Ferruccio Lamborghini's Twin-V12 Riva Speedboat Restored

Ferruccio Lamborghini and Carlo Riva

Ferruccio Lamborghini began Lamborghini Automobili in 1963 in the hopes of building the best V12 engines on the market. He succeeded, creating automobiles that are recognized and praised around the world. In 1968, Ferruccio decided to buy a Riva Aquarama Speedboat; however, this was to be a Riva unlike any other.

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Ferruccio and Carlo Riva teamed up to create a very special boat. They tagged the vessel with the Lamborghini name and replaced its two V8 engines with optimized 450 hp 4.0-Liter V12 engines built for the water from Lamborghini’s factory. The engines were the same as the one found in a Lamborghini 350GT, and together produced a top speed of up to 55 mph.

The Restoration

After Ferruccio passed away in 1993, the boat was lost for years, hidden away under tarpaulin at a boatyard. That is, until it was found and restored by a Dutch restoration specialist. The restoration of the boat was completed after a three-year effort. Nearly the entire vessel needed repairing, from the wooden hull to the seats and metal controls inside. The hull, after many repairs, received 25 coatings to keep safe from the damages of seawater.

The drive train was harder to restore than anticipated and had to be repaired by Italian Lino Morosini, an engineer from Riva who worked in the engineering department 45 years ago. Once completed, the Speedboat was tested in the Netherlands last year and then shipped to Italy where it was driven by Carlos Riva. A video can be seen on Riva Aquarama’s website covering the history of the boat as well as giving a preview of this immaculate vessel in action.