The Countach may have graced more bedroom walls, but the cool kids knew that the Jalpa was the one. It just had a presence. Exotic, yes, but perhaps not as ostentatious. It was the Lamborghini for those in the know.
Only 410 examples were built during the 1981-’88 model run, though, so…
Right after taking possession of the car, the original owner ordered a wing from the factory. It was never painted or installed.
Initial poor judgement followed (thankfully) by a return of good sense. The cars look much better without the bling of an unecessary wing. The ones with wings fitted look like Fiero GT wannabes, but at least they look better than the 4th generation Supra, which looks like a jelly bean with a handle. And it is nice for a subsequent purchaser to at least have the option.
The Jalpa had decent power for the day at 255 bhp (an 85 Corvette only had 230 bhp).
The V8 cars languished for years in terms of price and desirability but have risen a bit recently.
A friend lucked out and bught a Uracco that the owner thought had blown an engine but turned out after the sale to have been something trivial that caused a lot of exhaust smoke!
In reply to wspohn :
I'm with you on the non-wing. The red with gold wheels here just looks so good.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
Tom Tjaarda's ten year older design of the original Pre L Pantera has a very similar look with I think cleaner, more sensuous lines (as well as 100 more horsepower). I've owned mine for about 18 years and still think it's the best example of Italian 70's wedge design. (And I don't like the wing on either car)
I agree that the first version of the Pantera is the purest one. I think that I like just about everything that came off Tjaarda's design board!
There were other 'mid-engined wedges' in the period, but I don't know that any of them clearly beats out the Pantera..
Uracco
Khamsin
Merak
BMW
I've always liked the looks of Lamborghini's other cars, but especially the Jalpa and the Espada.
Jordan Rimpela (Forum Unterstützer) said:I've always liked the looks of Lamborghini's other cars, but especially the Jalpa and the Espada.
They are both new age (1970s era) styling. The Espada was a pretty interesting car - I just avoided buying one that turned out to be rustier than I wanted to deal with.
Ended up buying one of these, which was a 60s car with the styling I preferred
In reply to wspohn :
That's pretty.
In reply to wspohn :
Oh, an Islero! Now that I can also abide by.
I tried one of the magnesium Campagnolos on my MGC just to see if the spline was the same. It was, but I think I might have needed some flairs plus the price of good used ones (just looked and there is some dreamer asking $25K for a set on ebay - ha!) I did like the Ben Hur look of the knock offs though!
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