1969 Lamborghini Espada S1 #7323

1969 LAMBORGHINI Espada S1
Chassis #7323
Engine #40104
Prod. #113

Espada #7323 was the 113th Espada to leave the Sant Agata factory. The body was constructed at Bertone's Grugliasco works near Turin and delivered to Sant Agata for final assembly on May 24, 1969. The car was completed on June 13 and delivered to the customer on June 25, according to factory records. Ingrid Pussich of Lamborghini's sales office in Sant Agata kindly provided the information while I was visiting the plant in May, 2000.

Espada #7323's original body color was silver and its interior was black. The first owner was a Mr. Perez Soto, a Venezuelan businessman living in New York City who would purchase a number of Lamborghinis in the years that followed (#7323 was his first). If anyone has more information on Mr. Soto, please let me know (email Aaron Robinson at arobinson@hfmmag.com).

The car was built to European-delivery specifications, according to the factory record. One easy-to-spot difference is that the engine (#40104) was fitted with a road-draught tube, whereas U.S. spec cars at the time had a crankcase breather that ventilated blow-by emissions into the intake manifold.

Mr. Soto did not keep the car very long, for it was retailed through Modena Cars in New York City to Dr. A. John Merola of Syracuse, N.Y. sometime in 1970. It was there only five years before Dr. Merola sold the car to Vladimir Kolton of Reading, Pa., for $15,000. The car had about 25,000 miles showing at that time. Over the next ten years it would rack up just 3,000 miles more.

In addition to receiving a new paint job in "Allied Van Lines orange," the car apparently suffered three successive engine failures while in Pennsylvania, the last of which required the motor to be pulled out of the car. The first was cam journal wear. The second was an improper resurfacing of the cam journals from the first repair. The third was a blown head gasket caused in part by the excessive use of a tar-based gasket sealer that at some point that oozed into the oil stream and partially clogged the sump collector. The cylinder liners became rotted with rust and the whole engine needed to be disassembled.

The car was parked in 1985 and did not move for 11 years. In the meantime, Mr. Kolton passed away and his son, Jack, started repairs but was unable to go beyond disassembling the engine, having the cylinder heads restored with new valves, and ordering new pistons and cylinder liners.

I purchased the car in 1996 and relocated it to Arlington, Va. The first task was completely disassembling the body. The front and rear suspensions came apart and were restored with new bushings and paint. The hubs got new bearings while new pistons for the calipers were fabricated by White Post Restorations in White Post, Va.

All of the original tar undersealer was chipped off at great sacrifice to my spine. The underside was cleaned using mineral-sprit-soaked rags. If there was rust under there, I wanted to know about it. Thankfully, the rust was minor and confined mainly to areas around the water drain holes. The engine compartment was also stripped, as was the interior. The underside and engine bay were painted black in July, 1997. In the meantime, the engine components went off to Group 44 in Winchester, Va., for installation of the new cylinder liners and a dimensional check to ensure all the previous machine work would allow the engine to fit back together. The exhaust manifolds were given to Jet Hot for paint treatment, while new rear silencers and tips were purchased. The engine was reassembled that same July and test-run for about 20 seconds on a home-fabricated test bench.

In August, 1997, the entire operation along with our household moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, so Mrs. Robinson could attend the University of Michigan business school. The car sat for some time while we fixed leaks and drafts in our little old house. Eventually, the Espada's body was stripped of orange paint and it departed for Fielder's Collision in Belleville, Mich. in November 1998. Owner John Monks welded new steel into the rusty spots and, like the original Bertone craftsmen, used real lead to fill the seams. After much hand-wringing and flip-flopping, BMW Oxford Green was chosen as the new color.

During the winter of 1998-1999, the interior became the focus. New hides were cut and sewn together to make the new seats by co-conspirator Les Jackson, while the interior trim panels were reupholstered by me. A new dash cover was stitched and glued on by Time Machines Unlimited in Charlevoix, Mich. I made a new center console switch plate from laminated plywood and veneered it with Carpathian Elm. It's a little bit Jaguar, but it breaks up the otherwise drab monochromatic interior.

The body came home in May 1999. Assembly and re-wiring followed, along with a re-assembly of the entire suspension. Unsightly green overspray had taken root, plus it needed to be assembled properly as it had just been thrown together to make the car a roller for paint purposes. During the winter of 2000-2001 I sewed and installed a new headliner. On January 16, 2001 at 5:50 p.m. the engine was started and coughed its way through its first full gallon of benzina in 16 years.

A new pleated liner is ready to go into the hood (it's a diamond-pleated welding blanket that looks almost identical to the original jute insulation) and the hood will then go back on the car.

The goal is to road-test the car and complete the interior through the spring of 2001 so the car can have its official debut at the Ann Arbor Rolling Sculpture show in July and the Italian Happening on Labor Day in Detroit. Somebody out there keep your fingers crossed!

	*Espada S1*		Last updated August 25, 2001
	Here is #7323 at its first show, the Ann Arbor Rolling Sculpture, summer 2001. Still debugging the motor (i.e.: fixing leaks). The Countach is Dave Gamret's '75 Periscope. The following documents some of the steps in the 5-year Mission to restore this beautiful car: The Espada as it sat, painted orange, for 11 years in a Pennsylvania garage. Emerging from the paint shop in BMW Oxford Green. The Espada takes flight on a poor-man's lift, a 36" high wood truss built to provide access to the goop underneath. Chemically stripped of its orange coat, #7323 awaits paint sporting a faint patina of rust. The foolishly happy owner in the summer of 1997 believing it can be only a matter of months now... Lessee, is that 80 ft-lbs or NMs? Two seats, one in the new hide and one still naked. Still warm from a 20 minute run, the engine as it appears today. The cockpit still needs some work. The new dash and switch plate is visible. Two new tailpipes courtesy of Stebro Corp. A thick layer of roof-top dust attests to the passage of time, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. Here are two more recent pics of the Espada restoration that can be added to the page or This is a more recent (March 2001) photo of the exterior side elev. with the newly-painted wheels clearly visible and new Pirelli P4000s too. This shot is of the interior with the door panels and steering wheel in place. In mid-March 2001 the car was roadtested for the first time and it added its first two miles to the odo since 1985. A severe backfire cut the trip short. It appears to be an ignition problem in cylinders 1-3, which I hope to cure with new cap, rotor, and condensors.		1969 LAMBORGHINI Espada S1 Chassis #7323 Engine #40104 Prod. #113 Espada #7323 was the 113th Espada to leave the Sant Agata factory. The body was constructed at Bertone's Grugliasco works near Turin and delivered to Sant Agata for final assembly on May 24, 1969. The car was completed on June 13 and delivered to the customer on June 25, according to factory records. Ingrid Pussich of Lamborghini's sales office in Sant Agata kindly provided the information while I was visiting the plant in May, 2000. Espada #7323's original body color was silver and its interior was black. The first owner was a Mr. Perez Soto, a Venezuelan businessman living in New York City who would purchase a number of Lamborghinis in the years that followed (#7323 was his first). If anyone has more information on Mr. Soto, please let me know (email Aaron Robinson at arobinson@hfmmag.com). The car was built to European-delivery specifications, according to the factory record. One easy-to-spot difference is that the engine (#40104) was fitted with a road-draught tube, whereas U.S. spec cars at the time had a crankcase breather that ventilated blow-by emissions into the intake manifold. Mr. Soto did not keep the car very long, for it was retailed through Modena Cars in New York City to Dr. A. John Merola of Syracuse, N.Y. sometime in 1970. It was there only five years before Dr. Merola sold the car to Vladimir Kolton of Reading, Pa., for $15,000. The car had about 25,000 miles showing at that time. Over the next ten years it would rack up just 3,000 miles more. In addition to receiving a new paint job in "Allied Van Lines orange," the car apparently suffered three successive engine failures while in Pennsylvania, the last of which required the motor to be pulled out of the car. The first was cam journal wear. The second was an improper resurfacing of the cam journals from the first repair. The third was a blown head gasket caused in part by the excessive use of a tar-based gasket sealer that at some point that oozed into the oil stream and partially clogged the sump collector. The cylinder liners became rotted with rust and the whole engine needed to be disassembled. The car was parked in 1985 and did not move for 11 years. In the meantime, Mr. Kolton passed away and his son, Jack, started repairs but was unable to go beyond disassembling the engine, having the cylinder heads restored with new valves, and ordering new pistons and cylinder liners. I purchased the car in 1996 and relocated it to Arlington, Va. The first task was completely disassembling the body. The front and rear suspensions came apart and were restored with new bushings and paint. The hubs got new bearings while new pistons for the calipers were fabricated by White Post Restorations in White Post, Va. All of the original tar undersealer was chipped off at great sacrifice to my spine. The underside was cleaned using mineral-sprit-soaked rags. If there was rust under there, I wanted to know about it. Thankfully, the rust was minor and confined mainly to areas around the water drain holes. The engine compartment was also stripped, as was the interior. The underside and engine bay were painted black in July, 1997. In the meantime, the engine components went off to Group 44 in Winchester, Va., for installation of the new cylinder liners and a dimensional check to ensure all the previous machine work would allow the engine to fit back together. The exhaust manifolds were given to Jet Hot for paint treatment, while new rear silencers and tips were purchased. The engine was reassembled that same July and test-run for about 20 seconds on a home-fabricated test bench. In August, 1997, the entire operation along with our household moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, so Mrs. Robinson could attend the University of Michigan business school. The car sat for some time while we fixed leaks and drafts in our little old house. Eventually, the Espada's body was stripped of orange paint and it departed for Fielder's Collision in Belleville, Mich. in November 1998. Owner John Monks welded new steel into the rusty spots and, like the original Bertone craftsmen, used real lead to fill the seams. After much hand-wringing and flip-flopping, BMW Oxford Green was chosen as the new color. During the winter of 1998-1999, the interior became the focus. New hides were cut and sewn together to make the new seats by co-conspirator Les Jackson, while the interior trim panels were reupholstered by me. A new dash cover was stitched and glued on by Time Machines Unlimited in Charlevoix, Mich. I made a new center console switch plate from laminated plywood and veneered it with Carpathian Elm. It's a little bit Jaguar, but it breaks up the otherwise drab monochromatic interior. The body came home in May 1999. Assembly and re-wiring followed, along with a re-assembly of the entire suspension. Unsightly green overspray had taken root, plus it needed to be assembled properly as it had just been thrown together to make the car a roller for paint purposes. During the winter of 2000-2001 I sewed and installed a new headliner. On January 16, 2001 at 5:50 p.m. the engine was started and coughed its way through its first full gallon of benzina in 16 years. A new pleated liner is ready to go into the hood (it's a diamond-pleated welding blanket that looks almost identical to the original jute insulation) and the hood will then go back on the car. The goal is to road-test the car and complete the interior through the spring of 2001 so the car can have its official debut at the Ann Arbor Rolling Sculpture show in July and the Italian Happening on Labor Day in Detroit. Somebody out there keep your fingers crossed!