Wheelhouse Nottingham 1980's Supercar Dealer

[The Lamborghini Life]

Hi Everyone,

Just joined today.

I was born in Nottingham and my teenage years were taken up with cars and girls, Not being able to afford a car at the time my dream was to one day own a Lamborghini and I achieved that in 2014. Nothing has changed there I am still into cars and girls however finding the cars to be much more reliable.

What inspired me was back in I think 1985 /1986 there was a supercar dealership in Basford Nottingham on Lortas Road called Wheelhouse, it was owned by a man called Nick Wheelhouse, who ironically one of my friend now lives in his amazing house in Papplewick.

The Nottingham Evening Post dedicated their Friday newspaper to Motoring and all dealers would advertise their stock.

Wheelhouse would have by far the best selection of supercars at the time along with Sytner on Huntingdon Street.

One evening I was reading Wheelhouse's advertisement and noticed they had a Black Lamborghini Jalpa for sale.

Now I had never even seen a Lamborghini and most of the country in the 1980s had never seen one either unless you went to the motorshow and on the Alpine stand was a Lamborghini Countach.

That Friday evening, my brother and I went down to Lortas Road in Basford from our home In Rise Park to look through the window. That was the moment I saw for the very first time a Lamborghini.

A Black Jalpa, it looked amazing. The following Saturday morning my brother and I ventured back to Wheelhouse to see if we could have a closer look. The staff there were very friendly and even allowed me to sit in the drivers seat, that was it, looking at that Bull in the center of the steering wheel inspired me to one day own one of these beasts and in 2014 I become the very proud owner of a Black Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder with the very rare manual gearbox.

Now my question:

Does anyone have any old Nottingham Evening Posts with the Wheelhouse advertisements in from 1985 / 1986?

Does anyone have any photographs of when Wheelhouse were on Lortas Road Basford before they moved to the Aspley area of Nottingham?

Does anyone know how many Black right hand drive Lamborghini Jalpa’s came into this country?

Does anyone know the whereabouts of a Black Lamborghini Jalpa that may well be the very one I say in back in the 1980’s?

Any help with this will be very much appreciated.

Thank you

[andrew]

try sam wheelhouse : Sam12, halfway down the first page here https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[The Lamborghini Life]

Thanks Andrews,

That is most appreciated.

[Ferruccio]

There were only c.42 RHD Jalpas made.
So black, in the U.K., after all these years - it isn’t going to be many.

[The Lamborghini Life]

Hi Ferruccio,

Thank you for your kind reply,

I knew the numbers were low I thought around 50 came into the UK

Yes I know the car in question may not even be around anymore, however it is amazing what you discover when you ask around.

I have just joined Lamborghini Club UK and will see what they can come back with.

I have also made a great contact who worked at Portman Lamborghini.

Be amazing if I found the actual car, there would not have been that many black ones.

[rat rod]

The Lamborghini Life said:

Hi Everyone,

Just joined today.

I was born in Nottingham and my teenage years were taken up with cars and girls, Not being able to afford a car at the time my dream was to one day own a Lamborghini and I achieved that in 2014. Nothing has changed there I am still into cars and girls however finding the cars to be much more reliable.

What inspired me was back in I think 1985 /1986 there was a supercar dealership in Basford Nottingham on Lortas Road called Wheelhouse, it was owned by a man called Nick Wheelhouse, who ironically one of my friend now lives in his amazing house in Papplewick.

The Nottingham Evening Post dedicated their Friday newspaper to Motoring and all dealers would advertise their stock.

Wheelhouse would have by far the best selection of supercars at the time along with Sytner on Huntingdon Street.

One evening I was reading Wheelhouse's advertisement and noticed they had a Black Lamborghini Jalpa for sale.

Now I had never even seen a Lamborghini and most of the country in the 1980s had never seen one either unless you went to the motorshow and on the Alpine stand was a Lamborghini Countach.

That Friday evening, my brother and I went down to Lortas Road in Basford from our home In Rise Park to look through the window. That was the moment I saw for the very first time a Lamborghini.

A Black Jalpa, it looked amazing. The following Saturday morning my brother and I ventured back to Wheelhouse to see if we could have a closer look. The staff there were very friendly and even allowed me to sit in the drivers seat, that was it, looking at that Bull in the center of the steering wheel inspired me to one day own one of these beasts and in 2014 I become the very proud owner of a Black Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder with the very rare manual gearbox.

Now my question:

Does anyone have any old Nottingham Evening Posts with the Wheelhouse advertisements in from 1985 / 1986?

Does anyone have any photographs of when Wheelhouse were on Lortas Road Basford before they moved to the Aspley area of Nottingham?

Does anyone know how many Black right hand drive Lamborghini Jalpa’s came into this country?

Does anyone know the whereabouts of a Black Lamborghini Jalpa that may well be the very one I say in back in the 1980’s?

Any help with this will be very much appreciated.

Thank you

Ii to remember wheelhouse ,i was passing there one evening and they had a white countach in the window, beleive it is in australia now,it belonged to a eccentric dentist in the nottingham area who ordered it in pink ,no wraps in those days,i was a regular at mike pullens carrera sport track days back in the day at goodwood ,have got some photo's of of the pink car but taken with a old camera using a film instead of a chip so don't have a clue how i would post them,however there are photo's of the car and more on here some where ,beleived they are on" 60's lamborghini pictures" thread and "my old lambo photo's from the 90's" thread, one or the other ,i used to own a black on black japa some years ago could be my old car you sat in although i didn't buy it from wheelhouse, i to have a manual gallardo in black again but although more usable would love to have my jalpa back.

[yzr500]

That pink car with blue seats got repainted white with some pink stone chips

[The Lamborghini Life]

Thank you for your kind reply,

That could well be the very car.

What year was it?

Where abouts did you purchase it from and when?

Also do you have any photographs of it?

Where abouts are you based?

It would be amazing if that was the car,

Thanks

[rat rod]

yzr500 said:

That pink car with blue seats got repainted white with some pink stone chips

christ jim you've got a great memory ! the car also had jaguar v12 badges on it and chicken wire around the rear panel where the exhaust came out , why i remember that i don't know but can't remember what i did yesterday

[yzr500]

rat rod said:

christ jim you've got a great memory ! the car also had jaguar v12 badges on it and chicken wire around the rear panel where the exhaust came out , why i remember that i don't know but can't remember what i did yesterday

The story was the dentist guy visited the factory and spec'd the body colour based on the colour of gums and his girlfriend was wearing a blue denim skirt which went for for the interior seat colour ?

[rat rod]

The Lamborghini Life said:

Thank you for your kind reply,

That could well be the very car.

What year was it?

Where abouts did you purchase it from and when?

Also do you have any photographs of it?

Where abouts are you based?

It would be amazing if that was the car,

Thanks

i bought it about 16 years ago,i used to collect my son from school in it when he was 16 now he is 32,i'm hampshire based and bought it from my dad's neighbour who bought it from a museum in germany although it was r.h.d uk car ,strange don't know how it ended up there,it had the round tail lights so i think it was a 1985 or 86 ,it had the wing and sounded like a fighter jet, i lived in a valley and another neighbour who also owned a jalpa lived at the top and at 7.30 every morning would wake me up coming down the hill on overrun and floor it going up the over side,very exspensive alarm clock, have got photo's but taken on old type camera with negatives instead of chips so would'nt have a clue how to put them on, not good on pc at the best of times,still using one finger !

[rat rod]

yzr500 said:

rat rod said:

christ jim you've got a great memory ! the car also had jaguar v12 badges on it and chicken wire around the rear panel where the exhaust came out , why i remember that i don't know but can't remember what i did yesterday

The story was the dentist guy visited the factory and spec'd the body colour based on the colour of gums and his girlfriend was wearing a blue denim skirt which went for for the interior seat colour ?

There's always a story when it comes to lamborghini's unlike other super car makers,l'm sure you could write a book on them but nobody would believe it,l dare say you could tell a story or two jim having owned a countach and a diablo

[Ferruccio]

rat rod said:

The Lamborghini Life said:

Thank you for your kind reply,

That could well be the very car.

What year was it?

Where abouts did you purchase it from and when?

Also do you have any photographs of it?

Where abouts are you based?

It would be amazing if that was the car,

Thanks

i bought it about 16 years ago,i used to collect my son from school in it when he was 16 now he is 32,i'm hampshire based and bought it from my dad's neighbour who bought it from a museum in germany although it was r.h.d uk car ,strange don't know how it ended up there,it had the round tail lights so i think it was a 1985 or 86 ,it had the wing and sounded like a fighter jet, i lived in a valley and another neighbour who also owned a jalpa lived at the top and at 7.30 every morning would wake me up coming down the hill on overrun and floor it going up the over side,very exspensive alarm clock, have got photo's but taken on old type camera with negatives instead of chips so would'nt have a clue how to put them on, not good on pc at the best of times,still using one finger !

The museum in Germany is probably the one owned by Bob Forstner.
He runs a car showroom on Park Lane and has a big collection of Lambos, as well as the museum in Germany. He’s President of the Lamborghini Club UK.

[rat rod]

Ferruccio said:

rat rod said:

The Lamborghini Life said:

Thank you for your kind reply,

That could well be the very car.

What year was it?

Where abouts did you purchase it from and when?

Also do you have any photographs of it?

Where abouts are you based?

It would be amazing if that was the car,

Thanks

i bought it about 16 years ago,i used to collect my son from school in it when he was 16 now he is 32,i'm hampshire based and bought it from my dad's neighbour who bought it from a museum in germany although it was r.h.d uk car ,strange don't know how it ended up there,it had the round tail lights so i think it was a 1985 or 86 ,it had the wing and sounded like a fighter jet, i lived in a valley and another neighbour who also owned a jalpa lived at the top and at 7.30 every morning would wake me up coming down the hill on overrun and floor it going up the over side,very exspensive alarm clock, have got photo's but taken on old type camera with negatives instead of chips so would'nt have a clue how to put them on, not good on pc at the best of times,still using one finger !

The museum in Germany is probably the one owned by Bob Forstner.
He runs a car showroom on Park Lane and has a big collection of Lambos, as well as the museum in Germany. He’s President of the Lamborghini Club UK.

ye that most be him then,can't be many museums for lamb's and supercars in germany,thinking about it i have seen his adverts,he doesn't seem to sell much but if he got the money and loves looking at the cars ,why not

[The Lamborghini Life]

Am I correct in saying you have the photographs on an undeveloped 35mm film or prints.

If on prints I can skan them into the computer for you, I can also print copies off too.

If I could find out how many right hand drive black Jalpas came into this country I could pin point if I sat in your very car in the mid 1980's at Wheelhouse in Nottingham.

I also saw the Pink Countach with the denim Leather in Nottingham back in the 1980s

As One would expect this was sold by Portman Lamborghini, and was displayed in their window.

I have seen pics of it on line.

[rich888]

I travelled down quite a few times in the late 1980s to the Carrera Sport Supercar test days at Goodwood which was organised by Mike Pullen. Was a brilliant day out, though sadly didn't take enough photographs because in those days I didn't have loads of money and film was limited to 36 pics per roll.

I took a few pics of the outrageous pink Countach owned by the dentist from Halifax which I have now scanned and uploaded:

Edited by rich888 on Thursday 9th January 23:14

[rat rod]

The Lamborghini Life said:

Am I correct in saying you have the photographs on an undeveloped 35mm film or prints.

If on prints I can skan them into the computer for you, I can also print copies off too.

If I could find out how many right hand drive black Jalpas came into this country I could pin point if I sat in your very car in the mid 1980's at Wheelhouse in Nottingham.

I also saw the Pink Countach with the denim Leather in Nottingham back in the 1980s

As One would expect this was sold by Portman Lamborghini, and was displayed in their window.

I have seen pics of it on line.

have got photo's but not sure were negs are, all my old photo's are stored in boxs due to house move ,when i get 5 minutes over weekend will try to find them.thanks,

[rat rod]

rich888 said:

I travelled down quite a few times in the late 1980s to the Carrera Sport Supercar test days at Goodwood which was organised by Mike Pullen. Was a brilliant day out, though sadly didn't take enough photographs because in those days I didn't have loads of money and film was limited to 36 pics per roll.

I took a few pics of the outrageous pink Countach owned by the dentist from Halifax which I have now scanned and uploaded:

Edited by rich888 on Thursday 9th January 23:14

WOW !! thanks for posting rich888, that brings back happy memories, mike's carrera sport track days at goodwood and the de tomaso club days at castle coombe with no or very little noise restrictions were the best, imagine 5 some times more countachs on sports exhausts flat out down goodwood pit straight ! that's never going to happen some time soon, happy days !! noticed the aluminum on the exhaust panel on the pink countach ,i must be mistaken as i though it was chicken wire ,i knew it was something a bit different about it ,got that a little wrong,

[footsoldier]

My Countach (black, not pink), is currently at Carrera Sport. Mike has just removed the engine for a sort out pre-40th birthday. (the car)

[Martin350]

yzr500 said:

The story was the dentist guy visited the factory and spec'd the body colour based on the colour of gums and his girlfriend was wearing a blue denim skirt which went for for the interior seat colour ?

When the pink Countach was at Portman Lamborghini they told me a guy had bought the car for his wife who's favourite dress was bright pink with a navy blue belt so he ordered the car in matching colours.

I've since heard several different versions of why the car was specced in those colours.