Lamborghini Diablo 1990

Lamborghini decided to develop a successor to the Countach back in 1985. Marcello Gandini was commissioned to design it, but the designers at the Chrysler Styling Center in Detroit had the final say after Chrysler acquired Lamborghini for $25 million in 1987. Testing of the prototype, internally designated P132, began in 1989. On 21 January 1990 it was unveiled as the Lamborghini Diablo at the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo. The name honoured a fierce fighting bull bred on the Duke of Veragua’s estate in the nineteenth century. That bull became famous for its encounter with the matador El Chicorro in Madrid on 11 July 1869.

Sales began in 1991, with the basic version costing around $240,000. That bought an aggressive-looking sports car with a spartan interior. To reduce weight, standard equipment omitted ABS and a stereo system, leaving a basic radio and manually operated windows.