A New Lambo For The Privileged: Lamborghini Gallardo LP 550-2 Valentino Balboni

Last month Lamborghini announced a new special edition to their vaunted Gallardo product range – the Lamborghini Gallardo LP 550-2 Valentino Balboni. Balboni, for those of you that don’t know, is the legendary test drive for the Lamborghini brand, and his unique contributions have been so immense Lamborghini was compelled to honor the ambassador with a limited edition version of the their best-selling Gallardo. After 40 years, not  a bad salute.

not sure if you are interested, but the car is limited to 250 units. a badge below the left side window will have Balboni’s autograph and the build number of your car. It should only set you back around $220,000.

i happen to have a personal story about Mr. Balboni. Right after MCG bought Bburago, the bosses invited me to see the Bburago facility in Italy. We spent 3 days there. 1 of the days, the bosses son and I took a side trip to Lamborghini. They (meaning Lucia) could not have been nicer to us, giving us a private tour of the factory, the museum, and then, a really special treat, a test drive in their then brand new car, the Gallardo. Now Lamborghini does not have a test track, so they test cars on the streets of  Sant’Agata Bolognese. And out to give us a “ride” is none other than Mr. Valentino Balboni. He was incredibly cordial, even though you knew doing this was a little beneath him. Now the roads in that area are 2 lanes at best. Take a 500+hp race car out with a professional driver, and you are talking about some white-knuckling going on, and I ain’t talking about the driver. I distinctly remember him talking about the e-gear, lamborghini’s paddle shifter, and how easy it was to use, while he was looking at me, while he was downshifting to slip into the correct lane after passing 4 cars at 120+MPH. And I remember all of this even though I had 1 eye closed!

Congrats to you Mr. Balboni. You deserve it.

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