Jack Riddell bought a 1967 Lamborghini 400 GT when it was just six years old for a little more than six thousand bucks, and because he drives it regularly ever since, Petrolicious caught his car with 268K on the clock.
I actually met Jack two years ago at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in Italy. We talked about Miuras, how he keeps track of all the classic Lamborghini parts in the U.S. through their great club, engine rebuilds and the joys of having the highest mileage 400 GT on the planet since 1972. If you see him around at Pebble Beach or any other event, make sure to say hi. He’s part of an amazing community.
Jack’s car was made roughly at halftime of the 400 GT’s production run alongside those Miuras, and since Ferruccio Lamborghini’s workforce used to drink wine during launch breaks, it had to be put together in the morning. His car still has most of its 360 horses, and poorly assembled cars usually don’t make it this far without a catastrophic failure.
I believe he also mentioned to me back in 2013 that the gearstick stayed in his hand once while driving his gran turismo, but I might be mixing him up with somebody else. Like, any Fiat owner.
An update from Jack himself:
Yes, it was me who had the gearshift lever come out of the gearbox during a drive to Jay Leno’s for a video shoot. A bolt that acts as a pivot had come loose and I was forced to make shifts by guess, using the lever like you would to stir spaghetti. I was able to get the car to a friend’s house in Hollywood and fix the problem just in time for Jay’s video. There are a lot of stories like that regarding my 43 years with this amazing car.
And we would love to hear them all.
Photo credit: Petrolucious
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