The history of Lamborghini is a story that many of us are familiar with. After Ferruccio Lamborghini created his first car in 1963, Lamborghini was a prestigious brand, which was far more exclusive than many of the Italian automakers. Ferruccio wanted to give back to his country and his people, and he desired to build a car that was accessible to the everyday Italian. In comes the Lamborghini Urraco. Obviously, the Urraco was not as affordable, or useful, as many other Italian cars with its “2 crush 2” configuration. The idea of building such a car was very noble, but the idea did not become the reality. With only 779 Urracos built, these Lamborghinis are rare, and never achieved the “everyman” status Ferruccio had hoped for. This particular Urraco is a clean and well maintained driver that needs nothing other than a new home. This rare, and exclusive, machine is offered at $83,950. Find it here on craigslist out of North Hollywood, California.
The mid-ship SOHC 2.5 liter V8 is clean and well maintained having just undergone a recent rebuild. This 2.5 liter engine offers 217 horsepower, which unfortunately wasn’t quite enough to propel this Lamborghini with neck breaking acceleration. The Urraco was split between trying to be a sports car, and also trying to be an affordable car. Unfortunately those two ideas did not mesh as well as planned, making for a “mediocre” sports car, and a not so great everyday car. By all means peppy, the Urraco does not offer that rush of power that many of us imagine from a fine Italian machine. Either way, if I was a lottery winner, I would gladly add this to my collection.
Inside of this fine Italian is a very clean and orderly interior that is described as “above average”. It is easy to imagine that condition is everything with a car like this, as restoration parts are not a phone call away. The interior as a whole is in magnificent condition needing only to be gently taken care of.
Looking at the back seats explains the “2 crush 2” nickname, as you clearly would need to be a contortionist to ride in the back of this Lamborghini. Heat was also a concern for passengers in the back seat area of the Urraco. Either way you look at it, if you ever get the chance to ride in one of these Lamborghinis, be absolutely sure you call “shot gun”.
With a lovely flair of 1970s Italian styling, this banana colored bull is still a great looking machine. It is obvious this car has been well cared for, with no obvious signs of damage or age. The rear louvers are in excellent shape, as is the chrome. Overall an excellent example with a great history of a company, and a man, who rose to meet the challenge of making yet another fine Italian automobile. Much of Lamborghini’s early history is quite fascinating, and paints a colorful history of failure and success. The Urraco is not one of the most stunning or desirable Lamborghinis, but it is a special one, as it was a brick in the history of the fine automakers past. If you could, would you own one of these rare Urracos?
Nice car!!!!!! To rich for my blood. I will stick to my Corvette
You betcha!
This is a beautiful car, there is no question about that, and I would take it in a heartbeat money permitting. But I have 2 tiny issues: 1) Why would you leave dirt on the floormats and not do an ArmorAll touchup when you’re trying to sell a car for $90K? 2) The dashboards on many of these low volume exotics too often looked like a piece of aluminum with holes cut for guages. Lots of guages.
stunning looking car and a nice piece of motoring history. If I had the money would I buy it.. nope it just doesnt do anything for me I would rather an old Pontiac or Chevy
Beautiful car! Shares many of those 70s styling cues that some of the other high end cars also used. This car reminds me an awful lot of the DeTomaso Panteras of the same vintage. +1 on the interior shots of dirty carpets and upholstry.
I can’t help but love a unique sports car. I think it won’t be much fun, unless you are one of those hedge fund guys with a warehouse to show off a collection, that likely never sees asphalt. Try and find parts for this beauty. I located a thrust bearing for it, just a mere $700 for that part. Repairing these leaves few options that don’t involve big money. Somewhat maddening is the fact that a Toyota Camry with the V-6, will out sprint it to 60 m.p.h.
Not entirely true, the odd parts are expensive but generally its all relatively cheap. Brakes are BMW suspension parts macphearson are available. Its all FIAT, Lancia and Alfa. I can find you some expensive parts for a ford cortina.
I first saw one in the flesh at a repair shop a friend of mine ran in the late 90’s, spent an hour looking it over and under, fun part was spotting all the Fiat sourced parts like the door handles, switches, it is a good looking car, and I believe it was replaced by the Jalpa.
I’d fold my big self into the back just to say I’d been in the backseat of a Lambo… LOL
Great lines. Even if I could afford it, I don’t think I could comfortably drive the thing. Like other exotics, it looks like your legs are shoved to the side to operate the pedals, so you’re sitting sideways on the seat. Anyone have practical experience in Italian exotics?
I dated a girl from Italy once. She wasn’t practical, but she was hot!
I have sat in one and they are very similar to a Lotus Esprit but with more leg room. The rear seats are a total joke but an excellent place to put your coat and gloves and if so inclined your briefcase. Once in and adjusted a very comfortable place to drive. Vision is about equal but different than my Esprit.
As for the exchange of Fiat and Alfa parts that is common for most all exotics if you really look. Most of the mechanical bits can be had for the price of normal gears, washers and standard parts used on other cars of similar power and from a similar time. That is not as common as it used to be but still happens.
I have yet to see a photo of one of these that shows how really beautiful they are. They are like the Jag XKE in that way. The shape is so subtle that photos do not convey it properly. Many newer cars will out perform it with turbos and fuel injection, higher compression and the like but very few will command as much attention.
I think the price is about 15 to 20K high or 5 years too soon depending upon how you look at it. Just budget at least 5K per year for mechanical and body repairs to be safe. Exotic, beautiful and reliable if cared for properly but treat it badly and like a high strung exotic Italian model they can bite back with a vengeance. In many ways they cost the same but ahhhhhhhhh the pleasure they can give if they love you.
I agree Bruce, the 250 in particular isn’t fast but it makes a lovely lovely noise. The parts aren’t difficult or that expensive. Pics don’t do them justice but I will try for you.
Looks good even doing 30mph
If your more than 6’2 you might struggle but otherwise its OK if a bit Italian Long arms short legs.
Driving position depends a lot on whether the car is a front- or mid-engine car.
In mid-engine cars like this Urraco the front wheelwells intrude into the leg space and the pedals need to be offset toward the center of the car. This is because the front seating has to be as far forward as possible to make room for both the rear seats and the engine/transaxle. You can see that in one of the pictures above.
OTOH, I owned a Ferrari 330 GTC, which is a front-engine car, and the seat/steering wheel/pedal position was lined up as in most front-engine cars, and you felt comfortable.
I think the Urraco having the offset seating/pedal setup plus the difficult and cramped rear seating (for anyone larger than a child) makes it a difficult car to live with. Four-seat exotics are terrific to look at and be seen in, but there are real ergonomic problems with most of them.
I always liked this oddball car. I know they are rare, however, they have not been going into the sky pricewise and I do not expect they will in the near future. I would not mind owning one but for 84 thousand bucks, there are alot of other fine cars I would take over this car as I’m sure many of you feel the same way….
Unfortunately all Italian exotics are out of reach of the common man. I do have to wonder if the engine can be made bigger and more powerful without changing the look. If a sb chevy can go from 252 – 400 cubes and look the same. Before you say blasfeamer, most vintage race cars produce more power and cubes than back in the day. I know a guy with a Lola T-70 that got tired of getting beat by cars that were less competitive back in the day. It looks the same but has 100 more ponys give or take. Yes a Lambo isn’t a chevy but the principal is the same, just ask Smokey Yunick.
Hey Van,
In later years this engine was punched out to a 3.0l then eventually up to a 3.5l and received new DOHC cylinder heads. The 3.5 came in the Lamborghini Jalpa, and produced 255 horsepower.
http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicledetails.xhtml?zip=13601&referrer=%2Fcars-for-sale%2Fsearchresults.xhtml%3Fzip%3D13601%26mmt%3D%255BLAM%255B%255D%255B%255D%255D%26startYear%3D1981%26sortBy%3DderivedpriceASC%26makeCode1%3DLAM%26firstRecord%3D0%26endYear%3D2017%26searchRadius%3D0%26makeCodeList%3DLAM&startYear=1981&numRecords=25&makeCode1=LAM&firstRecord=0&endYear=2017&searchRadius=0&listingId=446555466&makeCode1=LAM&modelCode1=GALLARDO
2005 Used 2005 Lamborghini Gallardo
Mileage: 47,469 for 79K is a much better buy, and more fun per mile. .
Nobody actually sits in the back seats of a 911 either.
Nice car but the 3.0L engined cars are a better proposition, no timing belts. They used proper timing chains.
The great thing about these mid-1970’s Italian supercars is that over a period of time you can make a small fortune out of owning one….provided you start with a large fortune.