Photo: Classic Cars
Sticking to a small range of vehicles, usually no more than two or three at a time, has made it so most modern Lamborghinis are well recognized and well celebrated. Things weren’t so cut and dry in the early days of the iconic Italian sports car maker.
In those days, Lamborghini tried their hands at multiple different market segments. One of those segments was the front-engined grand tourer, pretty blasphemous if you’re even familiar with modern Lambos. The Islero grand tourer was a car built before Lamborghini was a household name that could survive off recognition alone.
A time when Ferruccio Lamborghini was still fighting tooth and nail to prove the former tractor salesman could, in fact, build a sports car better than the snobs at Ferrari who'd told him to build his own car if he didn’t care for one of theirs. It’s a dare Ferrari profoundly regrets to this day.
That said, the Islero was a direct response to Ferrari’s own Grand Touring sports car, the 330 GT 2+2. Only a small number were ever sold, and even less wound up in the U.S., so this one for sale via an anonymous private seller in San Carlos, California, is a special treat indeed.
That Ferrari came equipped with the now-iconic four-liter Colombo V12 engine. As it happens, the V12 engine in the Islero is also roughly four liters (3.929 cc to the Ferrari’s 3.967), and both are paired with a close-ratio five-speed manual transmission.
In the Islero, the V12 engine made 325 horsepower, good for zero to 60 in around 6.4 seconds. The same engine was also used in classic Lamborghinis like the Espada and the Miura. The Islero utilized an advanced for the day double-wishbone suspension system with disk brakes at all four corners. From the factory, the Islero was fitted with special Pirelli Cinturato tires. These have been replaced with a new set of radial tires in this example.
With only 47,302 miles on the clock and an absolutely pristine beige/tan interior, this Islero is worth every penny of the $304,995 asking price. That’s $100k more than the latest Huracan EVO. Chances are good, though, that the Islero will be worth a fair amount more than the Huracan sometime soon.
A time when Ferruccio Lamborghini was still fighting tooth and nail to prove the former tractor salesman could, in fact, build a sports car better than the snobs at Ferrari who'd told him to build his own car if he didn’t care for one of theirs. It’s a dare Ferrari profoundly regrets to this day.
That said, the Islero was a direct response to Ferrari’s own Grand Touring sports car, the 330 GT 2+2. Only a small number were ever sold, and even less wound up in the U.S., so this one for sale via an anonymous private seller in San Carlos, California, is a special treat indeed.
That Ferrari came equipped with the now-iconic four-liter Colombo V12 engine. As it happens, the V12 engine in the Islero is also roughly four liters (3.929 cc to the Ferrari’s 3.967), and both are paired with a close-ratio five-speed manual transmission.
In the Islero, the V12 engine made 325 horsepower, good for zero to 60 in around 6.4 seconds. The same engine was also used in classic Lamborghinis like the Espada and the Miura. The Islero utilized an advanced for the day double-wishbone suspension system with disk brakes at all four corners. From the factory, the Islero was fitted with special Pirelli Cinturato tires. These have been replaced with a new set of radial tires in this example.
With only 47,302 miles on the clock and an absolutely pristine beige/tan interior, this Islero is worth every penny of the $304,995 asking price. That’s $100k more than the latest Huracan EVO. Chances are good, though, that the Islero will be worth a fair amount more than the Huracan sometime soon.
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