1976 Lamborghini Urraco P300

Details

Lamborghini’s baby bull was officially announced on the 27th October 1970 and known simply as P250, the ‘P’ designating posterior or rear and the ‘250’ the engine capacity of 2.5 litres. In November of 1970 the Urraco as it was now known (and in the tradition of Lamborghini named after a famous fighting bull) was displayed at the Turin Motor Show and there it attracted a huge interest from the motoring world. Bertone’s classic wedge shape receiving critical acclaim at the time.

The early 1970’s were a tough time for Lamborghini and it wasn’t until some two years later in 1972 that the first production cars rolled off the Sant ‘Agata production line. Lamborghini hoped to build the Urraco in big numbers, however, this never eventuated and only 520 of the P250’s were built up until 1975 when the P300 was released. The Urraco had some teething problems early on and the car unfortunately developed a reputation as unreliable. This was perhaps unfair as once Lamborghini ironed out the bugs the car was in fact a little gem and if properly sorted was a genuine threat to Ferrari’s 308, Maserati’s Merak and the Porsche 911 of the day. The P300 was indeed a fabulous little car and in the October 1978 issue of Car magazine Mel Nichols pits the Lamborghini Urraco P300 against a Ferrari 308 GTB and a Maserati Merak SS. The article is compelling reading and Nichols picks the Urraco as his favourite.

Lamborghini only built circa 205Urraco P300’s of which only circa 32 were factory RHD.

Urracos are rare and finding a fully sorted car is extremely difficult. We are therefore genuinely excited to offer this factory right hand drive 1976 Lamborghini Urraco P300. This is a very special Lamborghini. This particular car is chassis number 15992 (Bertone body number 409) and one of four P300’s built using the P250 body.

The car was completed in October 1976 and finished in ‘oro metallic’ (gold) with a ‘senape’ (tan) interior. This is understood to be THE car used in the famous Convoy article written by Mel Nichols and featured in Car magazine in February 1977, Sports Car World magazine August – October 1977 and others. The article featured three gold Lamborghinis – a Countach LP400, a Silhouette & a Urraco P300 and Mel Nichols had the privilege to be part of a convoy to drive all three cars from the Lamborghini factory in Sant ‘Agata Bolognese, Italy back to London in the UK.

This particular car was to be picked up from the Lamborghini factory by its original Australian owners, however, they were given the run around and told it had to be collected from Lamborghini in London. One can only assume this was to allow the car to be part of the Convoy article to get Lamborghini some much needed publicity during troubled economic times! As one could imagine the new owners were not to happy to collect their ‘new car’ with ‘a thousand miles or so’ on the clock! Additionally, they were annoyed that they did not get exactly the car they had ordered. Their Urraco P300 had a Urraco P250 body . . . the ‘old model’ back in the day!

The car was eventually exported to Australia. Its owners used it sparingly, most often for promotional purposes for their specialist paint and panel business – The Bump Shop based in Brisbane. This family owned the car for some 30 years during which time it was painted ‘verde metallic’ (green) and later ‘rosso grenda’ (light pink/red).

The current owners acquired the car in March 2006 at 27,500 miles and soon after committed to a full body restoration. The car was in excellent condition, however, they did not like the current colour of the car. The decision was made to finish it in Lamborghini ‘giallo’ (yellow). The interior is all original and in fantastic condition. Mechanically the car is strong. The engine pulls willingly through the rev range and the gearbox synchros are good. And oh the noise . . . in our opinion one of the best sounding engines ever! The Urraco is a fabulous driving car and this one ticks all the boxes.

Today the car has just over 30,000 miles on the clock.

The car was exhibited at Motorclassica in 2012. Valentino Balboni signed the door jam of the car at Motorclassica in 2013 where he was a special guest to celebrate 50 years of Lamborghini.

The car has a fully restored tool roll with tools & jack and a reasonable history file.

This would have to be one of the most original, unmolested and best Urracos in the world.