Lamborghini wasn’t fooling around in the mid-1980s when concocting its next supercar. The Miura had been a sensation when it hit the scene in the 1960s, finally giving Ferrari something to think about. Then came the Countach, and let’s just say many, many posters in teenagers’ bedrooms proved that Lambo was setting a new and very high standard. The carmaker upped the ante with the development of the Diablo, conceived to be the fastest car in the world. It arrived in 1990, so now Lamborghini is rightly celebrating 35 years of its achievement.
From the anniversary press release:
Even the name speaks of a legend: Diablo, named in honor of the legendary fighting bull of the same name which, in 1869 fought for hours against the matador José de Lara, known as “El Chicorro.” Its debut was an immediate commercial success, with the first orders coming in even before the presentation of the car, in a world before previews on social media and online.
The Countach, to put it mildly, was a tough act to follow. In some ways, Lambo didn’t ask Bertone’s Marcello Gandini to top his epic design, which to many still represents the absolute pinnacle of the early supercar era. In fact, Gandini himself didn’t try to top his design, aiming for a more sinuous approach that ironically wasn’t suave enough for Lambo’s new corporate master, Chrysler. The result was less a Countach evolution than a look-forward to what supercars would become.
Topping 200 mph
The Diablo was the first Lambo to cross the 200-mph top-speed barrier, and it was a legitimate screamer back in the day, clocking a roughly 4.5-second sprint in the 0-to-62-mph run, according to Lamborghini. This made it the fastest production car in the world when it arrived in 1990. The mid-mounted V12 was a 5.7-liter unit that made 485 horsepower, piped through a good old fashioned five-speed manual transmission.
Other goodies included adjustable seats, power windows, and an Alpine sound system. Lamborghini touts these additions as luxuries, but the truth is that they helped the Diablo establish itself as a bridge between its forebears from Sant’Agata Bolognese and the cars that would eventually appear once Chrysler bowed out in the mid-1990s and Volkswagen/Audi eventually took over in 1998. The Diablo has suffered a bit over the years due to its unenviable position as the Countach’s successor and its 11-year production run being a fraught period for Lamborghini’s ownership, although Lambo’s ownership was complicated well before the Diablo came along. But it’s now being reassessed.
A reevaluated reputation
I’ll just come right out and say it: I’m not a huge Diablo fan (although I’ll willingly concede that it’s a showstopper). To me, the flamboyant Gandini-era Countach just kind of morphs into the rather less flamboyant Donckerwolke-era cars, with the Diablo sandwiched in between. But time marches forward, and as much as the cars of the 1970s and early-to-mid-1980s are my personal jam, it’s foolish to overlook the Diablo’s transitional importance. It was effectively a rolling laboratory, as Lamborghini points out:
Over the eleven years of production, Diablo evolved into various versions. In 1993, the VT model introduced all-wheel-drive for the first time on a Lamborghini…. In the same year, the SE30 model celebrated the company’s 30th anniversary with an engine boosted to 525 CV [519 hp], and pushed up to 596 CV [588 hp] in the Jota version, while the 1995 VT Roadster paved the way to the Lamborghini open-top V12 cars.
Lambo manufactured 2,903 Diablos in total. In the press release celebrating the car’s 35th birthday, After Sales Director Alessandro Farmeschi said, “In recent years, we’ve seen a significant increase in requests for certifications and restoration services for the Diablo, in the most part due to a new generation of collectors and enthusiasts who see this car as a cultural and design icon.”
They’re probably on to something! The Diablo was not the Countach (it was better in many ways), but it was, and still is, every bit a Lamborghini.
