1969 Lamborghini Islero S

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The Lamborghini story is fascinating in itself but for the company to have survived all these years and indeed celebrate its 50th Anniversary in 2013 is quite amazing. Ferruccio Lamborghini was an entrepreneur, a very successful businessman and a lover of the finer things in life, including sports cars. He was fortunate enough to own some wonderful cars including Ferraris however, he found fault with them all. According to the legend, following a meeting with Enzo Ferrari to discuss some of the shortcomings of his cars, Enzo dismissed Ferruccio and he subsequently decided that he could and would build a better car.

Not long after in May 1963 Automobili Ferruccio Lamborghini SPA was established and the small town of Sant’Agata Bolognese, located between Modena and Bolgna, was chosen as the location to build his factory. Born under the Zodiac sign Taurus, Lamborghini chose the raging bull as the emblem for his sports cars.

Lamborghini knew what he wanted and he put together a highly skilled team and his first car the 350 GTV was shown at the Turin Motor Show in October 1963. This car received mixed reviews, however, Lamborghini was not deterred and made a number of improvements and design changes to this original concept and the first Lamborghini production car the 350 GT left the factory in 1964.

The 350 GT evolved into the 400 GT 2+2 and later the Islero. In parallel to building these classic front engine V12 GT cars, Lamborghini wanted to build a super car, enter the Miura first shown as a rolling chassis in 1965, and also a GT car that could comfortably seat four people, enter the Espada in 1968. The mid to late sixties were good times for Lamborghini and his cars were revered the world over.

The Lamborghini Islero was first shown to the public, along with the Espada, at the 1968 Geneva Motor Show. This car was the successor to the 350GT & 400 GT 2+2 and was only produced officially in 1968 and 1969, though some cars did leave the factory after this time. Lamborghini built only 125 Isleros and 100 Islero S’, making this model one of the rarest of all the bulls.

Lamborghini continued the tradition of naming his cars with association to the legendary bull and the Islero is named after the bull that killed famed matador Manuel Rodriguez.

Oldtimer Australia is delighted to confirm the sale of this extremely rare, factory right hand drive Lamborghini Islero S. This car is somewhat of a ‘unicorn’, as only 5 factory right hand drive cars were ever built. Of these 5 cars only 2 were delivered new to Australia – this car and another which was destroyed in a serious accident in the 1970’s.

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