Every generation surely had a Lamborghini poster proudly pinned on their bedroom wall at one point. The Miura would have been just as awe-inspiring in 1966 as the fighter jet-inspired Aventador was in 2011, while a good chunk of PH might consider the Countach as the definitive supercar given its 16-year production run and the spate of specials that came with it. But we live in the age of the loaded millennial, and that puts the Murcielago - like the one we have here - firmly in the sights of the new-age collector.
While the Murcielago didn’t stick around nearly as long as the Countach did, a solid nine-year life span was more than enough time to shift a handful of faster variants and special editions, including the LP640 in 2006 and the run-out SuperVeloce a few years later. Throw in drop-top variants of both and the Aventador-previewing Reventon, and you’ve got a decent crop of hugely desirable supercars to keep collectors occupied. That does mean a standard Murcielago is still relatively attainable, unless it’s one of the rarer manual cars like the one you see here.
The Murcielago was the first Lamborghini built from the ground up under Audi’s supervision and, as such, was hugely more advanced than the Diablo it succeeded. It was built around a trick honeycomb carbon tub, was offered exclusively with all-wheel drive and was considerably better put together than Lamborghinis of old. That said, there were a surprising number of carryovers and refinements from the Diablo, including the 6.2-litre V12, which could trace its roots back to the firm’s 12-cylinder engines from the '60s. And while Audi pressed hard to offer the Murci with an automated e-gear ‘box in the name of accessibility, all early cars - this 2003 model included - came equipped with a good old six-speed manual. Engine and gearbox pairings don’t come much better than that.
Actually, you could argue Lamborghinis in general don’t come much better than that. E-gear cars became ubiquitous after its introduction in 2004, and it’s nigh on impossible to find manual versions of the LP640 and SV, with only seven of the latter known to have been made. And while a healthy 985 manual examples of the original 6.2 were produced, over 50 per cent of which were sold in Europe, it’s thought only a fraction of those were right-hand drive, which makes this UK-supplied example a mighty rare spot indeed.
Fortunately, it appears to have been treated in a manner deserving of a now-classic Lambo. The seller claims to have known about the car for the last 15 years, and notes an ‘over and above’ service record. Appearing to have been kept in excellent nick, the ad says ‘extensive’ remedial work has been carried out to iron out any issues, including an overhaul of the throttle bodies, which seem to be a common fault on all Murcielagos. So it’s ready to hit the road, and because it’s got 24,779 miles on the clock you won’t feel a modicum of remorse when setting out on a long drive - perhaps to this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours with team PH.
So, how much are we talking about? The seller’s asking for £299,990. And at the time of writing, it’s actually the cheapest Murcielago currently for sale on PistonHeads. This 340-mile Roadster is going for a tenner short of £375k, and you’ll need £449k for this exceptionally rare LP650-4 Roadster special edition. That’s not to say this manual car is a cheap Murci by any stretch, but as scarce V12 Lambos go, it’s got to be one of the best to actually drive, right?
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