It’s not every day you stumble across an unused Lamborghini Marine L-900 V12 on eBay, but fortunately today is one such day. This is said to be an original unit that was recently rebuilt, and it’s now being offered for sale for $175,000 USD.
Two marine V12s were developed at Lamborghini back in the troubled times of the late-1970s and early-1980s, both were based (to some degree) on the smaller Bizzarrini-designed Lamborghini V12. These engines were the 9.3 liter L900 intended for large luxury boats, and the 8.0 liter L802 which was developed for racing.
When you see it sitting next to the Lamborghini here you realize just how large it is, significantly bigger than the original Lamborghini V12 in the back of the car.Of these two engines, the larger carbureted 9.3 liter L900 was designed for a combination of longevity and reliability, and as a result it produced “only” 770 bhp. The smaller fuel-injected 8.0 liter L802 was designed for powerboat racing, it didn’t need to last long term and rebuilds could be frequent, so it was tuned to produce upwards of 900 bhp.
The exact displacements of these engines did vary somewhat, we know that the L802 was built in slightly larger sizes up to 8.3 liters and perhaps more, but they started out at the displacements shown above.
By the early 1980s the Motori Marini Lamborghini V12s were among the best in the world in the fast-paced, big money world of offshore powerboat racing. Lamborghini engines are still used today in many of these boats, and there’s a small but tight knit community of collectors who specialize in finding, rebuilding, and maintaining them.
The engine you see in this article is an original Motori Marini Lamborghini L-900 V12, the 9.3 liter carbureted version that makes 770 bhp. It weighs almost 1,000 lbs despite the extensive use of aluminum including the block and heads, so it would never have been suitable for automotive use, apparently it didn’t even fit under the hood of the sizable Lamborghini LM002 “Rambo Lambo.”
The eBay listing for this engine explains why it was originally bought: “These engines were purchased brand new from the factory as back up engines to a famous individual that loved boating and boat racing some time inthe mid to late 80’s, they sat in their original crates until I purchased them out of Germany.”
“Even though brand new and after many many years sitting in their crates both engines had to be completely broken down and gone through. All this was done under the careful watch of no one other than the World Famous Valentino Balboni.”
Above Video: This is a clip from the team at Curated showing the engine being cold started, and the throttle being blipped to show just how incredible the engine sounds.
It’s now being offered for sale out of Miami, Florida on the showroom floor of Curated. The Buy It Now price is $175,000 USD (or best offer), and you can visit the listing here if you’d like to read more about it or buy it for your own collection.
Images courtesy of Curated and eBay Motors
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
