hello to all. i have been lurking and lusting here off and on for some time. i am looking for current / former owners input on the Urraco and Jalpa. i have been offered a nice Urraco in the mid twenties price range. i am an aircraft technician on business jets. i have also owned and maintained 2 carb Ferraris in the last year. the Urraco seems to be a bit rarer, but more delicate to me.

i would like to know how either of these cars compare to a 308 in terms of a weekend casual drivers car. i do not track my cars.


what parts are shared with other cars? meaning can you get caps, rotors ect for another cross referenced car at a better price, or are the parts for these V8 L cars hard to obtain?

what are the selling prices for the Urraco? there are a few Jalpa's around, but i have no frame of reference for the Urraco.

my 308 GTB is "sort of" for sale, as i would like to add another car to my collection. Urraco, Japla or 308GT4 are my choices, but another little Ferrari is "more of the same".

any owners stories, good, bad and ugly are welcome.


Thoughts? thank you, Michael

hi michael,
my father had a jalpa in the 90's, he bought the car with 30000 Kms for a man who owned also a 308 gtb 4v,
he said the jalpa was very similar performance to his ferrari

in 7-8 years of ownership and 10000Kms the car had some problem on the cooling sistem, most of the pipes were redone because it loses fluid, one change of the muffler and when sold the car clutch was almost gone.

i have to say that car was not a perfect one when we bought it, the previous owner drove it daily not so carefully....
aniway i loved that car: it was beautiful, rare, funny to drive and, even if it was not incredible fast, its sound was fabolous

there are many owners on the forum that can give you better infos( raymond...)

i forgot to tell you we had more problems with a jaguar xj6( one piston cracks..... ) and with a mitsubishy than with the jalpa....

One area of concern on the Urraco's, is that they used Timing Belts as opposed to chains on the Jalpa. From what I understand, it was very easy for the belts on the Urraco to jump teeth (like if your battery was dead, and you tried to compression start the car in 2nd gear). Next thing you know, bent valves a plenty.

Owning a Jalpa, I can tell you that the exhaust sound is incredible! A friend of mine had a 308 GTSi, and he was so envious of the exhaust note coming out of my Lambo.

Parts are pretty easy to get. Some are expensive, some are cheap. I can tell you that the cap and rotor are the same as used on the 1980's Maserati 4Porte's. Weber carb parts are available all over the place, but most of us on this site use "Pierce Manifolds" for their Weber stuff.

Other parts can be had from Chad (a member of this site), Jacques (another member here), Lambostuff.Com, GT Car Parts, Evans Automotive, and others.

Also, check out Raymonds Jalpa site: http://www.jalpa.ch

Tons of information including wiring diagrams, trouble areas, etc... Its a great source for reference!

Hope this helps!

Mike
Jalpa #12071

P.S. There is an absolutly gorgeous Jalpa on eBay right now. One owner and low miles.

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Mike
Jalpa #12071

Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines -- Enzo Ferrari

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...9&category=6290

totally agree for the sound jalpa mike

Only the P200 and P250 Urraco's had belts, the P300 has the same chain as the Jalpa...
The only major difference between the Urraco P300 and Jalpa engine is the spacer between block and heads to get more stroke...

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RaymondQV
Countach QV Ex-Mimran #GLA12997, Urraco P300 #20530 sold in August 2008, Jalpa #FLA12203 sold in May 2006
www.countach.ch
www.jalpa.ch

When Frank Sinatra got his Miura S in 1970, he said: “If you wanna be someone, buy Ferrari - If you are someone, you own a Lamborghini”.

I own a Urraco P250. I just restored the car and did the engine. IMO the Urraco looks better then the Jalpa by far with it's clear Bertone lines.
For the belt driven camshafts, they are a problem. You have to change them every 20.000km to be on the save side. engine parts are easy the find but for such a cheap Lambo pretty expensive (Same as for a V12 Lambo).
Body parts are hard to find but some are used on other cars like Fiat or Alfa.
For it's performance, it's not that fast nowadays. But it's a oldtimer and you have to look back at it's performance in the days when it was build and not at a new Lambo. in accelaration it is not much slower then a Jalpa, however in topspeed it is.
The price range is from a 18.000 to a 25.000 Euro. It's a great car for that kind of money. And it's a real Lamborghini, designed by Bertone and not by a Belgium.
Hope I could help.

If you can find a well sorted P300 Urraco you will enjoy it more than the 308.

It is better balanced, rarer and sounds better. They are very reliable if looked after...as Raymond had pointed out the P300 is chain driven

I had a P300 for about seven years. Many of my friends at the time had 308's (both carb and injected) Overall on our regular weekend runs the Urraco outperformed the 308's. It also compares favourably in terms of its driveabilty. I from time to time drove the 308's which were fun but just did not give me the same "buzz"

Overall its a more involving car than the 308...but maybe I'm a little biased

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Paul
Silhouette 40094
LP400 Countach 1120278

I own a '75 Urraco that I bought and had partially restored by world renowned Miura specialist, Gary Bobileff in San Diego,CA. It is a really fun car to own and besides the initial cost of the restoration, it hasn't been very expensive to maintain. It is really fun to drive although not very fast compared to most modern GT cars, but the sound is incredible much like a 1960's Can Am race car. It is probably the cheapest Lambo you can own, it is pretty rare and it attracts much attention where ever you go. So, good luck with your choice.

thanks for all the helpful discussion! i have been busy with work obligations, sorry for my late reply. the black Jalpa with the red interior just floors me! the car is STUNNING! i have always preferred the C/T without the rear wing, but it looks "right" on the Jalpa, depending on color. thanks to all for the clarification of chains versus belts, i had not made the distinction between the 2 models.
am i to assume the chains have tensioners and require maitenance as well? the Urraco is a P250, very nice and its "around" 25k. the car is a bare metal repaint cream puff. i do keep thinking a Jalpa, bieng a bit newer, will be more "usable". i am still planning on getting a L car soon, the waiting is the hardest part it seems thanks to all, great site! Michael