1976 Silhouette
Chassis #40010
Engine #40010
Production #4

BLACK SHADOW
The Lamborghini Silhouette
by Peter Collins

Peter Collins drives the car that was voted by many visitors as 'Car of the Day' at Auto Italia - Brooklands last year.

A Iittle Lamborghini - nicely alliterative, but however else the products of Sant'Agata may have been described over the years little is, well, a little short of the mark. But the Silhouette is a smaller car than the public's general perception of Lamborghinis and was born out of necessity. In 1967 Ferrari announced their 'small' car, the 206 Dino, in response to Porsche's 911. Ferruccio Lamborghini also recognised the relevance of a smaller car in his range, but beyond providing Ferrari and Porsche with competition, he envisaged that volume sales could be built up by a more affordable car so that his factory would not have to rely on the fickle supercar market. After all, Porsche had done it and Ferrari looked to be on the verge of it.

Paolo Stanzani took over engineering at Lamborghini in 1968 and one year later started on a completely new model. This was not the first time anything less thin a V12 was to be labelled a Lamborghin for Berione had come up with the amazing Marzal prototype in 1967 and, because its four seats limited room, a Miura engine was cut in half to produce a transverse 2.6-litre six. The new car was to have four seats as well, and what emerged in 1970, at the Turin Show, was a compact, practical car with a transverse 2.4 litre single overhead camshaft V8 amidships. The car was named P250 (P for posteriore) Urraco - young bull - and customers wanted them, straight away. Sadly, at the same time, Lamborghini was going through one of its periodical hiatus periods. Ferruccio was finally losing all interest at much the same rate as he was losing his money and whilst this was going on, the Urraco was taking time to develop into a sensible sales proposition, having been introduced far too early. Thus a spiral set in of wishful-thinkng sales predictions and customers cancelling orders and buying elsewhere.

By 1974, Swiss owners Rossetti and Leimer had taken over the company and Stanzani's first act was to authorise a full 3 litre version of the Urraco V8. This arrived in time for the 1974 Turin show, but the fuel crsis of the mid '70s and staff restlessness led to far fewer cars being produced than was envisaged - about 800 Urracos in all, instead of 1,000 a year.

Paolo Stanzani could not cope alone and he was joined by Pier Luigi Capellini from De Tomaso and a new Chef Engineer, Franco Baraldini. Talent the company had, but not the money. Somehow a new car was developed and introduced at the 1976 Geneva show; this was the Silhouette, which was based on the Urraco floor-pan and has that name on its chassis plate, but was intended as the vehicle that would right all the wrongs of the previous car. The chassis was stiffened so as to make possible the incorporation of a targa style top in the shape of a rigid removable panel, which, when not in use, slides behind the seats and is covered by a large flap of carpeting material (neater than it sounds) . A recessed engine cover was adopted, echoing then current Countach practice as do the large, square, wheelarch flares, very much a piece of '70s design and no worse for that.

This car is from "78, but during Silhouette production from 1976 until Lamborghini became bankrupt in 1978 and was bailed out by the Italian government for ٟmillion, no fundamental alterations were made to the design. The wheels, with their distinctive five-hole telephone dial looks that had first appeared back in '74 on Bertone's Bravo Lamborghini prototype, were wider than the Urraco's and accomodated Pirelli's new P7 tyre. Weight, at 1,240kgs, was less than the P300, so, as the 3-litre engine was employed, extra performance was expected. This engine developed 250bhp at 7,500rpm and 195 lbsft of torque at 5,750rpm - comparative figures for the 308 GTB were 255bhp at 7,700rpm and 210 lbsft at 5,000rpm.

The interior had been considerably updated, with better ergonomics, which meant proper dials in front of the driver and better seats, of which there are now only two. It is a good-looking car, Autosport suggested it was perhaps the most attractive of all mid-engined cars produced up to 1976, although I'll keep well out of the way of Dino 246 owners having repeated that!

There is evidence that money was still short in Sant'Agata because although entry and egress are easily accomplished through the wide doors, the fact that they could not afford to alter the pedal box from the Urraco means that space for the driver's feet is quite limited. The interior of this car, as with the exterior, is in a superb state and again it is very '70s.

A quick look at the original handbook to check on starting proceedure reveals, as expected with the four twin-choke Webers, that three good prods on the throttle when cold should be enough to prime the engine before turning the key. In these days of fuel-injection one forgets the hundred and one sounds that emanate from a well set up carburatored four cam engine. Listen to the distant whir of the starter motor then ju-u-ust catch it all as it fires and the V8 bursts into life. It all sounds slightly less refined - more exciting if you like - than a contemporary 308 Ferrari.

Lamborghini suffered from the "must have a gate" syndrome and selection of gears, especially when cold, is not the work of a moment. First is a left and down dogleg, but there's enough torque to require its only fairly infrequently. Once on the move and warmed-up the changes go through with ease and no hesitation. The clutch is reasonably light, which came as a surprise, but I wouldn't recommend this as a town car. Open it up and the whole thing says thank you as it starts to show what it can do and those cams whir and the carbs suck and the exhaust bellows.

The Silhouette's ride is excellent - something I've found with other cars from the raging bull - it even coped with the atrocious pot-holes of South London. Once indecent speeds have been reached it begins to make sense although with the targa panel removed there is a lot of wind noise, but there is a high-speed squirming as you turn into a fast corner which I think could be adjusted out by playing with the tyre pressures. Despite that large hole in the roof, chassis rigidity seems acceptable with no scuttle shake.

One piece of advice to would-be purchasers - the fuel filler is on the right of the engine underneath the engine cover; it took me some minutes to find it, much to the amusement of the petrol station attendant. My thanks to Pullicino Classics for the extended loan of this rare animal which is currently for sale.

Text and photos courtesy of