Lamborghini Jalpa

The Lamborghini Jalpa , pronounced in the Spanish "HAL-pah", was a car produced by the Italian automaker Lamborghini from 1981 to 1988. The Jalpa was a development of the earlier Silhouette, but was rather more successful; a total of 419 examples were sold. The Jalpa was intended to fill a role as a more "affordable" Lamborghini, being much cheaper than the Countach. Instead of the big car's V12, the Jalpa was fitted with a transversely-mounted 3.5 litre V8 that developed 255 hp. The bodywork was designed and built by Bertone.

The name Jalpa came from a famous breed of fighting bulls, Ferruccio Lamborghini having a liking for bulls and being a Taurus he gave most Lamborghini cars bullfighting-related names.

Compared to the Countach, the Jalpa was much easier to drive, having better visibility and being more tractable in heavy traffic and at slow speeds. At night, however, there were many distracting internal reflections (a common curse of the Italian low-volume car).

Originally the plastic components (bumpers, air intakes and engine cover) were black, and the car carried over the rectangular taillights of the Silhouette. In 1984, however, the plastic became body-colored, and round taillights were fitted.

In 1988, after falling sales, the new owners, Chrysler, decided to end Jalpa production.

The official top speed of the Jalpa was 146 mph but higher speeds have been claimed. The weight with all fluids is 3322 lb. The Jalpa is 43.9 inches (112 cm) tall.

Following the Chrysler takeover Lamborghini product programs general manager Jack Stavana fitted a Jalpa V8 into a Dodge Daytona, linked to an AWD system designed by Carroll Shelby and called it the "Decepzione". Despite its performance, the project was never followed up due to the car having just 1.5 inches (38.1 mm) of ground clearance, necessitated by the comparatively tall engine block.


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Lamborghini Silhouette

The Lamborghini Silhouette was a mid-engine rear drive sports car made in small numbers by Lamborghini between 1976 and 1979. The Silhouette began as a styling exercise by noted Italian carrozzeria Bertone. It was based on the earlier Lamborghini Urraco but was distinguished from the Uracco by more angular styling. The Silhouette was the first Lamborghini to employ a targa top roof. The Silhouette later evolved into the similar looking but more successful Lamborghini Jalpa. The car had a 3 litre V8 engine mounted transversely behind the driver. Of the 55 of these cars built, 31 are currently known to exist.

Afterwards once the car stopped production it was named and was the only Lamborghini to be named after the project stopped it is also known to be the car which inspired the very popular car of today such as LP640, Murcialago, Gallardo and the upcoming Lamborghini SS 2500.




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The Lamborghini Countach, part 7

In 1975, Walter Wolf, a wealthy Canadian businessman and owner of the Wolf F1 Racing team in the 1970s, purchased an LP400; however, he was not satisfied with the LP400's engine and asked Dallara, the chief engineer of Lamborghini at that time and the founder of the Italian F1 racing team Scuderia Italia in the early 1990s, to create a special high-power version of Countach. It was the "code NO 1120148" Walter Wolf special with the original "5" engine from the Countach prototype which produced 447 hp / 7900 rpm and reached a supposed maximum speed of 315 km/h (195.7 mph). This model also featured the upgraded wheels, Pirelli P7 tires, large fender flares, and front and rear spoilers of the LP400S model. It was painted in red, with black fender flares, and was designated "LP500S" like the standard Countach model from the 1980s, and was the stepping stone that led to this later production model. This first Walter Wolf car is currently located in Japan. Two other Wolf Countaches were produced, one painted blue, NO 1120202 (currently in Germany) and one navy blue, NO 1121210. (This machine was owned by Mr. Wolf for a long time, but was eventually sold.)

In 1984 Rod Ladret of Ladret Design Studio located in Alberta Canada began producing and marketing a replica of the Countach. The form for the kit was sculpted from plaster and then a fiberglass mold was made of the form. The kits and cars Ladret design Studio built included a tube frame chassis with an American V8 power plant. Ladret Design Studio built 141 of these replicas and the industrial clients who purchased his fiberglass forms have built several thousand over the past two decades. As of 2007 there are still several companies building kits based on Ladret's forms built in 1984. In 1993 Ladret ceased manufacturing the Countach replica and moved on to other projects.

From around 1985 until the late 1990s several companies replicated the Countach to various degrees of success. In 1985, Gary Thompson and Pete Jackson hired a real Countach from an up-market Manchester car hire company and took a glass fiber mold of it. This mold resulted in a number of UK-based manufacturers producing their own Countach replicas. A few were able to produce remarkably good replicas, including Paul Lawrenson of Prova Cars, Sienna Cars, Phil Cheetham of Mirage replicas, and Brightwheel replicas. Ultimately, none of these companies survived.



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