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LAMBORGHINI JALPA
The Lamborghini Jalpa was a car produced by the Italian automaker
Lamborghini from 1981 to 1988. The Jalpa was a development
of the earlier Silhouette, but was rather more successful;
a total of 416 examples were sold. The Jalpa was intended
to fill a role as a more "affordable" Lamborghini, being much
cheaper than the Countach. Instead of the big car's V12, the
Jalpa was fitted with a transversely-mounted 3.5 litre V8
that developed 255 hp. The bodywork was designed by Bertone,
and built by Silver Car of Turin.
The name Jalpa came from a famous breed of fighting bulls,
Ferruccio Lamborghini having been an aficionado of the bullring
and thus most Lamborghini cars were given bullfighting-related
names.
Compared to the Countach, the Jalpa was much easier to drive,
having better visibility and being more tractable in heavy
traffic and at slow speeds. At night, however, there were
many distracting internal reflections (a common curse of the
Italian low-volume car).
Originally the plastic components (bumpers, air intakes and
engine cover) were black, and the car carried over the rectangular
taillights of the Silhouette. In 1984, however, the plastic
became body-colored, and round taillights were fitted.
In 1988, after falling sales, the new owners, Chrysler, decided
to end Jalpa production.
The official top speed of the Jalpa was 146 mph (234 Km/h)
but higher speeds have been claimed. The weight with all fluids
is 3322 lb (1,507 kg).
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