The Diablo’s birth was incredibly tortured. About a year before it was to launch, Lamborghini was purchased by Chrysler, who set about having the nearly production ready car redesigned. As a result, the Diablo entered production two years late, and arrived not into the hottest supercar market of all time, but instead into a recession. The car itself was quite good, offering performance, looks, and features that made it bang up to date when it finally arrived in 1990.
Things did not get easier for Lamborghini as the Diablo’s production progressed. Just seven years after buying the company, Chrysler sold Lamborghini on, in 1993. Five years later, the company changed hands again. Nevertheless, the Diablo was continuously developed, gaining four wheel drive, ABS, power steering, adjustable shocks, improved brakes, variable valve timing, and a variety of variants including a Roadster (Lamborghini’s first open V12 car), and pared down performance oriented rear wheel drive variants in the form of the 30th Anniversary Special Edition and SV. A host of other changes arrived in 1998, including variable valve timing, enlarged brakes with ABS, and bigger 18” wheels to accommodate the new brakes. 1999 brought a cosmetic facelift, restyled dashboard, and perhaps the most exciting variant of all, the GT, which bowed at the Geneva Motor Show in March of 1999.
The GT applied lessons learned from racing the Diablo in GT2 and was a limited car that would be the only 6.0 liter rear wheel drive production Diablo. A numbered series of 80 cars was built, although actual production numbered 83 cars. Carbon fiber was used extensively, not just for exterior components such as the front splitter, rear diffuser, side skirts (which were extended from the sills to increase the surface area of the floor and thus increase downforce), and rear wing, but for the car’s body shell, including fenders, front deck lid, transmission tunnel, and floor. The body shell was reportedly 154 pounds lighter than that of the VT, while the elimination of all wheel drive also markedly decreased weight. As a result, the GT weighed 400 pounds less than the VT.
As if this wasn’t enough, the engine was upgraded to produce even more power, 575 metric horsepower. Enhancements included a billet crankshaft, titanium connecting rods, revised engine management, new exhaust, and individual throttle bodies fed by a carbon fiber airbox which drew air from an overhead scoop. This had the effect of blocking any visibility through the rear window, so a camera was fitted to the underside of the rear wing, which displayed on a screen in the head unit. Inside the car, carbon fiber trim was used on the dashboard, sills, center tunnel, and carbon shelled sport seats with 4-point harnesses were also fitted.
The suspension geometry was revised and the track widened, necessitating new front fenders with very technical looking extractor vents. Despite the car’s purposeful and sporting ethos, air conditioning, power steering, ABS, and electronically adjustable shock absorbers were all fitted.
This particular GT has covered a remarkable 63,000 kilometers, having spent its life in Switzerland. Its most recent owner purchased it in 2016 and it comprised part of a spectacular collection of modern supercars. In 2017, 3,000 kilometers ago, the car received an engine rebuild after developing excessive oil consumption and low compression on one cylinder. At that time, a comprehensive service was performed including replacing the clutch, pressure plate, flywheel, clutch hydraulics, and all fluids. New tires were also fitted. Since then, the car has received regular maintenance, the most recent of which was performed in October 2024, and included the replacement of the engine, transmission, and differential oils, new hydraulic fluid for the brakes and clutch, and a new battery. The car comes with its original tool roll, inspection light, gloves, spare lightbulb and fuse holder, and spare tire repair kit.
