Lamborghini
has made plenty of iconic cars over its history, and those of us around in the ‘90s have fond memories of the Lamborghini Diablo VT. This beast was an early adopter of naturally aspirated engines, which helped it stay competitive with archrival Ferrari. Granted, a Diablo VT will probably have very high insurance rates
, but don't let that stop you from admiring this masterpiece. Meet the Lamborghini Diablo VT
Before the Lamborghini Diablo VT, there was the Countach. The Countach was an impressive car on its own, and it originally debuted in 1974. In the late ‘80s, Lamborghini decided it was time to design a new flagship car for a new generation. The company had clear goals of building a vehicle that could at least reach a top speed of 196 mph.
Originally, famed Lamborghini designer Marcello Gandini was commissioned to design the new Lambo. However, the company underwent a corporate re-shuffle when it was bought by the Chrysler Corporation. The new American owners were unimpressed with Gandini's design, and dismissed him from the project. Instead, they in turn hired a Detroit-based design team.
Despite breaking from tradition by hiring non-Italian designers, the Detroit team was able to deliver an impressive vehicle. The new car was named "Diablo," after a famous fighting bull. It exceeded its top speed goal, and became the first Lamborghini that could reach 200 mph.
What are the specs of the Lamborghini Diablo VT?
The Diablo was in production from 1990 to 2001 and had a few different iterations, with a notable facelift in 1999.
The VT iteration debuted in 1993, as reported by CarBuzz
. The new VT version stood out from a regular Diablo in a few ways. Most notably was the addition of all-wheel drive which utilized the viscous center differential. This was such an important factor in the upgrade that "VT" actually stands for viscous traction. The new improvement allowed for torque distribution during a rear-wheel slip, which gave the car impressive new handling capabilities. The Lamborghini Diablo VT also had some engine improvements. Minor tweaks to the already beefy V12 engine gave it more horsepower. Longer strokes, lighter components, and other changes allowed the Lamborghini Diablo VT to produce an impressive 543-hp engine. A plain old generic Diablo could only generate 523 hp.
MORE: Did You Know There Was a Lamborghini Minivan?
Buying one of these Italian speed demons
Hopefully you're not too excited about the Lamborghini Diablo VT, because buying one will be quite difficult. For starters, only 2,884 total Diablos were ever produced. While there is no official count on how many of those were VTs, we'd expect it to be around 400. Of those, we estimate that only 100 or so made it to the North American market.
If you're able to track one of the 100 owners and convince them to sell, price will also be a hurdle. According to Carbuzz, the last Lamborghini Diablo VT that went to the auction block in the U.S. fetched a price tag of $399,226.
MORE: Nicki Minaj Customized Her Lamborghini In Bright Pink
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