2 Cars ruined ??

[kikkthecat]

I came across this for sale and it raised a couple of questions.

Lamborghini LM 002

I know it's rare and ugly but that's not what's so unusual about it.

It has a Mercedes 500E engine.

As it originally had the Lamborghini V12 engine from the Countach is a 500E V8 Mercedes engine an upgrade or have they ruined 2 cars to make this thing ?
Of course they may have also put the Lambo engine in the Merc...

 

[The G.F.P]

as a lamborghini fan for the past 30 years thats one of my fav vehicles ever

its so ugly its beautiful

i spoke to a bloke at the 1990 motorshow as im sure that year they had one on display and he said back then 1 tyre was £300 and that no one ever really bought one

clarkson (i think) drove one on top gear and said it was a horrible vehicle and had the turning circle of the titanic

superb beast of a car and ill have one in my garage of cars when im even richer

 

[W210 Fan]

I don`t know about anybody else but I cant see the point of this vehicle, ugly, slow, useless on fuel, no offroad capability despite 4WD and it cant carry many people, however, as to the merc transplant engine, anybody else notice the W126 shape gearstick? or the W124 look switches for aircon and windows etc, the fact that most of the switches operate similar things in mercs? aircon swtches with W124 layout? can anybody else confirm W124 indicator stork and headlight switch? maybe lambo raided the merc parts bin or has there ever been a merc/lambo relationship,

BTW im quite drunk and I noticed this, do all these LM002`s have this interior or has this one got it due to the merc engine??

 

[scumbag]

Just a guess here, but we have a G-Wagon in our fleet and that shares some of the parts in this thing looking at the interior.

I wonder of Lambo had Steyr Puch build it? It would make sense to have done that, and it would also mean they get Merc parts rather than FIAT parts like other Italian presitige marques etc.

 

[BaldGuy]

I'd hate to buy a set of tyres for that.... How wide and $$$$!!!

 

[verytalldave]

I suspect the Lambo engine blew itself up and the Merc transplant was done for reliability.
A total guess.

 

[bolide]

They're quite amusing vehicles. When I drove one in Switzerland I thought it was total carp

Originally powered by a Countach engine. Tyres are Pirelli Scorpions and they are about a foot wide. The turning circle is enormous, and the brakes are terrifyingly poor, but they do go!

I will always remember the lovely hand-stitched white leather & suede interior - held on with rusty screws

The car I drove was owned by Patrick Mimran

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[verytalldave]

.............has there ever been a merc/lambo relationship,.............

Yes........well sort of.....

Chrysler bought Lamborghini in 1987.
And Mercedes bought Chrysler in 1998.

So from 1998 Mercedes started dipping their fingers into Chrysler's parts bin and no doubt found a few choice Lamborghini morsels to chew on............

 

[glojo]

I don`t know about anybody else but I cant see the point of this vehicle, ugly, slow, useless on fuel, no offroad capability despite 4WD and it cant carry many people,

Looking at those tyres I doubt it would be capable of driving across a wet lawn! What is it supposed to be?

I suppose the aerodynamics might be better than a barn door and the off road capabilities might be better than a Formula car but that would be debatable.

Noi pointe

Regards,
John

 

[verytalldave]

What is it supposed to be ? ? ? ?.................

Its something that was meant to appeal to rich American car buyers with lower IQ's than a roomful of Schwarzenegger's...........

 

[cjab98]

Looking at those tyres I doubt it would be capable of driving across a wet lawn! What is it supposed to be?

I believe it was initially supposed to be a military vehicle, the US army had contracted Lamborghini and AM General to build one. They eventually went with AM General's HMMWV, which in turn gave us the civilian Humvee. I guess Lamborghini kept all their development work, which led to the LM002.

 

[Uberwagon]

With the original engine it's actually bloody brilliant at driving at speed across the desert. Which is what it was designed for in the first place. See it more as a rich mans Land Cruiser. A Humvee does a stirling job and it would be doing well to be anywhere near as crap as that is when out of desert, flat terrain conditions.

I've no idea why the conversion was done, using a 500E engine is a bit silly as it's different than those in the Sl etc.

Still, it looks well done ad like has been said, is probably very reliable.

Dave!

 

[W210 Fan]

Just a guess here, but we have a G-Wagon in our fleet and that shares some of the parts in this thing looking at the interior.

I wonder of Lambo had Steyr Puch build it? It would make sense to have done that, and it would also mean they get Merc parts rather than FIAT parts like other Italian presitige marques etc.

now theres a possibility, as they were responsable for the G wagon, super G, Pinzgauer (which i worked on), Haflinger, then both versions of MBs 4 matic system, and the engineering layout of the ML, the Jeep cherokee and the X3 and X5 to name a few, then going back further a Fiat 500 look-a-like thing which is where the engine from the haf came from which spawned the pinz, loads of trucks we dont see here and the beetle as they were asked to design a cheap rear air cooled engined vehicle inbetween WW1 and WW2, as was ferdinand Porsche, the 2 vehicles were very similar as they kept cribbing over each others shoulders, then somebody called Adolf found both plans, started VW, made a few changes like the `cute` eyes (headlights) and that is the legend of the original beetle, or so engineering folk law has it...