World's fastest Riva Aquarama returns to the sea

World's fastest Riva Aquarama

Commissioned and owned by none other than Ferruccio Lamborghini, manufacturing magnate and founder of the legendary supercar company, the one-of-a-kind boat has been painstakingly restored to its former glory over the past three years.

How do you make an already incredibly fast and incredibly exclusive Riva Aquarama even more special? Fit it with not one, but two glorious 350hp 4.0-litre V12 Lamborghini engines.

That's what Ferruccio Lamborghini demanded when he approached the company in 1968, during its heyday. And despite the technical challenges required in making two engines rotate in opposite directions in order to drive twin propellers and in making sure that the powerplants -- that until then had been exclusively available in the original land-going Lamborghini 350GT -- could deal with the rigors of seawater, the boat was completed in just three months.

The result, a speedboat capable of 48 knots, compared to 40 knots for regular Riva vessels (which used twin V8 units as standard equipment), and a page in the history books.

The boat became legendary and when its owner died in 1993, there was a fear that it could pass from legendary to mythical status as no one was sure of the boat's whereabouts.

And so started a search by devoted Lamborghini and Riva Aquarama collectors and enthusiasts who eventually tracked it down to a boatyard. Restored in Holland by Riva World, the restoration was a complex affair, requiring regular visits to the Lamborghini museum in Italy to understand how the original engines had been adapted so that the company could rebuild two motors it acquired from Lamborghini road cars.

But as well as a new 24-cylinder heart, the boat has had a lick of paint -- 25 coats to be exact -- and all upholstery, brightwork and even individual switches and knobs have been painstakingly restored or replicated.

In production for only 34 years, just 768 Riva Aquaramas in four different model variants were ever built, making any surviving example hugely collectible. But this example could well be priceless.