Though nowhere near as prolific as the models that
have come since, the Diablo was far and away the most prolific model
Lamborghini had made up until that point in its history. Nearly 2,900 of them
were made between 1990 and 2001. And this was one of the last of them.
The VT 6.0 SE represented the culmination of over a
decade’s worth of Diablo development. It combined the 6.0-liter V12 from the
Diablo GT with the all-wheel traction from the Diablo VT, sending 550
horsepower to all four wheels – considerably more than the 485 hp in the
5.7-liter, rear-drive original.
The factory in Sant’Agata Bolognese only made 42
examples – half of them in Oro Elios (sunrise gold), the other half in Marrone
Eklipsis (sunset brown) like this one. It also featured a brown leather
interior with titanium-finish shifter and instrument bezels, and the latest DVD
navigation system its then-new parent company Audi could muster at the time.
This was the 40th of those 42 examples. It kept it
in climate-controlled storage on the West Coat from 2008 through 2012, when it
was sold to another collector in Hong Kong. That owner has now put it up for
sale, incredibly with just 14 miles on the clock and preserved in factory-fresh
condition.
Such a rare and well-preserved specimen was
evidently a hit when it crosses the auction block at Amelia Island this
weekend. RM Sotheby’s estimated its value between US$ 300,000 - US$ 350,000, but in
the end it sold for an impressive US$ 412,000. That’s almost as much as you’d have
to pay for a brand-new Aventador – which has already been produced in far
greater numbers than the Diablo ever was.
