Manual Lamborghini Murcielago Roadster for sale

The V12 Lambo is technically madder and badder than ever - but that makes us want a manual Murcielago even more

Goodness, the early Audi-era Lamborghinis have aged beautifully. After the firm’s then-chief designer, Luc Donckerwolke, did an (arguably very faithful) styling overhaul of the bonkers Diablo at the tail end of the '90s, he’d go on create two timeless looks with the Murcielago and Gallardo. They’d remain Donckerwolke’s only Lamborghini production cars (not including 2006’s Miura Concept), but are widely considered some of the greatest designs to come out of Sant’Agata this side of the millennium.

That was no mean feat because the Audi takeover had many wondering whether Lamborghini would go all safe and boring under its control. This is the company that slapped a giant wing on the back of the Contach for the sake of it, after all, and you could never imagine Audi doing that to anything. However, Donckerwolke’s first ground-up design would be the Murcielago in 2002 and, boy, was it a show-stopper. Not only had the Belgian designer managed to capture all the drama and aggression Lamborghini was known for (scissor doors, pop-up air vents and giant ducts), but there was a sleekness to it that was modern and refined. Pretty, you might say.

Two years down the line and the Murcielago Roadster came along and somehow looked even more imposing than the hard top. The Roadster was essentially a speedster (perhaps the Barchetta name used for the concept would have been more fitting), with the roof mechanism comprising a piece of material and some metal rods that needed to be manually secured. That gave the design team a bit more freedom, resulting in the dramatic restyling of the engine cover that was partly inspired by the B-2 bomber and, presumably, Darth Vader’s face.

Naturally, Lamborghini had to strengthen the chassis to stop it from twisting, meaning the drop-top weighs an additional 29kg over the hard top despite not having an automated roof. But, honestly, that really doesn’t matter when you have unobstructed access to the Mucri’s 6.2-litre V12. Power remained identical to the coupe, meaning 580hp at an ear-splitting 7,500rpm, and despite the extra weight, it could still match the fixed roof’s 0-62mph time of 3.8 seconds. Lamborghini advised owners to not go above 100mph with the roof in place (it does look like a bit of an afterthought), but take it off and the only limiting factor is how much buffeting you’re willing to take.

What makes early Murcielagos so special is that you could enjoy the V12 soundtrack by manually swapping cogs. The first batch of Murcis were all manual, but by the time the Roadster came along in 2004, Lamborghini had launched its automated e-gear transmission and this proved to be by far the more popular option on topless cars. Just 69 manual Roadsters were produced worldwide, which is less than 15 per cent of the total production run, and only 21 of those made it to Europe. There’s no word on how many of those were right-hand-drive, but you have to believe it’s somewhere in the single digits.

According to the seller of this car, it's the only manual UK-spec Roadster in black in the country, which is admittedly quite specific but, again, it’s not like there are many in other colours. It was registered back in 2005, and despite the temptation to hear that V12 without a roof in the way, the two previous owners have covered just 2,480 miles between them. Seeing as though the sun’s finally out, you could easily double that by the end of the summer. All you need to do is find £449,999. That’s the sort of premium a manual Murcielago commands these days, with e-gear’s costing around half the price. Heck, you can even get an Aventador SVJ for that sort of money. Cast your vote below, but for what it’s worth I’d have the manual Roadster all day long.

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fozzymandeus

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