Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Unique Lamborghini Zagato Raptor up for auction at Pebble Beach

Lamborghini Zagato Raptor

If you thought the Lamborghini Reventon was as exclusive as Bolognese supercars get, feast your eyes on the Zagato Raptor. The one-off concept car unveiled at the 1996 Geneva show took on the insurmountable task of supplanting the Diablo (on which it's based) on the bedroom walls of enthusiastic children worldwide.

The concept car borrowed its mechanics from the Diablo VT, but while it retained the Lambo's 492-hp V12, in a gesture to insanity it did away with the traction control and ABS. The design, which Zagato appears to have echoed with the Spyker C12 concept, features the carrozzeria's signature double-bubble roof that tilts up with the doors not unlike the canopy on Pininfarina's Maserati Birdcage or Giugiaro's Quaranta concepts. The Raptor was developed in conjunction with Swiss sledding champion Alain Wicki (yes, he has his own Wikipedia entry), and while public reception was hot, the car was never put into production. All that remains is this one original show car, which is now going up for auction at Pebble Beach by the auctioneers at the Blackhawk Collection.

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