Lamborghini has never been a company of modesty or mildness, but this custom Espada Rat Rod turns the extreme dial to eleven. This wild bull is a collaboration between Danton Arts Kustoms and Hervé Castagno, owner of French auto body shop Carrosserie Hervé, and one more gentleman. That man is simply named Elo. He owns Miami Supercar Rooms, the current home of the Espada Rat Rod. Recently, Elo invited me to visit Miami Supercar Rooms, and the Lamborghini was on display front and center of his main garage. Its presence in person is more striking than any photograph could possibly translate. The story of its build, its significance, and what the Lamborghini family thinks of it is spectacular.

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A Retro-Futuristic Mechanical Bull

The Lamborghini Rat Rod
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Originally purchased by Danton, a notorious custom car builder, the collaboration with Castagno developed quickly. The year 2018 marked the 50th anniversary of the Espada and the creators wanted to celebrate in fashion. Elo, an automotive enthusiast with many talents, skills, and connections contributed in many ways, but perhaps one of the most notable was the inclusion of Fabio Lamborghini in the car's development. Fabio is the nephew of Lamborghini's founder Ferruccio. The ultimate goal of all involved was to build an Espada that would push the boundaries while remaining true to its DNA.

To begin, the chassis and body were completely reworked. The front end was all but completely removed, save for the very front (which is also heavily modified). Exposed suspension elements and structural chassis components are all on display. With a stretched wheelbase and extreme track, it stands out. Danton Arts Kustoms is notorious for creating cars with wheels well outside the body, and the Espada is no different. Its rear wheels feature an 8.2-foot wide track. The whole car has an even lower profile thanks to a chopped roofline. The B-pillar is absent as well, leaving a dramatic gaping window in its place. The rear window is also gone, but the cool little glass on the rear is still in place. The rear lights glow through metal trim.

Espada Rat Rod rear three quarter
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The engine is prominently displayed, and that's for good reason. To hear Elo tell it, this car is all about the engine. He affectionately calls it the mother of the Countach. Upon its release, the Espada offered a more approachable Lamborghini. At the time, the Miura was dominating the supercar segment, but Lamborghini wanted a car that could appeal to more people, especially those in America. The resulting car was the Espada, in many ways a spacious luxury cruiser with muscle car power and an American-friendly front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout.

While the Espada never gained the popularity Lamborghini had hoped for, it did in many ways spawn the Countach. First, until the Countach had been around for a few years, the Espada was actually the best-selling car Lamborghini had built when it comes to worldwide sales. Second, that success in many ways allowed Lamborghini to go as far as they did with the extreme and outlandish Countach. Elo also reminded us of something else the two cars have in common as well. Aside from the oddball LM002, the Espada and the Countach are the only two Lamborghini production cars sold with names not based on a bull or a bull breeder. Espada means sword, and Countach—well, we'll let you google that one. Of course, the vulgarity of the name Countach is largely reflected in this extreme version of its "mother."

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The Exterior Details Of The Lambo Rat Rod

Side Scoop on Espada Rat Rod
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Walking up to the Espada Rat Rod provides a perspective that's incredibly hard to capture on film. It's lower, wider, and more aggressive than it looks in two dimensions. That super-low stance makes it look as though the engine has its own personal lift kit, which is perfect for this motor-forward creation. The sword nomenclature is perfectly suited to the regular car, but even more so as a theme for this custom build. Every surface looks sharp and slick. Coated in a satin gray paint, the brightest features of the car are the colors of the Italian flag growing from a few millimeters at the rear of the front wheel to more than six inches leading to the side sills. Those intakes come from the rare Lamborghini Reventon.

Viewers will find more color on all the round bits on this car. The headlights feature color-changing angel eyes, but the real show is at the corners of this rat rod. There you'll find custom blood-red 20-inch three-piece G67 RUMI wheels from Govad Forged. They're wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires that measure 345mm wide in the rear and 275mm in the front. To say that this Espada handles better than the original car would be an understatement.

Espada Rat Rod Wheels
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Up front, those wheels and tires look bisected by a more devious front end than any production Espada ever had. Instead of the flat face of the original, this one has some extreme angles. An arrow-shaped main section comes to a point in the middle while on the ends, sharp bookends press forward to fully house the headlights. Below the main section, three large spaces provide an attractive ground effect. The bottom section actually juts out quite a bit further than the top, which complements the overall design ethos. Inside the Espada Rat Rod, things don't get any more sedate.

The Theme Continues Inside

Espada Rat Rod seats
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The doors are long, but that was actually a feature of the original car. As a proper 2+2, Lamborghini needed long doors to make entry easier. Of course, Lamborghini also intended the Espada to be luxurious, and this car isn't exactly that. The seats make that clear before you take a seat. The angular buckets are roughly welded, soft padding covers each center section. The outsides are pure metal though, so don't expect to do hard cornering without slip-sliding out of the seat.

Espada Rat Rod rear seats
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Every other surface inside the car seems to be sheet metal. Many panels lean into the Rat Rod theme, with pieces unevenly laid atop one another. Not only do those panels cover the door cards and rear bulkhead, but they also wrap around much of the gear shift. The rivets are all exposed. The windshield jumps out at you with three panels held together with metal and more rivets. The Italian colors continue up the transmission tunnel and onto the center dash, where the speedometer is prominently located.

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Espada Rat Rod drivers seat
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Really, though, there's so much to drink in from the driver's seat. While the engine up front might be an original, this car starts with the same red button from a modern Lamborghini. Then, above the driver's head just to the right, you'll find the massive tachometer. Next to it are three auxiliary switches in green, white, and red. The steering wheel is deliciously retro, with Alcantara around the handle and three metal spokes in the middle. A beautiful custom Espada decal with an integrated "50" stares back at passengers from the dash. There's no question about how special this car is regardless of where you might be when viewing any part of it.

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Fabio Lamborghini wasn't a hardcore rat rod fan when this build started. He questioned things like the lighting or the lack of windows. Still, by the time of its completion, Elo says that he gave this car some of the highest praise imaginable, that Ferrucio himself would've approved of it. Perhaps that's because, like many of Lamborghini's products of this era, the Espada Rat Rod breaks all the rules, and that's just the way it should be.