The Italian's Hummer. The LM002. #blogpost

What? A lamborghini SUV? The only SUV from these Italians you know of is that concept called the Urus. But really? An SUV? From the time when Lamborghini made the Countach and the Jalpa (my dream car). A time when, like that wall Mr. Trump proposes, V12s were massively huge. 8.7 lt V48 engine? Yes please! Anyways, this thing had the huge engine from the countach. I want one, how ‘bout you?

Loud and Brash American beginnings

Picture this. You’re in Italy. It’s the mid 70s. You work in Lamborghini. Some high up executive says “Mmm, How about we, I dunno, make a military SUV?” and the room erupts in cheers. A couple years later, this is made (The photo above)! This vheical was made, not in Italy, but in San Jose California. The car had revolutionary features like no doors (wow!) and a roof that will protect you from all of nothing (amazing!). Oh, and it had a rear mounted V8. Near the end of the 70s, it’s designer, Rodney Pharis, took a trip to the US of A and presented it to a group of US militants. They said no but said yes to the Hummer years later. The car was sold and is somewhere unknown in the US…Wait, nevermind, it was found and restored. That wasn’t even the only one because four more were made but three were destroyed. That 4th one was left unfinished.

But wait, there’s more!

Yes, there was another prototype. The lm001. This, like the Cheetah, featured a rear mounted V8. Unlike the cheetah, it had actual doors, and windows. The roof could be rolled back or taken off all together to put, I don’t know, a machine gun, rocket launcher, really anything you want up there. There were also an array of tiny changes like headlight, tail lights, door hinges, etc. Also the body. It didn’t have the sleek and sexy lines of the countach and Jalpa. Instead it had more flat, simple body lines to make it easier for armor to be placed on it. This would’ve been the more civilized brother to the Cheetah. The car was first seen in 1981 at the Geneva motor show. Auto reporters would call it the LM001, Lamborghini Militaria number 1, or even the Lamborghini Mimram. Lamborghini needs to start naming there cars like this again…

There was a problem though. The place of the engine produced a less than ideal weight distribution… That’s why they changed it.

To the beast, the best, the rambo lambo…

The LM002!

Yes. The real deal. The lm002. Unlike the it’s previous incarnations, this had the engine in the front. And that engine. Ohhh, that engine. The Lm002 had the beastly engine from the legendary Countach. Yup, it had the 450hp v12 from the countach…

Lamborghini racing?

Ferruccio Lamborghini never wanted any of his cars to go racing with factory support. While the company knew this, they just threw it out the window. Since Ferruccio was long gone in the 80s, they decided that there first racing car would be the LM002. They gathered some of the engineers that worked on the Cheetah, LM001, and LM002 and in the end, made the engine produce over 600 hp.The interior was also stripped and a roll cage was placed inside. The suspension, even though it was already great for offroading, was upgraded to an even better set up. Sandro Munari was to drive the car but never did for a variety of reasons. In 1988, the car was entered in an offroad rally in Greece were Mario Mannucci was the driver while Sandro Munari was the co-pilot. The Rambo lambo sadly didn’t finish a race… There were other LM002 rally cars, some with even more power and some that actually won some events.

The Estate

Near the end of it’s production run, A US importer took 60 of these cars, placed the Diablo’s direct inject V12 inside the engine bay. It also featured different rims and chromed bumpers. How stylish. Sure, this would be considered rare but this isn’t the rarest LM002..

That honor goes to the LM002 Estate! The Estate was made for the Sultan of Brunei (holds a huge car collection. So big, most of the cars are never driven and or seen by outsiders). This special edition is using the same chassis, doors, engine, and overall most parts are shared with the normal (if you can call it that) car. The car would have it’s roof raised and stretched while on the inside, since it’s from a hugely rich, hugely powerful man, is fully covered with leather and other rich people materials. We haven’t seen that car in years and probably won’t see it in years, such is the ways of rich people…

I hope you enjoyed my #blogpsot. Toodles!