- The Etna is a restomod take on the Lamborghini Gallardo from a Croatian firm.
- The V-10’s power gets a bit of a bump to 592 horsepower, but the big story is the 450-pound weight reduction.
- The build looks to capitalize on old-school baby Lambo charm and includes a conversion to six-speed manual.
Built between 2003 and 2013, the Gallardo was a success for Lamborghini, with just over 14,000 sold over its production run. A decade later, it’s somewhat overshadowed by the Huracán, while the V-12-powered Murciélago of the same era is undergoing something of a renaissance. However, a Croatian coachbuilder says it has the fix for the first-generation cars.
You probably haven’t heard of Zagreb-based Tedson Motors before, but the company has been around for a few years in the restomod 911 business. Its launch product was a reworked Porsche 964, although one that took a slightly different angle than similar 911 reimaginings from Singer or Guntherworks. Called the Daydream, Tedson’s machine incorporated a 540-hp air-cooled flat-six that paired with an electric flywheel to provide hybrid power. The added low-end torque was claimed to fling the car past 60 mph in under three seconds.
Goran Turkić, Tedson’s owner, caught the restomod bug after studying physics in Irvine, California, and building his own 1975 911 project. The first Daydream was revealed in Monaco in 2022, and this new Gallardo-based restomod, called the Etna, now adds to the company’s portfolio.
As is the case elsewhere, you have to provide your own Gallardo to start, although Tedson says it won’t mess with the rarer manual-transmission models. A full carbon-fiber body replaces the original sheetmetal, and when combined with a titanium exhaust sees a weight drop of an impressive 450 pounds. The car is also wider, with aerodynamic upgrades, but overall it looks quite subtle, capped off with 19-inch wheels.
From an engineering standpoint, Tedson will convert the transmission to a six-speed gated manual unless a customer really wants to hang on to the E-Gear automatic, and the 5.0-liter V-10 is reworked to provide 592 horsepower. The factory suspension is also sorted with components from some of the Super Trofeo cars, and the brakes are upgraded too.
Suitably remastered, the Etna retains some old-school Gallardo elements like hydraulic steering and an even-firing order for the V-10. (Quick sidebar here: later V-10 Lamborghinis share the Audi R8’s odd-fire order, which results in slightly more vibration and a different tone. Some Lambo purists prefer the note of the old even-fire.) Tedson says only 77 cars will be made, and each of them will take about a full year to make. Customers can of course choose all kinds of customization options, as you’d expect for the steep nearly-$800,000 price.
The restomod 911 market is fairly saturated now, so it’s not surprising to see a company expanding into new space. The Etna looks like a well-executed effort, we’ll have to wait to see how many buyers want to dig deep for a modernized Gallardo.
Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He grew up splitting his knuckles on British automobiles, came of age in the golden era of Japanese sport-compact performance, and began writing about cars and people in 2008. His particular interest is the intersection between humanity and machinery, whether it is the racing career of Walter Cronkite or Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s half-century obsession with the Citroën 2CV. He has taught both of his young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for the excuse they provide to be perpetually buying Hot Wheels.
Source: Motor - aranddriver.com
