The 90's gave us so many things: Cell phones, Amazon, the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the Lamborghini Diablo. In keeping with tradition, the Diablo got its name from a famous, and ferocious bull, raised by the Duke of Veragua. It's name literally meaning "'Devil" in Spanish, fits perfectly on this absolute beast of a sports car.
Discussions about the successor to the Countach began in 1985, and it would be another 5 years of production before the Diablo made its debut in January of 1990. By then Chrysler had bought Lamborghini and was insisting on making a less beastly looking supercar. The design team took notes from the very successful Countach, but they also made some very important changes.
Beginnings and Beating the Countach
The first differences can be seen in the body of the Diablo. As opposed to the Countach, this new body design no longer had to suffer from the big air intakes on the rear 'shoulders'. They were now neatly incorporated into the lines, and supplied air to the radiators, which were placed at the far rear of the car. Next, the Diablo had to beat the Countach's insane speed. This was done with a modified V-12 engine still with four valves per cylinder, but now with a displacement of 5.7 liters and a newly developed multi-point fuel injection system. This allowed the Diablo to reach speeds of 202 MPH!
The biggest differences would be found inside, with a new high power Alpine stereo system, with either a cassette player or a compact disk player. An optional remote CD changer together with a sub woofer system. And new wider doors making just "dropping" into the Diablo much easier, without hitting yourself on the roof or the door.
Subsequent versions of the Diablo came with power steering, and made the impossible Lamborghini clutch much easier to handle. Eventually, a smaller dashboard and the front air intakes underneath the fog/driving lights were issued on the Diablo 2WD. A driver's side airbag became available in 1998. And the final production year of the Diablo, 1999 saw a body design overhaul that paved the way for the Lamborghini's of today.
Hollywood, Lamborghini's Champion
Sports Cars, Muscle Cars, talking cars, and animated cars, have all been long associated with the entertainment industry. Lamborghini especially has been a status symbol for celebrities and for fictional character in film. Since the 90's, spotting a Lambo in a film or song reference has been a dime a dozen, but even before that they were appearing in TV and film. As seen above in the 1994 comedy classic, Dumb and Dumber, the Diablo just furthered that relationship during its reign in the 90's.
Perhaps the most famous Lamborghini belongs to none other than Batman. Bruce Wayne's Lamborghini Murcielago Roadster and LP640 (in the first and second movies respectively) are just as much a part of the Dark Knight franchise as Christian Bale's infamous Batman voice. While Hollywood's relationship with Lamborghini started long before Wayne's reign in Gotham, the Diablo helped further cement that relationship in the 90's.
The Devil has Great Taste in Cars
The Devil works hard, but the Lamborghini Diablo worked harder with 470-horsepower and 428 lb-ft torque, which Drew Phillips of Auto Blog calls, "excessively wretched at the time". While newer Supercars blow right past that in power and speed, the Diablo did help pave the way.
Along with its Supercar counterparts, the Jaguar XJ220, Bugatti EB110 and McLaren F1, these cars showed that you can have luxury and class mix with over 200 MPH speeds, and an insane V-12 engine. Their spirits still live on in our Supercars of today.