1968 Lamborghini Islero

Chassis No. 6066Developed as the successor to the 400 GT, the Islero was unveiled in March 1968 at the Geneva Motor Show. The new model retained the 335-horsepower, 4.0-liter DOHC V12 with six Weber carburetors mated to a five-speed manual transmission, but a 140 pound weight reduction and a wheelbase shortened by 115 mm compared to its predecessor combined to sharpen both performance and handling. Its clean, understated lines were penned by Mario Marazzi, a former Carrozzeria Touring stylist whose newly formed coachbuilding concern took over construction of Lamborghini's front-engine grand tourers following Touring's 1966 bankruptcy. The Islero was the first Lamborghini design to wear covered headlamps, a styling cue the marque would carry forward for more than two decades. Produced across a run of roughly thirteen months in 1968 and 1969, only 125 examples of the original Islero were completed before the model was succeeded by the revised Islero S, a further 100 units that brought total production of the Islero name to 225 cars, making surviving examples a rare sight today.According to the International Lamborghini Registry, chassis number 6066, was originally finished in Azzurro over a Tobacco leather interior and invoiced to the Ferretti dealership in Verona, Italy, on 28 May 1968. The registry notes that the completed body arrived at the Sant'Agata Bolognese works before the car was shipped onward to a dealership in New York City, where it sold new for the princely sum of $19,000 to Susan Bush of the Anheuser-Busch family.Ms. Bush retained the Islero until 1972, when it was subsequently acquired by Richard Camp of St. Louis, Missouri, who would own the Islero for the next 36 years. In 1995, the Registry notes this Islero underwent a comprehensive mechanical restoration under noted marque specialist Jeffrey LeBlond in Arizona. Camp then sold the Islero in early 2008 to David E. Walters, who had the carburetors and intake manifold rebuilt to improve performance and had the cabin reconfigured, the rear seat removed in favor of a custom-fitted luggage shelf and the interior retrimmed in red.The Islero next passed to Adam Carolla, the California-based comedian-turned-broadcaster and noted car collector, who had the car repainted in a striking shade of blue that it wears today. In January 2015, the car appeared alongside Carolla in a segment of Jay Leno's Garage. Carolla later sold the Islero in October 2016 as part of the dispersal of his vintage Lamborghini collection. Today the car benefits from a major mechanical service rendered in preparation for sale.One of just 125 examples of Ferruccio Lamborghini's original front-engine V12 grand tourer, this Islero offers its next caretaker a well-documented ownership history capped by a featured appearance on Jay Leno's Garage, a rare chance to acquire one of Lamborghini's most overlooked and increasingly sought-after classic V12 GTs.