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Leno stretches Lamborghini Diablo's legs for latest Garage installment

While posters of the Lamborghini Countach decorated the walls of many boys' walls in the 1980s, the Diablo filled that spot for young men in the early 1990s thanks to its extreme styling. In its latest video, Jay Leno's Garage welcomes a beautiful, white 1991 Diablo into his garage for a look back on what is now a classic supercar.
Unlike some of the vehicles Leno shows off, this one doesn't belong to him. Instead, veteran Italian car mechanic Franco Barbuscia owns it. He has been maintaining Jay's Countach for years. A '91 Diablo is an archaic supercar by today's standards. It doesn't have power steering, anti-lock brakes or obviously anything like traction control. It's just a big V12 hanging behind the driver with a wonderfully meaty roar that emanates from the exhaust.
Franco's Diablo might actually be better than new. It has a few upgrades to aid in drivability, like re-spaced pedals, a carbon-Kevlar clutch and more. Apparently all of the tweaks help a lot because, "it rides smoother than my Carrera GT," Leno enthuses about the car. Scroll down to reminisce about this Italian classic and get an ear full of its wonderful sound.

ItalDesign Giugiaro Parcour loses its lid

What could possibly be better than a two-passenger, off-road performance coupe built atop the Lamborghini Gallardo platform? A topless version of said vehicle, of course. We've already showed you the ItalDesign Giugiaro Parcour in fixed-roof form, and now we're able to bring you some live shots of the Parcour Roadster.
Honestly, the Parcour's lines probably look better on the hardtop model, but the Roadster's lack of top did give the ItalDesign Giugiaro crew a chance to change up the design ever so slightly. The windshield has been chopped and uses carbon-fiber pillars doubling as the vehicle's rollbars, while the hoops over the seats are also designed with safety and styling in mind. In addition to the roof, the Roadster also removes the separator between the passenger compartment and the engine bay meaning there is absolutely nothing to filter the noise created by the mid-engine 5.2-liter V10 putting down 550 horsepower.

Why Italians are no longer buying supercars

Italy is the wound that continues to drain blood from the body financial of Italian supercar and sports car makers. The wound was opened by the country's various financial police who decided to get serious about superyacht-owning and supercar-driving tax cheats a few years ago, by noting their registrations and checking their incomes. When it was found that a rather high percentage of exotic toy owners had claimed a rather low annual income - certain business owners were found to be declaring less income than their employees - the owners began dumping their cars and prospective buyers declined to buy.
Car and Driver has a piece on how the initiative is hitting the home market the hardest. Lamborghini sold 1,302 cars worldwide in 2010, 1,602 cars in 2011 and 2,083 cars in 2012 - an excellent surge in just two years. In Italy, however, it's all about the ebb: in 2010, the year that Italian police began scouring harbors, Lamborghini sold 96 cars in Italy, the next year it sold 72, last year it sold just 60. The declines for Maserati and Ferrari are even more pronounced.
Head over to CD for the full story and the numbers. What might be most incredible isn't the cause and effect, but where the blame is being placed. A year ago the chairman of Italy's Federauto accused the government of "terrorizing potential clients," this year Luca di Montezemolo says what's happening has created "a hostile environment for ­luxury goods." Life at the top, it ain't easy.