The Victoria's Secret Lamborghini Diablo that crashed and vanished for 14 years has finally been restored and put back on the road

In the late 1990s, the Victoria’s Secret Lamborghini Diablo was one of the hottest supercars in the world, after it graced the 1998 Christmas dreams & fantasies catalog, catching the eye of a certain Ed Bolian.

It was at the time the most expensive Diablo in the world, costing $350,000 with the extras and modifications, as well as the fact that it was a Diablo SV.

But after being involved in an accident in 2006, it went missing for 14 years, until Bolian, founder of VINwiki, managed to track the supercar down and buy it.

In an interview with Supercar Blondie, Bolian spoke about how he came across the Victoria’s Secret Lamborghini Diablo, how he managed to buy it, and what it’s like to drive after getting it back on the road.

How Ed Bolian found the Victoria’s Secret Lamborghini Diablo

The Dibalo was sold in 1998, but was involved in an accident in Colorado back in 2006, resulting in a Salvage Title.

That led to it becoming a ‘notorious’ Lamborghini, as Ed Bolian told Supercar Blondie.

“It’s always been one of those notorious Lamborghinis that nobody knew where it was,” he told us.

“As we found, the title hadn’t been processed in over 15 years, so there was no real vehicle history to figure out where it was,” he added.

Bolian hired a private investigator to find the Victoria’s Secret Lamborghini Diablo.

This was without any expectations of him being able to do so.

Incredibly, however, he was able to track it down.

“He managed to, and he found it from a Facebook post from 2011 from a woman who had won it at a Mecum Auction,” Bolian said.

After tracking them down, Bolian left chocolates and flowers and a note, and amazingly, it led to negotiations taking place.

“It was a Hail Mary attempt, and a string of assumptions that proved to be correct,” added Bolian.

The state of the Lamborghini Diablo market led to a price that Bolian initially couldn’t match.

But after some quick negotiating, the VINwiki founder was able to come to a deal with the owners.

What condition was the Victoria’s Secret Lamborghini Diablo in?

Naturally, the supercar wasn’t in immaculate condition after 15 years in storage.

“Fortunately, we were able to get the thing back together quicker than I expected,” Bolian told Supercar Blondie.

“There wasn’t anything huge missing apart from fasteners and hardware that was easy to replace.”

There were oil leaks, the alternator wasn’t working, and a few other things needed fixing.

But Bolian and his team had the car driving again after just 90 days.

Much faster than he expected it to happen.

“I was super happy with it, and the next 90 days were spent fixing the things we needed to address,” he said.

This is how Victoria’s Secret bought the Lamborghini

The tale of how the car came into the hands of the fashion brand is itself fascinating.

Bolian told us it was part of a pre-ordained transaction with infamous Lamborghini dealer Vik Keuylian.

“The car was sold to Robert Maloof, who at the time was the owner of the Sacramento Kings basketball team,” he said.

At the time of its sale for $350,000, it was the most expensive Lamborghini sold at that point.

Primarily, it was used in the iconic catalogue photo shoot with the Victoria’s Secret models.

But it did do the rounds at shows and for promotional events.

“To me, it’s fun when the story of a car jumps beyond auto enthusiast culture and jumps to pop culture,” said Bolian.

“I remember seeing it on the nightly news; it was such an alien concept,” he added.

That meant the car gained a huge amount of notoriety.

This played into the hands of both Lamborghini and Victoria’s Secret.

“It’s probably one of the top five most famous Diablos ever built,” Bolian told us.

The mashup between what was seen as a super sexy car and brand is another factor that boosted its appeal.

The Diablo was involved in a crash in Colorado

In 2006, the supercar was involved in an accident in Colorado.

Bolian managed to find out what exactly happened to the car during this incident.

“It was a front-right accident, doesn’t look like it meaningfully displaced anything from what we can see from the repair lines,” he said.

“But it totaled the car.”

Because the car was totaled and had a branded title, it put off a lot of prospective buyers.

That worked well in Bolian’s favor, bringing it within a budget he could work with.

“Without that, it could be worth $1.5 million,” said Bolian.

“Well beyond anything I could manage, but it’s become more of a driver you can use,” he added.

This is the current state of the Victoria’s Secret Lamborghini Diablo

The car was one of just three US spec cars in Pearlescent White.

The car was also one of just three SVs with the chrome stickers from new.

These were inverted from SV to VS to match up with the brand’s initials.

Bolian’s Lamborghini Diablo is also the only one with a body-colored rear wing and chromed Kinesis wheels.

Normally, these were found on the Diablo Monterery Edition.

Since owning the car, Bolian has been able to enjoy it and add some mileage to what it originally had.

He even managed to stage a modern retake of the iconic photoshoot from the late 1990s.

“It’s really, really good to drive, and it’s been terrific,” he said.

“Minimal issues for a car that’s been apart that long, so it has been great.

“I’ve now driven it around 3,000 miles, and it’s lovely, you can just hop in and drive it,” he concluded.

So despite having sat for over 15 years, this truly iconic Lamborghini is still an absolute joy to drive.

And for now, Bolian has no intentions of selling the Diablo.

“I’m loving it, I have no intention of selling it, but anything can happen,” he said.

A history of the Lamborghini Diablo