Twice Baked, by Karlton Spindle
What I would like to attempt to do is have my show car on
display in the ebay motors booth / tent at this years Concorso Italiano where
ebay motors is a sponsor. The "mark" this year is Bertone in
celebration of 100 years of Bertone. My car is a 40 year Homage to the Bertone
Lamborghini lines.
Back story straight out of an ebay ad but all true. Fact is
there is a documentary being filmed on the car history.
1973 a Little green P250 Urraco made its way from Bertone to
Lamborghini then off to California where, Paul Spencer III bought the
little Bull (Urraco is a little Bull). Paul resided in Upland California. He also
had a home in Lake Arrowhead where the car was for the fun mountain drive up
Hwy 18.
197X (77 or 78) Paul had a motor fire on his way up the
mountain HWY 18, and the car was taken by the insurance company for disposal.
1978 The car was presented at auction in Los Angeles as a
tow through parts car; it showed minor fire damage. Well, at least to me, a high
school kid, saw a lamborghini in a price range that worked. I called my
Father who made me a deal; I could bid up to I think $10,000 for the car, but the car had to
be able to be re-built, and I had to put the money back in to my collage fund, or, sell the car when it came time to go to Loma Linda University in fall of 1979.
It was a BIG gamble, and he backed the bet. The car was bought for $6,000, and we put
$3,000 into it that summer / winter. By Spring, we had it ready for my high
school senior banquet (we did not have prom). It was a magical time as the car
made its debut at the banquet. That summer I drove the car up to our home in
Lake Arrowhead, and parked it at (NO LAUGHING) the Lake Arrowhead Yacht Club. We
race small boats there, yet we call it a yacht club, so dont think its some
high-fallotin joint. When I parked the car a good friend of mine, whose son I
raced Hobie cats with, came up and said, "Hey that's my car!". Yes, it was Paul Spencer.
Proudly, I said, "No, its mine now". The summer was off the chart fun with the
little green bull up and down hwy 18.
1979 at the end of an amazing summer my father called in the
deal. Yes, a deal is a deal - honor it. The car was sold to a friend of his, who in
actuality, did most of the work on the car with me. Chuck took the car to Long
Beach Ca. where he lived. He painted it red like every other Italian car, but I
digress. That was the last I saw of the car or so I thought.
2011 My mother passed away, then a few months later, my father
passed away. About a week or so after the passing of my father, I was thinking
of all the really cool things he had done for all of his kids, friends and
other family members. I was honored to help him pass with honor - a deal is a
deal. The Little Green Lamborghini saga has always been with me. You can check
my ebay searches and see I had an active search going for anything Urraco. But
when I looked for the first time after the service for my father, low and
behold on ebay motors, a 1973 P250 Lamborghini Urraco BURNED to the ground a
rusty hulk. Looking at the photos in disbelief, I could see the car started
life Green, repainted Red, plus, it was for sale very close to Long Beach,
California, just next door in Torrance. I worked a deal with the seller, bought
the little hulk off ebay and went to see my new old friend. To say the car
should have long ago been hauled off to the junk yard was a masterpiece of an understatement. No motor or transmission (I did not win that auction as they
were sold off in a separate auction) .
Over the last 12 months, I have had the car evaluated by car
builders who all said it was too far gone. Alan Lee, who sold me the Little Bull
body off ebay, said he could build it. So, we decided to build it as if it were a
new 2013 car, with the same goals as the original but use all modern parts and
freshen up the design to new design standards. Many of the new parts were
bought off ebay motors. We are still using eBay motors for the final parts of
the build. The goal of this build is also to present the car at Concorso Italinio
August 17th 2012, a lofty goal for any build. We are now in the final stages of
having the car ready for this event where we would like to present the car for
consideration to Bertone as an homage to the Bertone Lamborghini they built in
1973, as a 1973 P250 Urraco with the hope they will re-badge it as a 2013 LP420
SVM Lamborghini Urraco.
It would be fitting and an honor to place this car in the
ebay motors tent display at Concorso. If you know who we can contact, I will do
whatever it takes to make this happen as a tribute to my father, and prior to
bringing the car to its home in Lake Arrowhead, California. A full circle as it
were thanks to eBay motors.
My cell is 818-279-1049. The event is August 17th 2012
http://www.concorso.com/. I know there is some department at eBay working on
this event please pass this email around so it might reach the proper persons)
who I might be able to talk to about placing it with the ebay motors tent.
From the eBay listing photos, note the green paint under the
red and near all the rust.
Arrowhead-20120310-00228.jpg image by
mrmpxUrracorearviewConcorsoCatalog.jpg image by mrmpx
Little Lambo's Facebook Page:
Build photo blog,
We have a following, over 10,000 views of the blog;
http://www.lamborghini-talk.com/vbforum/f41/2013-lp420-svm-urraco-19263/Thiscar is state of the art.
Alan Lee the master builder and designer had hand crafted a
true work of art that not only is a tribute to My father but a Tribute to
Bertone and Lamborghini.
One last note the car has been built using as many VAG parts
as we can as VAG owns Lamborghini now so the car will present at a true as we
can representation of a Little daily driver Lamborghini as it was intended to
be in the first place.
Hope to hear from someone at ebay motors soon.
--
Smooth Sailing,
Karlton Spindle
Concorso Italiano - A Celebration of Italian Style
www.concorso.com
Come and see the incredible, over the top concept car to be
presented by Bertone at this year's Concorso Italiano where we will celebrate
Bertone's Centennial Anniversary.
