Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Twice Baked Little Lambo


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.

 To this in less than a year of work, we will be ready show quality state of the art in every aspect;
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;

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.

No comments: