The gloriously beautiful grounds of historic Nijo Castle, in Kyoto in Japan, made for the perfect setting for one of the most important of the world’s Concours D’Elegance, a selection of displays of superbly conserved exotic cars that often feature the rare and exclusive.
At the Kyoto event, Lamborghini’s heritage and preservation division Lamborghini Polo Storico was in fine form, with no fewer than 22 models from the house of the Raging Bull. Among these were examples of the rare Islero and Jarama, the Miura – the original supercar – plus Countach, Jalpa, Urraco, Espada, and even an LM002. Such was the profile of the event that cars came from Europe and the USA to display in Japan.
Rare 3500GTZ ‘Best of Show’
It was, however, a very rare Lamborghini indeed that won the coveted ‘Best of Show’ award, having previously taken the honours in its class, which was that of ‘Race and Prototypes’. It was also fitting that the car was a Zagato design, with the legendary design house celebrating 100 years this year.
With Lamborghini being so prevalent at the show, the marque had its own classes. In the ‘1963 to 1970’ class the top award went to a simply sublime Lamborghini Miura SV finished in the very fetching Verde Miura – the bright green shade so familiar from the era – while a Lamborghini Countach LP400, a 1975 model, took the honours in the ‘1971 to 1985’ section, and was also deemed the ‘Most Desirable to Drive’ of all the cars in the show.
A Diablo GT, from 2000, won the final class, before 15 cars including a number of Lamborghinis embarked on a tour of the region taking in some of the beautiful landscape, among the perfectly timed blossom trees that come into bloom at this time of year.
Images Copyright of: Lamborghini.
