The sight of one of these at CPoP reminded the PH entourage that the Ferrari FF wasn't the first Italian supercar designed to carry a pair of skis in the back. That the Espada would almost certainly fail to drag you and your skis up a snow-covered road to somewhere you could actually use them was probably a minor inconvenience for anyone lucky enough to have owned one of these in its hey-day.
A look at the values of Espadas suggests that they've appreciated considerably in recent years. It doesn't seem so long ago that if you had a budget of twenty grand that you'd be able to take your pick of some decent examples, and C&SC magazine was valuing show-stoppers at £35k only a couple of years ago. Not so any more it seems...
This one was up for £47,995, a price which the vendor described as 'market leading' (love it, will have to remember that one...), and is an original UK car which has had a quality paint job and considerable mechanical restoration.
The interior, which combines elegant seating with fascia switches which wouldn't look out of place in an earth-mover, would benefit from some work to bring it up to the standard of the paintwork, but a brief run of the engine revealed the major appeal of this car. With just a couple of pumps of the throttle the six-carb' V12 started surprisingly quickly and soon settled down to en even idle. Oh the sound.
But despite this car still needing a little attention to get it bang-on and the 'market leading' price, there's no doubt that the Espada is no longer under-the-radar. Will it be long before Lamborghinis like this one creep out of the reach of many enthusiasts?