6 years ago in Iraq, when American soldiers wired explosives to a cruddy old pickup, they unwittingly chose to bomb the rarest and most Italian 4×4 to ever pound sand. It was a Lamborghini LM002, and whilst the planet wasn’t weeping over the loss of one of Uday Hussein’s personal vehicles—or Uday himself, 1 of Saddam Hussein’s sons who was killed by U.S. troops in 2003—exotic-vehicle enthusiasts winced.
Subsequent month, a far tidier example of the super truck will be provided for sale by RM Auctions. Listen to the money, even though, and you will uncover the LM002 to be a substantially undervalued Lamborghini, not only for its sheer insanity as a V-12 dune buggy but also as the precursor to the automaker’s next SUV, the Urus, slated for 2017. When our personal Brock Yates tested a single of the initial U.S. models in 1987—he nicknamed it the “Rambo Lambo”—the LM002 was $ 120,000 to start, or about a quarter-million bucks in today’s dollars. According to Hagerty’s, the average cost of an LM002 hovers about $ 95,000. The red 1989 model you see right here recently sold for $ 122,000, and it’s unlikely to bring considerably much more than that at auction.
This is a 6780-pound hulk that, in its day, was twice as fast as a comparable Range Rover ( to 60 in 7.7 seconds) and stopped shorter than most compact sedans. It came with a 5.2-liter Countach V-12 mounted up front, a 5-speed manual, a 2-speed transfer case, and 345-width Pirellis reinforced with Kevlar. It took nearly 3 decades prior to other 12-cylinder SUVs like the Audi Q7 V-12 TDI and Mercedes G65 AMG hit the scene. Who wouldn’t want a piece of history, that, as Yates place it, threw each and every other luxury auto “to the trash heap of social obsolescence”?
Amongst modern day collectors, it is merely not hot sufficient. Robert Meyer, who owns a shingle business in Washington state, sold this cherry LM002 in September since of its poor appreciation. Plus, it’s nigh impossible to uncover components and almost as challenging to service. Hence, to drive an LM002 is to threat grounding it indefinitely. Even when we tested one particular new, the electronics had been currently failing, a water line was rubbing against a fan belt and the clutch created a “Peterbilt feel like a Civic.” There’s also the issue of feeding the 76.6-gallon tank.
We tested this Lamborghini LM002 for our the October 1987 issue.
Meyer’s LM002, gifted to himself right after a divorce, is one particular of the luckier LM002s. Compared to the 6-carb model Yates drove 2 years earlier, the 1989 models came with fuel injection, an air-conditioning compressor that functioned, and myriad improvements that created the 444-hp beast less complicated to drive. Meyer did his own repairs and had small go wrong—he only place 10,000 miles on it more than 18 years—but beyond some seals for the transfer case and headers, “there’s nothing at all out there,” he stated. That goes for the aluminum and fiberglass physique, the Pirelli Scorpion tires, and something involving the 4-wheel-drive technique. Meyer had the front driveshaft removed, effectively underscoring the “2” in LM002, due to the fact that’s the portion that gets removed for each and every oil modify. According to Meyer, Lamborghini made the engine to run on 6 cylinders in case of catastrophic failure, and in that procedure, duplicated many of the components below the hood. As you might surmise, an LM002 is “sort of a pain in the ass when you are trying to function on it.”
Like most all pre-Audi Lamborghini models, the LM002 almost bankrupted the Sant’Agata company. The prototype 1977 Cheetah, created by an American defense contractor, didn’t win more than military commanders when it debuted at the Geneva auto show. The mid-mounted Chrysler V-8 gave the best-heavy Lambo nervous handling, and a year later, BMW cut ties with Lamborghini right after the organization allegedly funneled cash from the M1 to the Cheetah project. A completely revised LM001 debuted at the 1981 Geneva auto show, and before long, the LM002 was born as “just the factor for touring the front of the Iran-Iraq war,” according to Yates.
The final LM American models came with the Diablo’s 492-hp V-12, however even with such frippery, none have observed the surging rates observed by the early to mid-1980s Countach. When the Urus debuts, may well LM002 owners comprehend the treasure on their hands, being aware of they guard the direct lineage to what will be a 200-mph SUV? “I could care much less about the new one,” stated Meyer. “It’s just another piece of high-tech shit.”
Personal the Rambo Lambo: Immaculate 1989 Lamborghini LM002 Headed to Auction
