Emanuel Colombini is the President of the Colombini Group furniture company and an enthusiastic Lamborghini fan. The company's success has given him the means to collect exotic cars and participate in the Super Trofeo racing series. Following his passion for the best in high-performance automobiles, he saw an opportunity to reimagine the iconic Lamborghini Diablo.
This led to the creation of the restomod startup Eccentrica, which is in the business of giving the Diablo a modern touch. We had a conversation with Emanuel at The Quail after the Eccentrica V12 was unveiled to talk about the modifications and what's next for Eccentrica.
Tell us about your car story
I have a family company in Italy that makes furniture with different brands. It's a group of companies, and thanks to the success of the company and also thanks to my passion for the super/hyper cars especially Lamborghini, I started my collection of Lamboghinis. I immediately recognized in the Diablo, especially in the first series, a great potential to innovate. So I created a startup in the automotive sector; in the restomod sector.
We started this venture with the idea to make something uniquely positioned in the high-end segment of restomod. We started with a local supplier in the motor valley, but then we structured the company with a lot of collaboration with the Italian designer Borromeo De Silva, Podium Technologies for the engineering, and we created something unique, completely new in terms of design and technology.
Obviously, you're a Lamborghini fan. Tell us what you think is special about the brand.
I think that Lamborghini today is very, very concrete, a special kind of car and design. Thanks also to the heritage of Lamborghini coming from the Miura, the Countach, the Diablo, the Murciélago, and Aventador. The design of these cars always has a special touch. And also in the last year, the design improved a lot. This is what I like about Lamborghini. I also like the technology and the performance of the cars.
You participate in the Super Trofeo racing series. Is that because you like Lamborghini, or is it because you like racing?
Both. It's a combination of the two passions. I started racing when I was very young with the motocross bike, then with the rally car and in the last few years I had the opportunity to drive with another pilot in the Pro-Am category of Super Trofeo. The driving experience gained from the Super Trofeo races was also very helpful with the [Diablo] project.
Lamborghini has made some incredible limited-edition cars, like the Centenario, Veneno, and Sesto Elemento. Which of these cars is your favorite?
I love the Veneno. The Veneno is, for me, for that era, 10, 15 years ago, I don't remember precisely, but it was stunning and completely different; a crazy design. It was incredible. And then, I decided to add the Essenza SCV12 to my collection. I love that kind of car. Very extreme.
Why did you choose the Diablo for this project? Why not something else?
We chose the Diablo because it is a model that has, in our vision, specific things. The first Lamborghini Diablo was under the Chrysler Group and the design was in collaboration with [Marcello] Gandini, the designer of Lamborghini Countach and Miura.
He started the design of the Diablo but then Chrysler finished the design and they refined the design in a way. So from our point of view, the Diablo was born in the middle with some weaknesses from the design and mechanical points of view. This is why we chose the Diablo.
Tell us about the updates made to the Diablo in this project
So, the body is completely made of carbon fiber panels. Also the interior, has a lot of carbon fiber; we completely redesigned everything. We have the 5.7 liter engine with 50 more horsepower with a max power of 550 horsepower. And we have a new six-speed manual gearbox instead of five.
The body of the car is wider than the original one in the front and the rear. We have a new active suspension and new Brembo braking system. In the front we have a 380 mm disk and the car is managed by a completely new electronic system. We have an electric throttle instead of the mechanical one. So the upgrade is very big and important.
How did you decide to produce '19' cars? There must be a story behind the number
We have a philosophy in Eccentrica. We like 19 because it's a prime number and also because we love the Fibonacci sequence and prime numbers. As you know, in nature, the best shapes are made thanks to the Fibonacci sequence. And this is why 19 and not 20. It's a philosophy.
After delivering the 19 cars, What's next for Eccentrica?
So, now we are concentrating on the Diablo chassis. We would like to, in 2025 and 2026 produce all the 19 on the coupe chassis. Then probably, we'll work on another version of the Diablo, probably a Roadster or something like this. And then we would like to move to a V10. We are in the feasibility study stage for the V10 engine for another model.
