THE LAMBORGHINI DIABLO VT 6.0 MEDIA CAR IS STILL A MINTER - AND IT'S FOR SALE.
Have you ever wondered what happens to the press cars that you see being used and abused and driven to within an inch of their mechanical lifespans by the world’s motoring press? Being in the industry for many a year, we can tell you that the majority get absorbed back into the market ending up on showroom floors as a “well-loved manager’s special”. Some get sold off to journalists or people in media. A ways back I was interested in buying a Mini Cooper JCW press car that I absolutely fell in love with during the test week. The chaps in charge promised to let me know when it would be de-fleeted so that we could arrange the purchase. It was taken out of the fleet and sold to someone else who clearly had a better relationship with the PR people. Probably a good thing because at the time I worked at the biggest aftermarket motoring magazine in the country for the smallest salary. Sometimes these cars are a bit more special than a Mini and they find themselves in a private collection. That’s what happened with this car, a 2000 Lamborghini Diablo VT 6.0. Once the Lambo had done its duty as the village bicycle, it was sold on to a private collector or two who clearly didn’t drive the car much as the mileage is ridiculously low and the car is in mint condition. No manager’s special vibes here. This media car recently resurfaced for sale over at the PistonHeads online sales platform, and should soon find its way into another enviable collection in no time at all.
After press duties when the car was shown off by Valentino Balboni, Lamborghini's chief test driver at the time, the Diablo stayed in a warehouse for a few years when in 2003 it was sold to a Swedish collector who kept it until 2010. Before the sale, Chassis 12408 received factory servicing in September 2000 when it had just 2,745 km on the odo. From there it ended up in the hands of a Swedish collector who also kept it in his collection for 7 years. An Italian collector took over ownership in 2018 but he broke the 7-year ownership timeframe and sold it to a European collector just 2 years later, and the new guy also kept it for just 2 years before the current owner brokered a deal for the car and registered it in Germany. This chap tired of the car quite quickly and so it’s up for sale again. But in his care, the low-mileage Diablo was given a full service along with a few minor repairs (odd for such a low-mileage car) and some new fat tyres via Berlinetta Motors, an Italian specialist in these things. The Diablo is covered in Grigio Antares paint and features matching Grigio leather with Nero Persus surrounds and black stitching - it’s a stunner. The sale comes complete with the car’s original paperwork, title, warranty card, service history, pouch, and tools and the usage has seen the odo only climb to just 7,497 km. It should fetch decent money seeing as it’s on of just 260 models built, and the last recorded sale of one of these fetched just under $550 000.
Take a look at the YouTube video from when Saabkyle04 reviewed one of these special cars almost ten years ago. The review he did was on a model that was up for sale in the States, so it's not the exact press car you see here that was used by the world's motoring press back in 2000. The car he found is still the same rare spec though, and his run down of it is worth a watch, if you ask us: 2001 Lamborghini Diablo 6.0 VT Start Up, Exhaust, and In Depth Review | Saabkyle04
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