Seven years of ownership has taught Peter Dietsch how to live with a ’90s Italian supercar
The odometer in Peter Dietsch’s right-hand drive, UK-registered Lamborghini Diablo reads 83,000, but that’s kilometres, not miles.
Bizarrely, while the speedos in most pre-1999 Diablos were calibrated in both MPH and KPH, as required by law, their odos always displayed the distance the car had travelled in kilometres. That’s why, when I ask Peter how many miles he has done in his, he replies, rather confusingly, “20,000 kilometres”. Before I can get my calculator out, he helpfully provides the conversion: “12,000 miles.”
Peter’s Diablo is the SV version. “The letters stand for Super Veloce,” he explains. “It was a lightweight version of the regular Diablo, which had been launched in 1990 with rear-wheel drive. The Diablo was very popular but UK supplies were limited. In 1993, the more expensive four-wheel-drive Diablo VT was launched.
Around that time, a chap called Peter Leonard Morgan, who worked for Portman Lamborghini, the UK importer, suggested Lamborghini create a club version of the two-wheel-drive Diablo. Lamborghini agreed and so the SV was born. It had lightweight components and features including roof scoops – first seen on the Diablo SE30 Jota, a limited-run race car; split rim wheels; a different spoiler and front bumper; and more power. “The SV was cheaper than the VT but, despite its sportier character, also cheaper than the regular Diablo!”
Peter bought his SV just over six years ago, in November 2019, but it wasn’t his first supercar. He had owned a Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera for four years and, before that, a Ferrari Testarossa, which he owned for 12 years and, remarkably, used every day. He claims it cost him just £21,000. “Testarossas were undesirable back then,” he says. “Mine was a left-hand-drive car in yellow, too, which didn’t help. It had originally left the factory in white but had been repainted. I loved it.”
Happily for Peter, the market for Testarossas eventually went “crazy”, he recalls: “I sold it and was able to replace it with the series one Gallardo Superleggera, which I think is one of the most underestimated supercars of all time. It was phenomenal. Then the Diablo SV came up for sale. I put a bit of cash towards it and bought it for £105,000. Its value has gone up quite a bit since then.”
It’s raining when I meet Peter but, he says, that’s no reason not to drive the Diablo: “It’s garaged but it isn’t a garage queen. I’ll drive it in all weathers. It’s pushing 30 years old so has needed a bit of work but, fortunately, I work for a company specialising in the servicing, repair and restoration of supercars. However, that doesn’t mean I get anything for free!”
By now, Peter’s SV is attracting a lot of attention. A father and his toddler peer past an open scissor door into the driver’s cockpit. Dad seems a lot more excited than his son, who looks around impassively. Time for one last question and it’s an obvious one: what’s the Diablo SV like to drive?
“Once you get used to the size and the poor visibility, it’s perfect,” replies Peter. “Parking is interesting: it’s just not possible to park it straight! It can’t do width restrictions and you have to take speed humps at an angle.” That’s the price of greatness.
