Lamborghini Islero GTS Coupe, 1969
Lamborghini Islero
Lamborghini Islero•
•30 views
Chassis No.: 6531
Auction: Monterey 2016
Auction date: August 20, 2016
Lot No.: S107
$300,000 | High bid
- Exterior: Red
- Interior: Black
- Body: Coupe
- 1 of 100 GTS models produced
- Comprehensive cosmetic and mechanical restoration by Lamborghini specialist Gary Bobileff
- Approximately $150,000 invested in restoration
- Less than 75 miles on rebuild
- 4.0/340 HP DOHC V-12 engine
- 6 Weber carburetors
- 4-wheel independent suspension
- Coil springs and anti-roll bars
- 4-wheel hydraulic disc brakes
- Believed to be 37,194 miles, metric odometer read 59,858 kilometers
- Rosso Red over Tan leather interior
- Woodgrain interior trim
- Power windows
- Original sales brochure
- Owner’s manual
- Service records
Wearing coachwork styled and built by Marazzi, the Lamborghini Islero GTS is regarded as one of Lamborghini’s best front-engined GTs, combining Lamborghini’s wonderful 4.0L/340 HP DOHC V-12 engine (with six Weber side draft carburetors) with a 5-speed transmission, 4-wheel independent suspension, and 4-wheel disc brakes to produce extraordinary performance in a well-rounded Grand Tourer. This pristine 1969 Lamborghini Islero GTS, chassis number 6531 and engine number 50179, was ordered new by the official Swiss Lamborghini dealer in Zurich, Mr. Karl Foitek.
Documentation shows that it was the 54th of 100 Islero GTS models built, putting it almost exactly in the middle of production of these very rare Lamborghinis. Later in 1969 it was sold to another Swiss retail Lamborghini agent, Garage W. Ruf AG. It remained in Switzerland and in 1989 was purchased by prominent American collectors Craig and Bunny Davis, who drove it sparingly for ten years. In 1998 they imported it to the U.S. and brought it to their home to Atherton, California. Soon thereafter they sold it to Paul Forbes of Newport Beach.
Forbes owned it only briefly before selling it to Ray Grimm, Jr. of Rancho Santa Fe, California, who commissioned a thorough cosmetic restoration by Lamborghini specialist Gary Bobileff in San Diego at a cost of approximately $100,000. After a brief stay with a Mesa, Arizona collector in 2004, the Islero GTS was purchased by Bobileff, who commenced a painstaking mechanical restoration in 2009; covering the entire engine and drivetrain, suspension, brakes and ancillaries, at a cost of nearly $50,000. Bobileff then exported the jewel-like Islero GTS to a prominent private Tokyo museum collection.
Except for service and preventative maintenance, it otherwise remained un-driven while in Japan until its purchase by a La Jolla, California dealer in 2014. Fully restored and carefully maintained, this Islero GTS incorporates stunning Rosso Red paint with a wood-trimmed Tan leather interior and power windows. This rare Lamborghini is offered with the original sales brochure, owner's manual and records for the recent mechanical refurbishment.
https://www.mecum.com/lots/244527/1969-lamborghini-islero-gts-coupe/
