Photography by Bill Serantoni
Restorative Notes: One Lucky Lamborghini
October 2, 2003
The transmission and a heap of parts lay on Gary Bobileff’s shop floor when I called him from a table in Napa to ask about the 400GT. It was three days before Concorso Italiano, and I was having dinner (in an editorial capacity) with the folks from Automobili Lamborghini, some of their American dealers, and a couple dozen Lamborghini Club America members. I had spent the day with the Gallardo, Lamborghini’s brilliant new offering that raises the bar for sports cars on every level. Italophiles can take solace because it is most assuredly not an Audi, albeit made as well. At present, I am having the value of my soul appraised to see if I can swing a Gallardo.
Meanwhile, the Concorso clock ticked away, with much work remaining in an impossibly narrow window of time. The 400GT sat immobile, like a fat queen bee encircled by doting drones. Bobileff and crew fettled and cajoled and fairly bullwhipped the old beast back together, then fired her up and into a transporter just hours before the show.
Friday began at dawn when I uncovered the car and—speechless—saw it complete for the first time. Some assiduous last-minute detailing followed careful placement on the lawn of Concorso’s new venue, Black Horse Golf Course at Monterey Bay. The cars looked splendid on the lawn, overwhelming in their numbers, teeming like a school of mostly red sardines as far as the eye could see. More than 950 cars were present, including 85 Lamborghinis, the featured marque of the 2003 Concorso. Factory management was present to host a 40th-anniversary celebration in conjunction with the introduction of their aforementioned Gallardo. This was the first year of the Black Horse Classic, a competition in which five models each of Ferrari, Maserati, and Lamborghini were invited by Concorso organizers to be judged for style and presentation according to concours standards. I was startled when I received a call from Frank Mandarano, to whom I had never spoken, asking 400GT #0517 to join the quintet, which included an ultrarare Zagato-bodied Lamborghini 350GT.
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