was featured in a December 2005 episode of the BBC television show Top Gear. The supercar was purchased by James May (used) for less than £10,000, and was in mechanically awful condition. Eventually succumbing to complete electrical failure, the car was then believed to have been sold on to a dealer in London for £5,000.


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Monday, November 5, 2007

The Lamborghini Jarama


Lamborghini Jarama is a sports coupé which was built by Lamborghini between 1970 and 1976. It was designed by Bertone designer Marcello Gandini. It was named after the Jarama racing circuit near Madrid, Spain (which is in turn named after the Jarama river).

In 1970, Lamborghini had to redesign the Islero to meet new United States safety and emissions regulations. The new car was built on a shortened version of the same platform as the Espada. Two different models were made, the original GT (1970-1973) model having 350 bhp V12, and the GTS (1973-1976) with its output upped to 365 bhp. Also, with the GTS there were a few minor body modifications and power assisted steering, removable roof panels, and an automatic transmission became available as options. A total of 327 Jaramas were built.

Ferruccio Lamborghini's personal Jarama GTS is on display at the official Lamborghini museum.

technorati tags: Lamborghini Jarama,sports car,sport car,classic car,sport compact car,fast car