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#41
03-27-2008, 06:58 PM
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#42
03-27-2008, 08:40 PM
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Philippe www.lamborghinimiura.com
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#43
03-27-2008, 08:44 PM
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Philippe www.lamborghinimiura.com
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#44
03-27-2008, 08:54 PM
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Philippe www.lamborghinimiura.com
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#45
03-27-2008, 08:59 PM
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Philippe www.lamborghinimiura.com
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#46
03-27-2008, 11:15 PM
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Thanks for the kind words and photos fellas....
That looks like the car! Bob White of White's automotive was the owner. He's a well known Lotus mechanic, and has always had something cool for me to gawk at anytime I've been to his shop. The Espada sounds MEAN in person. I've always been struck by how low slung it is in person.
As far as taste, I've never been one to run with the crowd, my favorite Ferrari's are the 246 Dino and 308 GT4, so what's that tell you.  As much as I would enjoy owning an Espada one day, I've never even had an opportunity to drive a standard shift car, and nerve damage in my left hand may prevent me from ever doing so. I'm not too confident that I could handle a car with heavy steering while trying to shift, but one of these days I'll rent an exotic just to see. However, at only 32 yrs old, I have plenty of time to get a "dream" car, and I definitely want a four seater so I can take my wife and son. Some of my fonder memories were Ferrari shopping with my Dad as a young pup. We,,. I have a major move coming in a few months and need to start a new career, so it will be a while, but I've already started my slush fund for a car. An auto Espada would be interesting, but I understand the autos are sluggish, plus I really can't imagine the maintenance costs on an Espada.... On a realistic note, I could see myself with a 2 seat Lancia for a "starter exotic", and eventually work my way up if the bug strikes. For what it's worth, I appreciate everyone sharing their pictures, info, and encouragement. This is truly an awesome site.
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#47
03-28-2008, 05:54 AM
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Hello to all,
This is a nice Lamborghini Espada appreciation site. The pictures are great. I also would have liked to have one. It still reminds me of George Jetson's car, but it is a futuristic Bertone design. Jay Leno, has one and has made a video of it. Here it is, http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/...tml?vid=193318 Ciao...Paolo
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#48
03-28-2008, 07:12 AM
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Bob S.
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#50
03-28-2008, 10:03 AM
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Well there are two parts that I know of. I'll briefly out line the original first portion.
It was custom ordered by a gentleman who was a distributor/promoter for Wynns automotive products. There are copies of letters and newspaper articles floating around that outline the story somewhat but even some of those are wrong. In one document mention is made of the light weight alloy body and a total weight of 3,000 lbs for the car. I saw that and was intrigued. Turned out that was bull ****. It also was supposedly utilized at the Monte Carlo grand prix as a parade/lap car in which Princess Grace was a passenger. The original owner reportedly supplied the "special" paint and possibly the shag carpet. Yes it was finished at the factory with that rather coarse "Bass Boat" style metal flake paint job. The paint was in fantastic condition except that "someone" had recently left a tool on the engine and closed the hood. Ouch! That was going to be a tough repair becaus of trying to match the paint. Other than that it was unbelievably good for an original paint job. The same style and color paint was found inside of the doors. I didn't mind the strange paint job but I suspect many would. I would not have put back long blue shag carpet though. It looked awful. The engine as you can see was a mess to look at. It did run well though except that the brake boosters were totally shot. The interior was totally shot as well. Actually condition (leak down and compression) was unknown at that time. That glass roof had a rather funky finish around it on the inside like it wasn't quite done. It was held in place with some very small screws and a frame. On the glove box was a sign admonishing the driver not to open the windows in this car above 100 mph. I guess maybe the roof would fly out? While pursuing purchase of this car I did have a chance to spend some time with Valentino and he reviewed the documentation and photos. At first he thought its was a fake. Later he confirmed that this was an authentic car and that it had been ordered this way and supposedly participated at Monte Carlo. It was sold by the original owner to a local NYC attorney who died and left it to his granddaughter. They were way in over their heads and it eventually was made to sort of run again at such an enormous expense that they were financially underwater in the car. My dealings with the seller and their agent was less than satisfactory to say the least. The agent claims it was all the seller's doing and it's impossible for me to know. I do know that after having a sales agreement they reneged and it went on Ebay. I moved on and ended up with a vastly nicer car though not as unique as this one. Subsequently it eventually sold on Ebay and that purchaser contacted me because "he claimed" that once again they backed out of the sale and he claimed they held on to his money. He wanted to know where the hell was his car! That's a lot uglier "story" than mine and who knows if it's the truth but when you take both stories in combination you do have to wonder about these folks don't you ... Last I heard it went to someone in Florida where hopefully it has a good owner (with a ton of cash) and a happier story can begin. I would think that to have collector value you and given how much money this car will need it's a good idea, then probably you would need to have all of the ugly bits back on the car though. For me that would be hard to do. Shag ain't my thing. P.S. I don't know about the originality of either the ignition boxes or the gold trim. The chrome air cleaner covers is something that Lamborghini did at that time. Bob S. Last edited by staatsof; 03-28-2008 at 10:09 AM.
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#51
03-28-2008, 10:22 AM
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Philippe www.lamborghinimiura.com
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#52
03-28-2008, 11:14 AM
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Thank you for the information. Sorry you had headaches with those people.
Certainly there was an Espada photographed at the factory, from upstairs with such a large glass roof and this could well be assumed to be the one. That in itself makes it intersting as a special Espada. The interior sounds awful and I would feel no qualm about putting it right. I am sure the roof would pop out at speed if it is held in such a flimsy way: reminds me of the late Paul Frere who went for a top sped run in Italy one of the first Vipers...with the soft top on. No one in Detroit had tought of either making it secure enough for top speed OR of advising owners not to to use it at high speed so he had to walk a long way back along the autostrada to pick it up:-) Beyond Grace and Ranier doing that parade lap in the Marzal I have heard vague comments about a connection but don't know and don't have the Marchet book here.
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#53
03-28-2008, 12:51 PM
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Yes it's that one. Interestingly there is at least one maybe two other glass roofed Espadas but I don't know if they were factory done. I know of one guy who says he has one. He's at Le Bella Machinna every year. He also has a VIP version. Currently there's a LookSmart model of the glass roofed car available and it does appear to have large flake metallic paint but sadly it has a series II interior.
Last edited by staatsof; 03-28-2008 at 12:54 PM.
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#54
03-28-2008, 01:01 PM
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still the cat fish of Lamborghinis. Bottom feeders. I do think that nice carpets will badly affect the originality of the car unless everyone wants to ignore or keep quiet about it. That would be fine with me. Who really cares if she rode in it once. It's not like they owned it. Bob S.
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#55
03-28-2008, 01:30 PM
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http://www.playerviolin.com/vlg/vlg_...93_glass_roof/ Fred
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#56
03-28-2008, 01:34 PM
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#57
03-28-2008, 02:37 PM
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Welcome to the Espada thread. Very interesting documentation! As always, there was maybe a little bit of "intoxication" at the time from Sant'Agata: 168 ot 175 mph (!). Bob S. also has confirmed that the body was not made in aluminium, besides the bonnet... I may be going to Monterey this year. Cheers. Philippe www.lamborghinimiura.com
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#58
03-28-2008, 03:07 PM
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Anyone have any more info on Concourso Italiano? Bob S.
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#60
03-28-2008, 03:35 PM
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I don't know if it was or not. I know further down in the thread it is believed to be the one. I do remember the gentleman who owned the car he was a young guy (late 20's early 30's). He said that this was his first exotic and that he always loved the look of the Espada. Spring is finally here, I hope to see him again at a future event and see if I can get more info (i.e. S/N, Color). Although my pictures may not show correctly...this early S3 Espada (thanks Phillipe) was metallic purple, grape color. Bill
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