Lamborghini launches weirdish one-off concepts and customer-requested models with some regularity these days, but over a decade ago Zagato may have built the weirdest one. It’s dubbed the 5-95, and it’s based on another weird Lamborghini concept, the Zagato Raptor. The 5-95 can be described as the product of one man’s desire to own a modernized version of something that had inspired him. And now, it’s going up for auction to the highest bidder.
So let’s take a moment to appreciate where Zagato was in 2013. It had come off successful launches of cars like the Alfa Romeo 10C TZ3 Stradale, the Aston Martin DB9 Zagato Centennial, and its own version of the Porsche Carrera GT. Generally speaking, it was pumping out some bangers.
Then came along Albert Spiess, a wealthy collector and the owner of several rare Italian sports cars. He saw the 1995 Zagato Raptor and loved it. Based sort of on the Diablo, the Raptor was a far swoopier two-door supercar but what it lacked in hard edges it made up for with hardcore performance features.
It featured a Diablo V12 that made some 620 horsepower thanks to a supercharger. It had a carbon fiber body and weighed some 300 kg (661 lbs) lighter. Zagato added bigger brakes too but also left the car without ABS or traction control. Is it even a Lamborghini from the 1990s if it’s not trying to kill you a little? On top of that, it didn’t have doors so much as it did a roof and upper-door situation that lifted to allow ingress and egress. In any case, Spiess wanted his own one-off modernized version. Enter the 5-95 Zagato.
It might not have the weird roof but it certainly made waves when it debuted at the 2014 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este. This time, the one-off ended up on a Gallardo chassis with a Gallardo V10 pumping out 560ish horsepower and 398 lb-ft of torque. Think of it as a Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera with a weird suit on. Really, it’s that body that makes this the weird car that it is.
The front has been likened to a vacuum cleaner and shovel. These are not the objects most sports car companies want customers to think of when they see the final product. It also kinda reminds me of a whale shark. There’s a spoiler at the top of the hood and the bottom of the windshield. Behind the doors, there are no fewer than five separate air intakes including two on each side and one at the back of the roof section.
The lighting situation is somewhat odd too. The front headlamp assemblies have both squares and circles. At least the tail lamps follow that theme with round housings that include six squared LED clusters within them. There’s even an F1-style lamp at the lower center of the rear bumper.
Our very own Adrian Clarke, designer extraordinaire, had this to say about it:
Proof that money can’t buy taste, the mercifully one off 5-95 Zagato was commissioned buy a presumably blind wealthy collector who wanted his own version of the unbuilt Zagato Raptor. The resulting 5-95 looks like an ugly car in the middle of giving birth to a much uglier car. The problem here is it’s trying to force traditional sixties Zagato cues like the double bubble roof and wrap over glazing onto the Germanic rigidity of the underpinning Gallardo – a fine looking car in it;s own right but with more than hint of Audi in it.
What we’re left with is neither fish nor fowl but somehow both – there’s bizarre details like a spoiler at the base windscreen, disjointed glazing and a cross eyed headlight arrangement that works against the gaping maw underneath. I’ve seen better looking faces on the fishmongers counter and I hate it when my dinner gives me the eye.
Somehow, Zagato seems to have stopped the weirdness entirely when it comes to the cabin. Compared to the rest of the car it looks reserved with a light grey and yellow color combination.
The whole weird package is going up for sale at Gooding & Company’s Pebble Beach Auction in August. Zagato never confirmed exactly how many of these it made but it appears that this is the only completed example. In 2018 it announced that it would do a drop-top version but if it exists I can’t find any proof that it exists out there. This could be the only 5-95 to ever exist. It’s weird, and now it can be yours.
Presenting the Pontiac Aztec Mega Sport.
Maybe a hot take but almost nothing Zagato does succeeds. He more often than not ruins the initial design of the cars he’s modifying, awkwardly adding a double bubble roof and round taillights where they don’t belong.
That was my exact thought, every Zagato car I’ve seen is worse than the original. Their sense of proportion seems off to me because they all have several elements that are too big or too small. The round lights thing is another good point, they love trying to add those where they don’t fit.
Zagato is not a “guy”, it’s a company that has been around for over a century.
Good to know!
This thing isn’t totally hideous, but it definitely looks like it would be happy cleaning algae off the sides of my fish tank.
It’s funky, bit I like it. It has character, and is way more interesting than all of the generic super and hypercars coming out lately. Certainly more memorable than the Red Bull thing
So, the website that spent a non-negative amount of money on an Aztek is the authority on ZagaLambo designs now ? 😛
Am I the only one that doesn’t think this looks weird at all and actually like it better than a lot of modern Lambos?
Nope, I dig it!
You are not.
As much as I am grateful to the Autopian for having given me a place to share info as opposed to Jalopni-wait for my posts to never be approved, there is something going on lately.
There seems to be a full-blown charge on hammering crystal-frail opinions with sledgehammer-like wording, with what seems to be an internal grading system on which author will be the most categorical and over the top. Fingers caught underneath be damned.
Oh, I have nothing against the writing! I just thought it looks nicer than all the ‘OMG ANGLES’ styling of most modern Lambos! I can understand most people not liking it for the design elements that @Rivers mentioned though 🙂
The front is a bit weird… but overall, I actually kinda like it. From the rear, I think it just looks good.
At about 2,900 lbs, the 1995 Zagato Raptor is the Diablo that Lamborghini should have built from the start. It really appears as if it could be an updated version of the Miura, instead of the style-over-substance Countach that came after the Miura. The ’95 Zagato Raptor is also not morbidly obese, unlike its 3,600 lb Diablo VT sibling.
This modified Gallardo, OTOH, looks like crap and is too damned heavy.
Cool Battle Droid Transporter
While I respect that Adrian is required to be a professional snob upon pain of, oh I dunno, being forced to watch the Minions movies on repeat with his eyes forced open Clockwork Orange-style, at it core, this thing looks like pretty much any modern Lamborghini that has been squished a bit on its X-axis.
Quite frankly, the cabin is WAYYYY more offensive than the exterior. Based on that picture, it looks like they raided the Kia/Hyundai mid-Aughts parts and materials bin.
“The resulting 5-95 looks like an ugly car in the middle of giving birth to a much uglier car.”
Pure poetry…
I found that bit both excessively funny and painfully accurate.
Looks weirdly like a potato.
It could be funny with a Minions wrap. Something like a Minion swelling up from a rash.
If I ran Lamborghini I would sue to make them take my badges off this abomination.
It’s not the best looking car in the world, but it looks fun between the streets.
I wouldn’t kick it out of my garage.
I have never liked Zagato’s designs. Instead of taking an already good looking car and make it “special” why not take a boring car and make it awesome?
Somehow the interior is worse than the exterior.
This looks like a kit car lambo and not a real lambo. Almost like a lotus trying to be a lambo.
This looks like a Lamborghini had some “adult time” with a Mini Cooper.
Their love child came out looking a bit undercooked.
My eyes! The googles do nothing!!
Light gray and yellow has to be the worst interior color combo I have ever seen.
This abomination barely even qualifies as one of the top five ugliest Lambos. Not when there’s also the Veneno, Egoista, Pregunta, and similar eyesores.
595>5-95
I’m reminded of The Magic Christian when Peter Sellers buys a Rembrandt for over auction estimate and cuts out the nose in front of an appalled John Cleese. This thing is no Rembrandt, but were I an eccentric billionaire, I’d be tempted to buy this to do something similar.
That is truly a wedge hog.
Piss yellow and kidney failure brown.
Rich people problems.