In 2007, the BO played host to yet another car-racing movie, Redline. There’s no surprise there considering the success of the F&F franchise spawned a whole slew of movies about fast cars and people with a need for speed in their blood. While the F&F has managed to carve out a niche for itself (although it never will win an Oscar but then again, stranger things have happened), most other low-budget movies with barely-known star casts and awful storylines did not fare as well.
Redline also did not do well and was basically a BO disaster. Most of the actors in it were small-time as well, although the cars are big-time. There’s an Enzo Ferrari (later crashed by actor Eddie Griffin during a promotional event), a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, a Saleen S7 TwinTurbo, and even a Koenigsegg CCX.
Yet another biggie in the movie was a Lamborghini Diablo, crashed early on in the movie as part of the script. So what was the story behind the Lamborghini Diablo from Redline and where is it today?
What Made the Lamborghini Diablo So Cool
The Lamborghini Diablo debuted in 1990 and followed in the haloed footsteps of its forefathers, the Miura and the Countach. Designed to be wide and low, this supercar not only looked futuristic but managed a top speed of more than 201 mph, as well as a 0-60 mph run of 4.5 seconds.
The car was an overnight success and in its 11 years of production, managed to sell more than 3,000 units, a big thing when it comes to supercars of its time.
At the onset, the Diablo was a rear-wheel-drive and made some 510 horses with a 7.2-liter V12 and got bigger front brakes. And yet, there was no power steering on it till 1993 and no ABS till 1999. In case you thought this made it a “bad car”, nope, because there’s a reason why the Diablo came AWD ready.
A black Diablo VT was also one of the best things on Need For Speed and gave the players a chance to feel what it must feel like to have tons of money and be able to afford a supercar. What also makes the Diablo stand out, in our eyes at least, was that it managed to become one of Lamborghini’s best-selling cars ever. Even though at the time, Lambo was a rather troubled company that bounced around owner-to-owner, it still managed to make a car that blew everyone away. Of course, it’s a different matter that all the Lambos that followed blew its 3,000-plus sales out of the water, but at the time, the Diablo held its head high. Plus there’s something rather charming about a devil of a car, right?
The Diablo In the Movie Redline
Redline as a movie seems to be a producer’s gift to his girlfriend, and his way of showing off his personal collection of cars which included a Carerra GT and an Enzo Ferrari. The producer in question is Michael Sadek, who at the time was a subprime lending magnate and engaged to soap opera star Nadia Bjorlin, the female lead of the movie.
Early on in the movie, Nadia, who plays Natasha and Jason (Jesse Johnson) go head to head in a race with two more entries. Jason is driving a black Lamborghini Diablo and the car flips when he uses NOS, crashing and then bursting into flames, killing him instantly. Later Jesse’s brother Carlo, played by Nathan Phillips and Natasha team up to win races, earn monies, and also takedown Michael D’Orazio, the bad guy of the movie.
But what really got the audiences’ goat, other than the bad dialogues, shoddy acting, and even worse stunts; was the deliberate destruction of the Diablo. But the cool thing about this Diablo was that it wasn’t destroyed although you’d be less than happy to know, it wasn’t even an actual Diablo. It was a replica built specifically for the movie…
Where Is The Redline Diablo Now?
According to the website, Lamborghini Replica, a 1999 Lamborghini Diablo was specifically “built” for the movie Redline and was sold by someone who had a certificate to prove the car’s authenticity as well as a title and #VIN, with original build paperwork.
According to the seller, it ran perfectly and had no issues with anything, including overheating. The seller also said that this replica is one of the most perfect body lines you’d see on a replica Diablo. The asking price for this was $45,000 and the seller was not interested in any trades. The car is now listed as sold so clearly someone either watched Redline and was a fan or wanted to have a Diablo so bad, it did not matter that it was a fake.
Interestingly, for some of the interior shots of the car in the movie, they used a Murcielago, a car that basically succeeded the Diablo in the Lamborghini legacy…
Sources: Lamborghini, TopGear, LamborghiniReplica