Lamborghini does not build many cars like the Lamborghini Bravo with 3.0 L, 90° Aluminum L240 V8 transverse, mid-mounted DOHC per bank, built from 1974 as the oil crises and the first emissions rules rewired the industry. Its designer of record is Marcello Gandini at Bertone. Production ran to 1 cars.
Where it came from
The Lamborghini Bravo is a concept car designed by Marcello Gandini at Bertone for Lamborghini. It was first presented in 1974 at the Turin Auto Show. The Bravo was designed to showcase ideas for a replacement for the Urraco. The completely working prototype was built on a Urraco chassis, with the wheelbase shortened by 175mm, and featured a 3.0L 300 hp (224 kW) V8 that powered the rear wheels, undergoing nearly 40,000 miles (64,000 km) of testing before it was placed in the Bertone museum.
It was never put into production, but many styling features were inspired by the Countach, including the angular features and the window arrangement. The Bravo was sold at auction for €588,000 on 21 May 2011. The Bravo has had several different paints, first a pearlescent yellow, then green, followed by champagne, and lastly white. These colour changes have led to incorrect speculation that multiple cars were produced, but official sources confirm only one was made.
Under the skin
Under the skin sits 3.0 L, 90° Aluminum L240 V8 transverse, mid-mounted DOHC per bank. Kerb weight is 1085 kg. The gearbox is a 5-speed + reverse all-synchromesh. The layout matters: the engine sits behind the driver and ahead of the rear axle, which puts the mass in the middle of the car and is why mid-engined cars change direction the way they do. The wheelbase is 2275 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Volkswagen Scirocco, the Volkswagen Golf, the Jeep Cherokee. Nearby in the Lamborghini catalogue sit the Lamborghini Calà and the Lamborghini Marco Polo.
The money
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Lamborghini Bravo has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.