In 1987 Lamborghini began designing it's replacement for it's legendary Countach which at the time was an icon being in production for quite sometime it was time for a fresh next generation Supercar. With Ferrari working on the F-40 promising to surpass the Countach in both looks, exclusivity and most important Lamborghini needed a Replacement supercar more than capable of delivering signature looks, unbeatable performance and styling. With the help of Lee Iacocca, Chrysler, and Marcello Gandini in 1990 the Lamborghini Diablo was born.
The First generation was a rear wheel drive platform and essentially reused the same engine found in the Countach 25th model but reworked to produce 486 horse power rather than 450 horsepower found in the previous generation. In 1991 Lamborghini had taken the top speed record away from the Ferrari F40's 201mph with a 202mph offical record. The record was held for over a year before the introduction of the Bugatti EB110 Super Sport at 213mph and Jaguar XJ220 at 220mph and the Mclaren F1 and it's blistering top speed of 242mph.
In early 1992 Lamborghini began developing an All wheel drive model of the Lamborghini Diablo which in 1993 became the VT which made use of a viscous center differential. This provided the new nomenclature for the car (VT stands for viscous traction). The new drive train could direct up to 25% of the torque to the front wheels to aid traction during rear wheel slip, thus significantly improving the handling characteristics of the car.
Shortly after the introduction of the Diablo VT was the company's 30th anniversary which they celebrated big with a much improved Diablo 30th SE model and 30th SE Jota. Both were much improved over the standard Diablo with improved handling, brakes gearing while the SE Jota's engine was tuned to over 530 horsepower making it a 215mph road warrior banned from the United States at that time. It was designed with competiting against the Ferrari F50 and Mclaren F1, Even the Dodge Viper. It's rumored that 28 SE Jota's were built but nobody knows for sure while the number of base SE models were about 150. Most of them came in a unique Lamborghini purple color while others were converted to red, black and even yellow.
In 1995 Lamborghini released yet another variant of it's Diablo Super car known as the SV or super veloce model which lacked the all wheel drive system found in the VT model.
The power was increased to 510 horsepower and had much improve aero dynamics including a rear hatch similar to that found in the Diablo SE Jota of 1994. An adjustable rear wing was an option and the "SV" Decals on the sides of the car were also optional. A small limited production run of 20 cars known as the Moterey edition was also available at that time mostly for the united states market.
Shortly afterwords Lamborghini had also launched a Roadster version of their Diablo supercar with a removable carbon fiber roof were it can be stored above the engine bay. Honestly it should have been called the Diablo Targa and not the Diablo Roadster as it was similar to the NSX-T and Corvette C5 with their removable hard tops.
In 1999 Lamborghini also began developing it's second generation VT model which had a much improved face lift, the engine was tuned to a higher out put while the exterior of the car no longer had pop up headlights. The Diablo SV, Roadster also received this same treatment.
Later that year Lamborghini had developed a follow on special edition Supercar which would later become the Diablo GT which was delivered from the Diablo GTR race car. It was the fastest Lamborghini ever produced which over 585 horsepower from it's reworked 5.7 liter V-12 to now 6.0 liters. The Suspension, brakes and gearing were all tuned making it far superior to anything else on the road at that time minus the Mclaren F1. It was a $300,000 supercar only avaliable in the European market. Today however some have imported them to different country's including the United State's, Japan and Korea and retailing for nearly three times as much the original asking price. Only 80 of them were ever built and sold.
As the time of YK2 passed it was time for Lamborghini to start thinking about the future and a replacement for it's Diablo Supercar. They went out with a Bang in 2000 with the introduction of the 6.0 VT and 6.0 SE both were redesigned after Audi took over the company and now the 6.0 liter V12 engine became standard now. With a reworked body, suspension, brakes and interior and a price tag of $250,000 the Diablo VT was again the most dominat supercar of 2001 besting the Ferrari 575, Porsche's 911 Turbo and the Dodge Viper ACR. Production of the Lamborghini Diablo ended in early 2001 and began development of the Lamborghini Murcielago which was a totally new and improved supercar using all of the modern technologies found in Ferrari such as the Paddle shifter system, a new much improved All Wheel Drive System was also introduced and a new 6.2 Liter V12 making the Murcielago far ahead of anything else as of 2002.
Today the Lamborghini Diablo is considered a classic by Acceleration Media standards. Had the Mclaren F1 not existed the legend of the Countach may have carried over to the Diablo and would have made it the most dominant supercar of the 1990's however we can say it placed a solid second place behind the F1 supercar for it's much intended success being it was the only production Lamborghini at the time and having greater success than most companies that offered multiple cars. Lamborghini had plans of releasing the "Cala" a smaller V-10 version to compete with the Ferrari F355, Porsche 996 and the Dodge Viper RT-10 and Corvette C5 and that sadly never happened.
We can't discount the fact it had difficult competitors but today we look back and we can say this car delivered. It can hold it's own against almost anything even in today's standards it's still faster than most modern day Corvette's, Viper's, even most tuner cars will have a tough time racing against one. With prices beginning to drop below 100 grand for a used early 90's Diablo 2WD model we can expect this to become one hell of a bang for the buck deal. The Downside however to owning a Diablo is the maintenance and insurance costing telephone numbers. But for those who can afford them now they will still have a supercar today that is capable of running good numbers at any track meet and will under cut the price of most modern day supercars and sportscars. If anyone would have owned these cars brand new at the time It must have felt great being king of the road.
VF1Skullangel with Acceleration Media.
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