Buying any car these days can be quite an adventure, with issues such as the global chip shortage having pushed the prices through the roof. However, the collector car market has its ow reasons for the exploding prices, as the fear of losing touch with the once analog connection between the driver, the car, and the road, has been doubled by the threat of electricity completely replacing internal combustion. And when you mix those aspects with a V12 machine from the 1990s that happens to be special among already special Lamborghinis, you end up with what should be the first Diablo to trade hands for a seven-figure sum.
The supercar in question is this 1995 Diablo SE30 JOTA, which reportedly landed in America and found an owner in less than 24 hours.
The vehicle was handled by a Miami-based specialist that uses the We Are Curated label, who took the green-on-green (more on this below) Lambo to Instagram two days ago.
In its post, the company, which specializes in vintage supercars, doesn’t mention the actual price of the Italian exotic. However, we are being told that the vehicle set a new world record price for a Diablo: “[The car] arrived in the USA and sold in less than 24 hours for a new world record price for any Diablo variant,“
And, no matter how deep we searched the Internet, we couldn’t come up with a Diablo that had commended more than a 1999 GT example that was sold for €815,000 ($972,621) by RM Sotheby’s back in May 2019. As such, it seems extremely likely that the example we have here went past the six-figure area.
A Diablo massaged for racing
The JOTA nameplate, which had been around since the days of the OG Lamborghini supercar, the Miura, signifies a motorsport iteration of the Diablo that was so extreme it had to give up on its license plates, at least back then.
These were kits that Lamborghini built on top of the already ludicrous Diablo SE30 that had been introduced in 1993 to celebrate Sant’Agata Bolognese’s thirtieth birthday.
The SE30 already pushed the N/A 5.7L V12 of the car to 523 hp (530 hp) and featured plenty of carbon bits, but the JOTA kit dialed things up to eleven, linking the vehicle to the motorsport world.
Gifting the motor with racing parts meant the output jumped to 595 hp (603 PS), while the package also included dedicated rear hood scoops and an exhaust system that would allow this derivative to stand out. Even the speedometer was pushed all the way to 400 km/h (248 mph).
In other words, this kit allows select customers to race the mid-engined machine in the FIA BPR GT series. And the specialist quotes official Sant’Agata Bolognese records when stating that just 30 Diablo SE30 JOTAs were built: 19 cars straight from the factory and 11 kits for international dealers.
Used to sit in the Schmitt collection
This is chassis #130. Initially delivered to Lamborghini collector Manfred Schmitt in May 1995—this was the only year for the JOTA—the car comes with a Deep Verde Metallic exterior, which is matched by a Verde Alcantara cabin. And, as you can imagine, the combo makes the car a one-off.
Those were still the early days of Lamborghini’s motorsport involvement, with the automaker being far from the racecar range it offers these days, which once again adds to the aura of the Diablo SE30 JOTA.
