Lamborghini Diablo

The Diablo served as Lamborghini's flagship for the whole of the 1990s, carrying the marque from its Countach-era roots into the modern supercar age. Its wedge silhouette was penned by Marcello Gandini, the designer behind the earlier Miura and Countach. Arriving at the start of the decade, it set new performance benchmarks for the company, pairing a more powerful engine with lower aerodynamic drag than the Countach it replaced.

Power came from a mid-mounted V12 fed by fuel injection, displacing 5.7 litres in the original car. It produced 485 horsepower and drove the rear wheels through a five-speed manual gearbox, enough for a top speed of 202 mph, which made the Diablo the first production Lamborghini able to exceed 200 mph. As the years passed the engine grew in capacity and gained variable valve timing, and the line broadened into SV, SE, GT, and open roadster forms.

A pivotal change came in 1993 with the Diablo VT, the first Lamborghini road car to drive all four wheels, using a viscous coupling that fed torque forward when the rear tyres began to slip. Lamborghini built 2,903 Diablos before production ended in 2001, when the Murcielago took over as the company's flagship.