From the Classifieds: 1995 Lamborghini Diablo

Let’s say you’ve just been asked to nominate the top 10 exotic sports cars of all time.

Would the Lamborghini Diablo make the list?

When you’ve got a mouth-watering line-up of cars to consider – including the likes of Bugatti Veyron, McLaren F1, Jaguar XJ220 (and LaFerrari) – there seems no limit to those deserving nomination.

And that’s before going back into the very early days when now-defunct car-makers such as Duesenberg, Auburn, Cord, Stutz, Delahaye and Hispano-Suiza were vying for the adulation of high-flying enthusiasts.

The Lamborghini Diablo, introduced in 1990 and remaining in production through to 2001, was, and remains, a stratospheric high-performance coupe with a persona that remains fresh despite being conceived more than 30 years ago.

Today it’s seen as an iconic image of 1990s auto exotica.

Sitting not a lot more than one metre (1105mm) high and measuring 2.1 metres wide, the Lamborghini Diablo was styled in Detroit by Lamborghini’s then-owner Chrysler, which had stepped in because it didn’t like the original, more radical proposal from Lamborghini favourite Marcello Gandini.

If the low-slung, scissor-doored design wasn’t enough, there was also a shrieking, mid-mounted, rear-drive 367kW/580Nm naturally-aspirated 5.7-litre V12 engine, a development of its 5.2-litre Countach predecessor, enabling the Diablo to meet with ease the design requirements that it should be able to exceed 315km/h.

The quoted top speed of 325km/h was the fastest Lamborghini had yet managed to achieve and put any worries about meeting design requirements nicely aside.

It didn’t mess about on the way there either, reaching 100km/h from standstill in 4.5sec – maybe nothing special these days but exceptional, even for an Italian supercar, in 1990.

Although the Diablo was in production for 11 years, it was hardly static. There were various developments including an all-wheel drive VT version in 1993 and, in 1998, a rear-drive 429kW/630Nm track-focused GT model.

Australia has been pretty fortunate with the availability of the Lamborghini Diablo. During its lifetime it was brought here in progressive guises beginning with the original from October 1991 and moving through the up-powered (391kW/580Nm) SE, to the yet more powerful (392kW/605Nm) SV in 1996 and finally the AWD VT – which also came in roadster form.

When it was first launched in Australia, the Diablo was priced at $695,000 but the prices decreased gradually to the point that by 1995 the listed local price had come down quite a long way, to $489,811 – a figure that was maintained through to the point when Australia moved on to the more powerful, updated SV model in 1996.

So, what would you expect to pay for a first-series, 1995 Lamborghini Diablo in Australia today?

Well, this Hong Kong-sourced 1995 model, resplendent in Diablo Rosso red and bought in 1997 by the current owner, who brought it to Australia in 2009, is being offered for sale through carsales at $429,990.

That’s close enough to the new price in 1995 and pretty attractive for a 1990s classic – and a certainty to increase in value in the future.

The Lamborghini currently shows a low odometer reading of just 7616 miles (12,257km) and is in the sort of order you’d expect of a 1990s Italian supercar. Cared for both in Australia and Hong Kong by Lamborghini specialists, the Diablo can be shipped anywhere on Australia’s east coast on short notice.

Once an icon, always an icon.