The Lamborghini Diablo is quickly becoming the next “classic” Raging Bull from Sant’Agata, built between 1990 and 2001, the successor to the legendary Lamborghini Countach and the predecessor of the Lamborghini Murciélago and just two generations removed from the magnificent Lamborghini Miura of the sixties , considered the world’s first super sports car.
But back to the Lamborghini Diablo, which was introduced in January 1990 as the successor to the then Countach 25th Anniversary and was initially only available as a rear-wheel drive model. In 1993, Lamborghini introduced the Diablo VT for Visco Traction, where power from the rear wheels could be transferred to the front wheel to create a type of four-wheel drive system. The 1993 model revisions included a different dashboard, color-keyed exterior mirror housings, and larger air intakes beneath the square lights in the front bumper.
The first major addition to the Diablo range came in 1995 when Lamborghini introduced the Diablo SV (which stood for Sport Veloce, not Super Veloce as many think) as a sort of stripped down, lightweight version of the original Diablo 2WD, the Diablo SV also introduced the Alcantara upholstery into the Diablo line, but more important for our current article was the Diablo VT Roadster, the convertible V12 flagship from Sant’Agata and therefore the first Lamborghini production model with a V12 engine, the one with the soft top could be driven Below there was already the Lamborghini Silhouette and the Jalpa, but these were “entry-level” V8 Lamborghini models. This was the first time that Lamborghini made a V12 convertible available to its customers.
The Diablo VT Roadster has been significantly redesigned compared to the Diablo VT, still with all-wheel drive and a massive 5.7-liter V12 directly behind the driver and passenger, producing 492 horsepower at 7,000 rpm, enough to achieve a top speed of 202 Miles per hour and accelerating from zero to 60 in just 4.2 seconds, even with the top removed, and yes, this wasn’t some kind of folding top or a folding top like we would see much later on the Lamborghini Murciélago Roadster, but the Diablo VT Roadster with a rigid, lightweight carbon fiber roof section that could be removed in one piece and stored on the custom engine cover.
The car we are talking about in this article was ordered in 1997 by none other than Donald Trump himself, and as if that wasn’t enough to make this car very rare, get this one, only 132 examples of the Lamborghini Diablo VT Roadsters were built for the US market between 1997 and 1999 (when the 1999 model year with fixed headlights took over). Thanks to the very good relationship that Donald Trump had with Lamborghini, he was able to order this car in Blu Le Mans, a shade that sources say wasn’t even available in 1997, making it the only Diablo VT Roadster in that period with a beautiful shade of blue, which can also be seen on the Diablo SV.
Donald Trump owned this car from 1997 to 2002, when he sold it, but the pedigree remains intact and there is even a special plaque on the door indicating that it was the car he bought in 1997 , and with the custom paint he was able to order not being the only rare option on this car, the two-tone interior, which looks like a combination of cream and black, certainly wasn’t standard on the Lamborghini Diablo in the late ’90s. Also note that this car was already equipped with both a driver airbag and a passenger airbag, and the latter in particular looks like an afterthought from Lamborghini. They simply “glued” it to the dashboard in front of the passenger to comply with regulations. It was certainly not as well integrated into the interior as we would have liked, see the MY1999 model later.
This blue Le Mans Lamborghini Diablo VT Roadster has the chassis number ZA9RU37B3VLA12842 and was listed under lot number 1407 2024 Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale At auction, the car sold for a whopping winning bid of $1,100,000, including fees. That’s an all-time record for the first-generation Lamborghini Diablo VT Roadster, as these days they change hands for between $350,000 and $500,000, which is certainly around double that. That has something to do with the fact that this particular car once was was “in the possession of the President.”
Keep in mind that it changed hands again after Donald Trump sold the car in 2002, so this car had a total of three owners before it was auctioned off at the end of January, but that certainly didn’t take away from the value of this car seemed like a pretty unique Raging Bull, so it’s clear that “celebrity ownership” can really add value to a car. However, I am sure that the Diablo VT Roadster will become a million dollar car in the future, currently it is only the Diablo SE30 Jota or Diablo GT that can reach seven-figure prices, but the other “rare” models will certainly soon consequences.
