Growing up as a car-obsessed kid in the early 1990s, you’d be forgiven for thinking that you could count the models of Lamborghini on one hand: Miura, Countach, LM002, Diablo. The Miura was the car that caused the automotive world to stop and stare at Sant’Agata’s neck-breaking mid-engine creation. The Countach…well, nevermind that it nailed 1970s wedge design, but how could you ignore a car whose name roughly translated out of Piedmontese into “holy shit!“, which, according to legend, was the first verbal reaction to the car. The LM002 was the off-roader Lamborghini, the evolution of the failed FMC XR311/Lamborghini Cheetah military vehicle project, and the Diablo was the modern-day ride at that time. But for the known cars from Lambo, there were the unknowns: the Islero, the Jarama, the 350 GT. You didn’t see posters of those.

I’m a bit partial to the Urraco/Silhouette/Jalpa line of Lamborghinis. To compare to modern times, they would be like the Huracán: the smaller, more approachable car from the company. The idea was sound, a shame that the execution wasn’t. The Urraco wasn’t a bad car, but it was an Italian primadonna all the same. The Silhouette was effectively a disaster: based on the Urraco, only 54 of the targa roadsters were made. The fact that Lamborghini was headed to a 1978 bankruptcy didn’t help. Once the Mimran brothers took control of the company in 1980, the Silhouette was re-worked into the Jalpa, which lasted until 1988. Think of them as a Fiero that meant business; a Ferrari 308 with a wild hair. Something about the shape is a mix between Fiat X/19, Porsche 928 and pure 1970s Lamborghini to me and I love it.

But all you need to know…really need to know…happens once the car starts charging up the tachometer. Keep something in mind: in the late 1980s, Dodge took an engine from a later Jalpa and crammed it into an all-wheel-drive equipped Daytona that was known as Decepzione. Imagine this noise coming from the best-looking K-car made.