Hello Everyone - I had the pleasure of meeting Jason Vidgoff this morning in Scottsdale, and he gave me a visual tour of his beautiful Jalpa (black over tan which was on sale recently on Ebay).

The car is really beautiful to see... I don't recall seeing a Jalpa upclose before, but they are really low, wide, and beautiful. Certainly a refreshing change from 308s, Panteras, or NSX-type options for the price. Cosmetics overall looked beautiful to me. As mentioned in his auction, a few spots where the dye has rubbed off the driver seats. Overall car looked VERY nice to me.

Although I'm not an expert on what V8 Lambos sound like at idle, it started easily, idled fine, and Jason assured me that the car handles 110deg F Phoenix-area summers in traffic without any cooling problems. No spare, but the front looked very clean, and trunk looked good. I asked Jason to take the wheel on a test drive, and with both of us in the car, it felt stronger than I recall my 17k mile MSD-equipped 308 being with just me in it. No problems on the 10-15min drive. Car does not have cats, and I don't believe has the air pump, although does have the US - spec evap emissions carb boxes installed.

I wanted to arrange a PPI on the car before driving the car myself and making an offer, and decided to first call GTCP to discuss generally-known Jalpa parts availability issues, and any common Jalpa concern areas. After this discussion, I've decided to pass on getting a Jalpa. If I were 15years younger, I would have tried to buy the car. But I'm 55 and retired in December, and I have to think more conservatively about what a car may eventually cost to keep.

However, for anyone interested in getting a Jalpa, I think Jason's car is worth a very serious look! I'm sure I'll end up with something, but unfortunately not a beautiful Jalpa.

Thanks for all the Jalpa input from the group! I'll be continuing my 400 2+2 body restoration when the weather cools here in October, and so will be posting when I need advice and help, or think I have something to add.

Thanks Again.
Rick

Sorry to hear that you have been talked out of the jalpa. They are great cars. If you have mechanical skill they are not too hard or expensive to maintain. I have had my fair share of issues but I wouldn't sell the car for the world.

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1986 Jalpa Twin Turbo

Nice to meet you Rick.
Thanks for the nice write up on my car.