Gorgeous 1-of-1 Lamborghini Concept Car Goes Up for Auction

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Posted by Zach Doell

 

Despite its relative rarity, there are plenty of Lamborghini Gallardo sports cars in the world. In fact, with a production run of 14,022 built from 2004 to 2014, it’s the Italian automaker’s most prolific offering…by a long way. But you won’t find another Gallardo quite like this one. 

 

Meet the Lamborghini Concept S—a very special concept car built in 2006 using the bones of the popular Gallardo. It packs the requisite V10 and Lamborghini’s E-gear sequential transmission.

However unlike many concept cars, this one-of-one concept is street-legal, and it’s coming up for auction at RM Sotheby’s New York “Driven By Disruption” sale in December. Planning to bid? Better come ready to compete.

The stunning Concept S made its first debut as a non-running design study at the Geneva Motor Show in 2005, the product of Lamborghini head of design Luc Donckerwolke, who wanted to bring the classic single-seat race car design back to life.

With the Gallardo as a base, he introduced a spine down the roadster’s center, creating two side-by-side cockpits, and topped things off with a pair of aggressively raked windscreens. Needless to say it was highly praised by fans and promoted Lamborghini to create a full-functioning version.

That beloved Raging Bull followed the next year in 2006 and brought forth a few crucial tweaks. The “saute-vent” windscreens were lowered and redesigned. The cockpit spine now integrated an air inlet for the big 5.0-liter V10 mounted in the middle, which pummels the road with 513 horsepower. And the front and rear aero elements were redesigned for function, rather than visual impact.

Yet again, fans adored the concept car, and this time it would inspire a production run…sort of. Lamborghini drew up plans to build 100 Concept S Gallardo spyders for special customers, but high costs and a lengthy production process sidelined the car with only one in existence.

This is that Concept S. The car is said to have been sold to its original owner shortly after its unveiling, and over the years it has made appearances at a number of concours events, including two rare appearances at the legendary Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

 More amazing still, at nearly 10 years old this street-legal show car presents only 111 miles since new, which are said to be mainly from initial testing and driving on concours lawns.

The auction house hasn’t released a final sale estimate for the one-off Gallardo, but perhaps “sky is the limit” would be appropriate.