Spannerhead Dot Com

Yup, this is the one. Forget the Miura, Countach, Gallardo or Aventador (among others); I’d walk past all of them in favor of the lowly, 2+2, slightly ungainly-looking Urraco.

I think I fell in love with it as a boy. I had the standard white Countach wall poster, and I talked my parents into buying me one of those glossy coffee tables books about the history of Lamborghini so that I could drool over more illustrations of the flamboyant ’80s supercar icon. But a funny thing happened: As nice as the half dozen Countach images were, I discovered other Lambos. The Miura had these curves, and looked so different from my beloved Countach, and in between the two there were a few other models like the Sihouette, Jalpa, Espada…and this intriguing-looking mid-engined 2+2: The Urraco.

While its proportions were a bit “off” on account of the rear seats pushing back the transversely-mounted engine, the detailing was understated and tidy, and the car’s uniqueness and lack of notoriety compared to its more flamboyant stablemates was appealing, even more so now that I’ve gotten over my boyish attraction to wings ‘n things.

Powered by a 2.0l-3.0l range of SOHC (and in the case of the 3.0l, DOHC) V8s, output nudged 250 hp in the later versions, good for an optimistic 5.6 second sprint to 60 mph. The driver was treated to a Porsche-like swath of instrumentation (when it worked) and handling was decently balanced, as you’d expect from the mid-engined configuration.

I think my attraction to the Urraco was finally cemented after viewing what’s probably become, for some reason I can’t quite put my finger on, my favorite Top Gear car escapade: The Budget Supercars Challenge (Season 7, Episode 4). In it, the presenters each purchase a mid-engined, Italian exotic for less than $16,000 and have to coax their second-hand thoroughbreds through a number of trials, among them a track test, dyno evaluation, serviceability contest and fuel economy challenge. All three cars— Richard’s Dino 308 GT4, Jeremy’s Maserati Merak V6 and James’ Urraco—perform miserably, but for me that’s kind of beside the point. All three cars are rare and cool and it’s just a treat to see them driving around and to get firsthand impressions and historical tidbits from the guys. The Urraco in particular stands out to me; without hesitation, it’s the one I’d drive home (assuming I could get it home). As far as quirky European supercars go, it’s just right.