Monza 01030--in Motor Trend Classic, is this just a custom?

I skimmed the story I found on this website
1966 Lamborghini 400GT Monza - The Ultimate Barn Find - Motor Trend Classic
but it seems to me as if this is just a custom car, not a factory prototype. Hence the price paid for it at auction seems too high to me, or have their been Lamborghini designers & personnel saying it was a real prototype?

I find nothing distinctive about the styling but maybe that's just me...
how was it found and who found it?

I do believe it was possible to register a prototype to drive on the streets of Spain after the Boomerang was found there, street registered as well.

 

Read the story more. Did anyone ever hear what it was bought for? But I still say it's a custom...

 

I've seen that car in the UK a few years ago. It's quite unique. It's a Lamborghini and a one-off.

 

If you were to research the subject properly you would know that the GT400 Monza is not a prototype but a unique one off lost for years and certainly not a custom car. Price is reality. Value is subjective.

 

I'd really have to think about thinking of the proper terminology to separate the phrase
"one-off" from "custom."
Maybe "custom"is prejorative, leaning toward American "custom" cars like done by Barris or Jeffries. To me "one off" if done by a recognized coachbuilder is a plus,like Ghia, Zagato, Michelotti, etc. But if it's by Joe Blow of Idaho it's merely a custom.
For instance Jeffries himself customized a Porsche 356 Carrera which I am sure has been restored to proper body by its present owners, whereas if he would have had it bodied by a recognized coachbuilder like Zagato, Ghia, etc. it would be a one-off. I guess the test will be when the MantaRay custom he built is sold. Underneath is a Maserati. The Maserati people won't be happy until it's restored as a Maserati, never mind the famous custom car built atop it.

 

From Lambocars:

A less well known special body on the 400 GT 2+2 chassis was built by Neri & Bonacini, who also created the first two chassis from which one was used to build the 35O GTV bodywork on.

During 1966, they started designing, and eventually building, a very special aluminium body for this Lamborghini chassis, the complete car was finished in June 1966, and was designated the 'Monza 400'

 

The buyer did well.

 

That car really has a Bizzarrini 5300 look to it!
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+1 I would have paid that and more.

If I was rich, I'd have the same thing built with a slight different rear pillar.

 

its British owner is on this board, may be he reads you...

 

Interesting thoughts.

Would say, strictly speaking, that the Monza is neither a prototype (as it was not intended to be the basis of future models) or a custom car (as it was not an existing car which was modified).

As stated by Giorgio Neri, the Monza was designed in 1966 for an American who approached Lamborghini for a car to go racing, possibly at Le Mans, and who better to do the work than Neri and Bonacini following their work on the 350GTV and the initial batch of 350GT production chassis, together with their previous experience as Maserati race engineers. Following homologation problems it stayed with Lamborghini. It was then displayed on the Lamborghini stand at the 1967 Barcelona Motor Show where it was purchased by the first owner.

As SAB and P300V8 have said, it is a one-off. Built on what appears to be a 400GT Interim chassis with Lamborghini gearbox and differential, it is probably the first Lamborghini which was built to special order.

It's unique status is recognised by Lamborghini and it was invited to the Lamborghini Design Studies exhibition at the Audi Museum in Ingolstadt in 2011 :
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Soooooo, I guess it's safe to say, with a user name like monza400gt, that you are the member that owns the car now

You have one of the coolest Lamborghinis ever! Hope to see it in person one day.

 

Thanks Peter and your assumption is correct .....

The whole background to the Monza has always fascinated me and sitting in it is like being in a time capsule, transported back to the 60's, due to the originality and still just about 7000 miles from new.

But speaking of cool Lamborghinis, that is an amazing Countach that you have !

 

From a spanish documentary...
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Hello again Antonio.

Thank you very much for adding the image of the Monza, it is marvellous gathering more information from the period when it was in Spain.

Could you possibly post or pm me further information about the documentary and where I might be able to obtain a copy?

Thanks,

Martin.

 

possibly one of the coolest lambo ever
and absolutely a one off in my books

 

Stunning!!!!

 

Lovely lines, I like it!

 

Beautiful looking car

 

what a great car, I had not been aware of it until now, glad to see it's in the hands of an enthusiast, please share any photos you have, wonderful!

some more online info found on the car

http://www.**************/cars/3222.html

Lamborghini 400GT Monza

Feature: Lamborghini Monza | Features | octane

AutoTraderClassics.com - Article Discovered after 35 years... - Feature: Lamborghini Monza

Lamborghini 400GT Monza | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
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Lamborghini dropped the ball with this car.

The car is beautiful.

 

Up until now I didn't think the nose was that beautiful but the low angle shot shows the lines of the whole car, though the grille material doesn't seem like Lambo would have ever gone that route.

My questions about the car are mostly on the "bitsa" nature of it, a bit here a bit there. Motor Trend said they suspect it's on a 350GT chassis, so why call it a 400? Maybe if the chassis number is a 350GT chassis you could say it's a 350GT chassis with a 400 engine? And why put the chrome letters Jamara on the back if it's not a Jamara chassis?

Has Simon Kidston, then working for Bonhams, ever said what they bought it for? It might have been a package deal since he originally was sent to Spain to inspect another car owned by the same then deceased owner.

I notice in a later posting that some forumite noted that though it originally sold at auction for 177,000 Pounds sterling it sold at auction more recently for 150,000 British pounds so it went down in value from its first auction, which I think that reflects the "Not by us" attitude from Lamborghini though ironically they invited the car to be displayed at one event or another.

I am interested in the terminology of where to place a car in a given automaker's spectrum,
so for this car I can't say "factory prototype"
so to me that's lesser value attached than if Lamborghini had paid the bill for the styling and coachbuilding. Who did the styling anyway? I see influences of Giugiaro, but don't think he would jeopardize his employment at Bertone or Ghia (whichever carrozzeria he was hanging his hat at during that time) by doing an outside design. But it's hard to believe N &B could come up with such a great shape without some drawings by somebody or just pounding metal and attaching panels until it "looks right."

So in sum, looking back on this find, I get less excited about it than if a name coachbuilder had done it and Lamborghini shown it first at an auto show. "Factory prototype" sounds so much more impressive to me than "speciale for private customer."