Lamborghini LM002
The Lamborghini LM002 is just about the only vehicle on Earth with the ability to make the military Humvee look wimpy. Yes, the Humvee can be ordered with armor, a swiveling minigun or grenade launcher, a natty camo paint job, and all kinds of other high-tech weaponry, but all of those baubles pale in comparison to what the LM002 packs under the hood--the wildly exotic V-12 lifted directly from the Lamborghini Countach. The LM002 has your weapons of mass destruction right here--450 horsepower worth.
The LM002 was Lamborghini's third attempt at a military off-road vehicle, following the unsuccessful Cheetah and LM001 prototypes. Only a few hundred LM002s were made, of which several were sold to the Saudi Arabian and Libyan militaries; Uday Hussein was one famous owner of a military LM002.
I have no idea why the exotic sports car manufacturer was interested in competing in this market in the first place--it's not as if Ferrari was experimenting with, say, amphibious troop carriers, after all--but at least Lamborghini did it with style. The LM002 was a swaggering burly brute of a truck, as oversized, extravagant, and intimidating as its instant "Rambo Lambo" nickname would indicate. Its bulging lines were punctuated by scoops, bulges, and bars that announced its muscle to everybody within a 50-mile radius.
Despite its size and heft, the LM002 was also a screamer. The howling V-12 easily overcame the truck's sneering disregard for aerodynamics, pushing the LM002 up to 130 mph--or 110 mph in sand.
The LM002 never made a splash as a military vehicle, probably at least in part because maintaining a complex V-12 in desert warfare conditions sounded like a recipe for disaster, but it certainly made an impact on my adolescent imagination. I'm not sure why it's necessary to have a brutish off-road military truck with a 450-horsepower V-12, but I do know that it's deeply cool.
Imagine infiltrating into Libya and being confronted with this snarling menace. Why even bother resisting? Fleeing, at least in anything short of a Learjet, would be futile. I have a feeling that if James Bond, equipped with a set of rocket boots or some other technological gimcrackery, had been pursued by a LM002, he would have been captured quickly and in an anti-climactic fashion.
These photos are of an LM002 I spotted at a recent Italian car convention. Even surrounded by priceless low-slung Italian sports cars, the LM002 was somehow the most exotic and intoxicating of the group.
--Chris H.
Cookie the Dog's Owner on July 17, 2008 at 12:16 PM
How do you say "Hulk smash!" in Italian?
David Colborne on July 17, 2008 at 12:29 PM
According to AltaVista, "Hulk smash" translates roughly into "moneta falsa della carcassa". I'm not entirely sure what that means in English, though, so don't hold me to that.
Considering how Lamborghini was started by a guy who ran a tractor manufacturing business, I suppose it's not entirely out of left field - maybe they were just returning to their roots or something. Either that, or they were trying to diversify or something.
Chris Hafner on July 17, 2008 at 12:34 PM
David Colborne: "According to AltaVista, "Hulk smash" translates roughly into "moneta falsa della carcassa"."
Using Babel Fish to translate that back into English, it means "counterfeit money of the carcass."
I love online translators.
Mochi Mochi on July 17, 2008 at 08:05 PM
This is one of those vehicles that should always remain in short supply. Tractor manufacturer, builds exotic super cars, then builds exotic super truck. Genius or madness?... the line separating the two is sometimes so very fine.
Frank Black on July 18, 2008 at 08:35 AM
If there were a finer example of car porn, I've never seen it.
Ted on July 18, 2008 at 12:53 PM
If only they could somehow make this glorious machine amphibious, this would be the perfect vehicle. Out of curiosity, any word on mpg? Not that anyone with the money to buy one would have to worry about how much they spend on gas.
Chris Hafner on July 18, 2008 at 12:55 PM
Ted: "Any word on mpg?"
Yes. The word is "bad."
Bryan Frymire on July 18, 2008 at 01:06 PM
If I recall correctly there was a nice write up in Car and Driver when this beast was first released. My creaky old brain cells are telling me that it was pretty plush inside, big motor, rotten MPG's, and totally awesome. Who's chubbing up? I'm chubbing up!
Hucbald on July 18, 2008 at 01:52 PM
Being a Texan, trucks are embedded within my genetic code. Sure, I was into exotics in high school and drove a Fiat then, but this beast really freaked me out at the time. I remember reading everything in print about the LM 002, and I quoted the, "110 MPH in sand!" line at every opportunity. Today, I drive an '03 RAM 1500 Quad Cab 4x4 with a 4" Rancho lift, 33" tires, an A.R.E. tonneau cover, and a Ranch Hand Bullnose bumper with PIAA's on it... and it all started right here for me.
BTW: I now have a 2010 RAM 1500 with the new 4.6L Cummins V-8 turbodiesel in my future. I'm betting a regular cab, long bed version with an A.R.E. tonneau cover will get circa 30 MPG, even with four-wheel drive. Can't wait to see if I'm right about that! No lift and big tires this time, though. LOL!
Matt on July 18, 2008 at 02:12 PM
I had the priviledge to ride in one of these once, and it was an absolute gas....the sound of the engine alone would make women faint with lust in their eyes and men weep with envy.....getting up into the 80's - 90's on a hardscrabble dry lakebed was the ride of a lifetime.....you really didn't want to go too much faster....and you had better be strapped in solid.....yee haw!
seguin on July 18, 2008 at 02:13 PM
I remember seeing many lamborghini tractors in Avezzano when I spent my time in Italy. And I remember ISO refrigerators. I love how car-crazy those guys are. Everyone with a factory tries to build a supercar eventually.
DirtCrashr on July 18, 2008 at 04:09 PM
Didn't they build enough of these to race in the protype class in Paris-Dakar?
The Italians have had some of the best motorcycle races in that event, it would be a cinch to draft a car-guy into the desert racing realm with one of these. Stephen Peterhansel maybe...
travis on July 18, 2008 at 07:16 PM
Hmmm. Something that gets terrible gas mileage and can go 110 miles per hour in the sand. Think Lambo was planning to sell a few of these in the mid east? Something to counter the Land Rover? It's an almost perfect match. Something rediculously expensive and unecessary for an oil shiek who is equally rediculously wealthy.
Jefered on July 19, 2008 at 04:16 AM
And I thought the Pontiac Aztek looked like ass...
prakash on July 19, 2008 at 11:24 AM
Well lambo being italiano will have a lot of work to do to engage in the real battlefield besides the american hummer and land rover.
Shawn on July 20, 2008 at 02:29 PM
I'm going to paraphrase a great description of the LM002 I read somewhere else: it looks like something Wolverine would drive!
Pete on July 24, 2008 at 09:54 AM
I was doing 90 plus on the way to Frankfurt one day, and one of these bad boys passed me like I was standing still. You could hear that thing HOWL over all the other traffic noise. It created a vaccuum that caused all the other cars to tilt inwards to the path it had just created. What a monster!
ChopperDave on July 24, 2008 at 02:25 PM
Tina Turner was one of the lucky few--until recently, anyway; her's was up on eBay a while ago. I can't believe anyone bought it ...
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/01/21/private-dancer-tina-turner-s-mercedes-powered-lambo-lm002/
Alex on July 25, 2008 at 12:09 AM
The annual World of Wheels car show was in town here in Winnipeg around 1989 - my friends and I spent the day there. That night, we were out and about for drinks, etc (ok, substitute E T C with L S D, we were 19), and the LM from the show passed by. The driver gassed it, and it HOWLED and echoed off the concrete canyon walls. I'll never forget that sound - angry demons issuing a challenge. Even without the acid, I think it would have stuck with me the same way.