For a brief, shining moment, Steven Seagal was, if not the biggest action star on the planet, then at the very least in the conversation. Unfortunately for him (and fans of Aikido around the world), that wrinkle in time was lodged firmly in the 1990s, and by the time the Millennium rolled around Hollywood had moved on, leaving Seagal to explore the fertile creative territory of direct-to-video releases and reality-TV law enforcement.
Just before he gave up entirely on mainstream success, however, Seagal made two last-gasp attempts to remain in the guns-and-explosions zeitgeist: Half Past Dead and Exit Wounds, both of which co-starred rappers (Ja Rule and DMX) arguably more famous at that point than he was. Both films flopped – but that's no reason why you shouldn't want to own this 1998 Lamborghini Diablo that shared screen time with Seagal and DMX in the latter of those two projects.
How did the Exit Wounds Diablo end up in Niagara Falls, Ontario? It's simple, really: the movie, based on a book set in Long Island, was set in Detroit, but filmed primarily in Toronto and Hamilton (with a shout-out to Calgary). Pretty standard, right? You might remember this particular Lamborghini from the scene where DMX, while listening to a tape of his own music blasting out the stereo of a Rolls-Royce convertible, over-revs the Italian supercar in the showroom and then pays for it by throwing a leather satchel filled with cash at a guy in a suit before driving out the inexplicably open door.
First introduced in 1995, the Diablo VT roadster was the open-air version of the second-generation Diablo, with the VT representing the addition of all-wheel drive and a number of other braking, aero, and ergonomic updates that appeared a few years earlier. The removable targa top was made of carbon fibre, and the wind rushed through your hair at speeds of up to 335 km/h hour, thanks to the nearly 500 horsepower produced by the car's mid-mounted 5.7L V12 engine.
The car cost DMX $285,000 USD all the way back in 2001 when Exit Wounds was shot, but if you want to snag it today you're going to have trouble fitting all the hundos in a single bag: the price has jumped to $400,000 CAD. Why the surge in price? Aside from its movie car heritage, they made just 200 Diablo VT roadsters in total, and there are only 18,224 kilometres reported on this particular example. With so few ever built, good luck finding another one for sale in North America, let alone Canada.
The Diablo was the last of the 12-cylinder Lamborghinis to be produced before the brand's stewardship by Audi/Volkswagen, which would see the model replaced by the Murciélago. On-screen credits aside, this car presents a unique snapshot of a very specific period in Lamborghini's history, one where a push to be the most outrageously quick Italian exotic trumped almost every other concern. Today, that part of the market has largely been ceded to automakers like Bugatti, as Lamborghini has become much more focused on building supercars you could theoretically drive every day (such as the outstanding Huracán). Eye-searing, scary-fast, and the ability to share a seat once graced by DMX's platinum-selling butt-cheeks – what's not to like?
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