Lamborghini Murciélago
If you google "murciélago", which is "bat" in Spanish, this car will appear four times before the animal ever does.
Allow me to begin with one of the most iconic pieces of art to ever grace this planet. The Lamborghini Murciélago. Now, my hot take on these is that the oldest ones looked the best, followed by the LP640, and then, the SV. Nevertheless, the SV remains one of the most beautiful bulls to this very day.
Designed by the same person who is responsible for my all time favorite Bentley, the 2013 Flying Spur, this masterclass of design and performance bears a 6.5L 12 Cylinder that, funnily enough, is pretty much identical to the original V12's Lamborghini was using since the 60s (?!). The "Bizzarrini" V12 started its life as a 3.5L on the 350GT; Lamborghini bored and stroked this engine to its absolute physical limit. The Murciélago was the last of the big V12 bulls to bear this iconic brutal-sounding engine. Its son, the Aventador, was reborn with a new era of V12, but that's for another day. I still prefer this over any other V12 in the world... (I'm looking at you 812).
The Murciélago, if you tore it down piece by piece, may not be the most quintessentially Italian car out there. I mean come on, its side mirrors and indicators come off a first gen Ford Focus. Some of its parts are straight off of VW/Audi's shelves. Frankly, I do not give a 💩. If you look into it, Lamborghini's electrical work before the Germans took over was a disaster. So, having German technology in there isn't so bad. And, come on, you are literally listening to a symphony that took the Italians half a century to compose. When they were asked why was the radio left behind on the SuperVeloce models, Lamborghini simply responded with "The music comes from the engine compartment".
I was moving my websites over to another host when I realized something about this post. I simply did not write enough. Perhaps, I could never. But it is at least deserving of one more expression. I mean, look at it. Would you believe that this car is nearly 30 years old soon? I'd give it a few years but definitely not THIRTY. I'm not sure why Lamborghini strayed off these designs soon after; this and the Gallardo were absolutely stunning and in my opinion we did not get enough of that styling. However, one thing we did get more than enough of is the horrible reliability of their e-gear transmissions (automatics). They were regularly known to fail without any prior warning at relatively low mileages.
Still, maybe that stands for something. Call me delusional but it sounds like this car is trying to tell you "enjoy every moment with me while you can". That's part of the ownership experience anyway, isn't it?
Car Casette:
- Butterflies & Hurricanes - Muse (my favorite song)
- A Dark Knight - Hans Zimmer
- Disparate Youth - Santigold
"Time passes, but ideas that define us remain."