Lamborghini Diablo - Orange Crush

Gibson had a lot of ideas of how he wanted to alter the exterior design of his ride, and Kelly, along with Italian Designes' Rex Roberts, was able to make it work. They cut the back out of the car and glassed in new taillight buckets and modified the grille openings (under the taillights), which gave the car a more updated look of the 6.0 version. All of the scoops on the car are fully functional and serve a purpose. For power, a LS1 engine was installed (mated to a Porsche 915 transaxle), which uses a LS6 intake and injectors. The intake is turned around backwards and the engine breathes out the back like on the real car. It uses a BBK throttle body, which receives air through a custom air box using K&N air filters, and the airbox is fed through the scoops found on the lower quarter panels.

The engine compartment itself is boxed with aluminum, then textured and painted to match the engine cover. The engine cover is from Lambostuff.com, and is actually several pieces that were taken from a mold of a real V-12 Lamborghini. The center cover, plenums, gaskets, throttle bodies, injectors, plug wires, and valve covers are part of the engine cover set. Italian Designes then made the coil-pack covers, which look like they're part of the valve cover assembly (they hide the coil packs and the real plug wires as well as the exhaust tubes).

The car's suspension utilizes an air-ride system on the front (using a ShockWave setup) that raises the car about 8 inches to get over the larger speed bumps. This is monitored by the replica gauges on the dash that detail the airbag pressure. Another unique feature is the backup camera that was mounted under one of the taillights. It provides vision on a 7-inch DVD player in the dash (helpful when backing up the car). The interior is two-tone leather and is complemented with a carbon-fiber center console and dash trim.

Up front, a roadster-style bumper was installed, and Gibson requested the turn signals be flush-mounted. Turing up the wick at the shop's custom department, Hays used turn signals from a Grand Am and molded them into the bumper. The side marker lights usually found on the side of the bumper were filled and replaced with the European side marker lights, which were frenched into the front fender. The headlights are true Xenon lights from Europe and cost $1,600.

The rest of Chuck's Diablo is very accurate in comparison to an original Lamborghini. Part of that is due to the fact Italian Designes uses real emblems, lights, door handles, latches, and factory decals to give a very authentic look. The performance of this car has been owner-tested past 150 mph, and Chuck reports no air leaks and a tight operation. Though the car hasn't been professionally tested on the track or on the skid pad, both Kelly and Chuck are confident their Orange Crush will perform well. But even more important to Chuck, he got the car he wanted and is happy to drive it wherever and whenever he can!