Urraco thread

This was a one owner Italian P300, a few years back it was for sale for 23,000 Euro. I drove it and had no issues what-so-ever. The Urraco has a very good steering feel and the brakes are adequate. The 300 has a DOHC engine that pulls well through the gears. IMO this is the best collector Urraco model.
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looked like a good one

i agree the 3 liter engine is a big step up compared to the smaller units

i heard from owners that had bought that the 250 is quite lighter though ...what do you think, Alex?

my fav V8 is the rare silhouette, a pity all the examples that i found for sale for fair prices were RHD ....for some reasons looks like there is a good amount of right hand drive in this model

 

The early P 250 and P250 S cars ('73, '74 and possibly some '75), were indeed lighter. Later cars were "unified" to include a small roll bar near the rear speakers, additional crash bars in the doors, different (heavier) leather door panels, different seats, larger rubber bumpers (like the 300 pictured above) and probably several other mods that I am not aware of.

Having owned a P250S as my first Lambo I can honestly state that even in 1974 it was underpowered, also due to the long gear ratios of the Lamborghini gearbox. Period cars of the same displacement such as Porsche 2.4, Fiat Dino Coupe or Spider with the 2.4 Ferrari DOHC V6, Lancia Stratos and 246 GT Dino all outperformed the Urraco and many had a lower retail price.

Considering the investment that went into the Urraco engine, besides the engineering costs also the automated machinery to CNC the heads, the block castings, etc I never did understand why a performance oriented company such as Lamborghini would begin a project with SOHC. I highly doubt that the extra cost of 2 additional cams would significantly change the cost of the Urraco. It might pull 220 HP on a dyno, but mated to the car and chassis it felt more like 140-150 HP. The 3.0 instead has additional power due to the displacement increase and double overhead cam engine. The three liter also went back to chain driven internals rather than belts of the 250 avoiding an engine out service to change the belts every 5 years or so.

 

thats one stunning silver P300! any idea what the Chassis # is? anyhow P300 and silhs are the ones i fancy also. i flip flop back and forth on which one i prefer so may get both?

your P250S felt like 140-150 hp because thats pretty much close to what they actually had. i've seen 2 P250 on the dyno and they pulled around 140hp at the wheels which is around 170-180hp at the crank so the 220hp is more than slightly optimistic. another dyno graph indicated a japla 3.5 put down around 180 which is around 230hp at the crank which is nearly equal to a an early euro carb 308 or a 308 qv. with the lower weight no wonder the a contemporary 911 usually out guns the italian exotics. not that i really want a "superbettle". too many friends drive em already.

cheers and thanks for posting up the pics

 

from my experience the jalpa is slightly faster than 308s (it also felt some more than 180 at the wheels...may be the one you tested was not the best one)
it has more torque than the smaller ferrari engine, jalpa is heavier though

imo the sil. is the best car of the V8 series for performance, design and from a collector P.O.V.

the jalpa is pretty cool to, sounds superb and is very enjoiable to drive (not so fast of course)

p.s. attached a pic of my fother former car
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My former Jalpa was as fast as a 328 and almost like a early 348.

 

Hmm was the passenger side mirror optional on the 300?




On another note, nice Jalpa, Emilio!

Raymond was your Jalpa modified?

 

My jalpa had only the ANSA Jalpa/P300 Sport exhaust.

 

emilio

your probably right on jalpa feeling slightly faster than the quickest 308.... is it safe to say they both do 60 in around 6 secs and 1/4 around 14? the difference is the low end torque and even shorter gear ratios than the urraco's would make the car feel faster. whether it actually is or not is debatable. i reckon the ferrari is a tad faster at top speed because of areo reasons.

speaking of gear ratios we know the the jalpa and urracos are different. but ive also recall hearing the very hear batch of P250 with the funny chunky seats had a slightly different than the later P250 and P300. can anyone chime in on that?

ive never rode or driven a silh... is it true the chassis is a serious flexi flyer? i hear the jalpa is much heavier due to structural reinforcements. im curious how the chassis differ in detail. im guessing the "targa hoop" area is where the added more metal. but thats a mood point i suppose...its such a stunning car. the only thing is i wish they would have keep the vented front hood on the earlier cars. so is the silh a faster car? probably not. but it may handle alittle better because of the 220-250lb weight difference?

cheers

hf

ps your fathers car has an interesting rear spoiler? looks like an early version with the old tail lamps

 

hello hf !

i think the jalpa is over 6 sec 0-100 Km/h as the 308s, may be half a second faster on the 1/4
and as you said less fast on top speed for its bad aero

let me say i never drove a silhouette so i cannot comment on his flexing chassis or bad behave (if these things are for real...never heard of it before)

i love it for it looks, light weight and rare-cool factor

for what i remember the jalpa had a good chassis and not much chassis flex, the biggest faults to be poor braking and lift in the front at hi speed)

in my eyes the jalpa was a modified sil., but in all ugly ways.... in the 80's
and still looked great but the starting point looked 3x nicer (fat 15" bravo wheels, front spoiler, interior, dash, fenders....all is nicer looking on the sil. VS jalpa imo)

a similar thing happened with the countach in period (first hi roof and smooth wheels instead of bravos, then less nice interior with more thigns, till the side-skirts of 88,5 and finally electric seats, windows and all the add ons on anniversarios )

yes, my fother's car was an 83 with urraco tail lights (that i personally prefer to later Ferrari-like lights) and had a 320 is BMW wing mounted, already there when he bought it

Raymond was so kind to send me recent pics of it and the car has no more the after market spoiler

an other old pic of the car in my city
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All nice cars, guys.

 

grazie Emilio

 

Totally agree. The 250's front hood was wicked, even better than the 300's IMO

cheers

 

emilio

you have exquisite taste...

personally, i also consider that a magical period in lambo's short history when wallace, dallara, baraldini began developments circa 74-78 for the new low profile P7 equipped cars? the L400S, Silh seemingly had influences from racing inspired wolf cars that were build about the same time.

i reckon them to be more sport oriented over the later more refined cars. i recall reading about how wallace was disappointed on how much bigger the countach evolved from the earlier lighter equipped cars. this is telling on how focused the cars really were when you see how tall is really is in person and had to shoe horn himself to these low slung cars.

all the best

hf

 

I got them through Eric from Lyon, now we know also the VIN...

 

tks you very much, sir

i agree with you ....200% !

and this is why i now own a 78 LP400S and i love it ....with all its faults
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Just purchased a Stebro sport Exhaust kit for the Urraco (including manifolds!)... will post pics when it arrives!

 

I recently installed a Stebro Racing exhaust on my Urraco. Sounds great, I would mind if it was even louder.
Fit was wrong and it had to be shipped back to Stebro along with my original exhaust. Got it back and it fit though about an inch of center.

 

Yeah I have been hearing of bad fitting(why Didnt I hear of it before??!)
but nothing I can't fix.

Cheers 4 feedback

 

Hey all!

I'm looking for a urraco fuel cap. Is it the same as on the countach and Jalpa??

Anyone has one for sale/knows where to get one?

Cheers

 

anyone have any info on how the chrome strip on the doorframe between the door window and the rear side glass is attached/removed? is it just glue or are there bolts..


thanks

 

I'm pretty sure it's just stainless pinched around the steel window frame. We never took that off, though we did have the triangle glass in front of the door glass off. That track is a separate piece that is held on by a screw at the top and I think two bolts below. The outer frame itself is part of the door if I remember correctly. I can try and look in a few days, too tied up with work right now.

For the cap did you try GT car parts? He had a Urraco parts car a couple years ago.

 

I will check my Countach and Urraco's gas to see if they are interchangable.

 

Oh wow *starstruck* it's the legendary chelle! Love your work!
Also, when you get the time, I have corrosion in the drip tray in the roof (that thing that collects water through the slit vents in the roof, above rear seats) as well as the associated piping that runs inside the rearmost pillars to the boot. How do I treat this? Or at least remove it?

Thanks!!

 

Yes that would help thanks! Eurospares just broke a urraco and the fuel cap is gone already. Actually I pulled the cap to it's respective pieces, only the inner metal sheet is rusted through. I think if I punch a new metal, the cap will be all good.

Peter can you take a few photos of your fuel cap please(top and underside)? Is there a vent hole on the inside face?

Thanks!!