The LM002 is one of those cars that sadly we will never see again.
The LM002 was built at a time that Lambo was a totally different brand from now, was crazy
and without money.
The LM002 is one of the craziest cars Lamborghini has ever made.
From a rear engine military vehicles to LM003 Zagato here is the Story Of Lamborghini LM002 - The Rambo Lambo.
The year was 1977, Ferruccio Lamborghini had 4 years that had left the company that he
founded and the oil crazies of the 70s had hit the car industry hard.
Lamborghini was in big financial troubles at the time, so they started taking on contracts
from external companies.
One of which was BMW.
BMW at the time was working on the E26 M1, but since they had no experience of building
mid-engined supercars they contacted Lamborghini to do the work for them.
Another contract was to build an all-terrain vehicle for the U.S. military on behalf of
Mobility Technology International, this being accepted with the view to winning a lucrative
contract and easing the financial strain at Sant ' Agata . On the back of these promising
opportunities, the management borrowed a substantial sum from the Italian government.
With money in their pocket Lamborghini started working on the new project.
The new offroader was called the Cheetah and was presented at the 1977 Geneva Auto Show.
The Cheetah was not built at the factory in Sant'Agata but in the United States because
the U.S military would not accept a car build outside the States.
But the Cheetah would face tons of problems.
First it was largely based on a competing design on the FMC XR311.
This resulted in legal action from FMC against MTI and Lamborghini in 1977.
Another Cheetah problem was the layout.
Like the XR311 the Cheetah engine a 5.9-litre Chrysler V8 was mounted at the rear.
Not only did its position give the Cheetah erratic handling due to terrible weight distribution,
but the engine provided the 2-tonne vehicle with a meagre 180bhp.
But the biggest problem was that Lamborghini felt so confident in the project that it allegedly
diverted funds from the BMW M1 that was developing, without telling BMW.
Both BMW and MTI terminated their partnerships with Lamborghini as the company sank into
bankruptcy.
Despite the failure of the Cheetah, the idea of a Lamborghini off-road vehicle was still
very much alive, and with new capital from investors, and three years later, at the 1981
Geneva Auto Show Lamborghini presented the LM001 short for Lamborghini Militaria number
1.
Lamborghini had completely abandoned the Cheetah design.
The engine was still mounted at rear but this time was a AMC V8 but also the option of putting
in a Countach V12, was taken into consideration.
Despite the redesign the LM001 suffered from the same issue as the Cheetah.
The weight distribution was still terrible and the AMC engine offered only 180 hp.
Like the Cheetah the LM001 project was abandoned only after one prototype.
One year later in 1982 Lamborghini would present LMA002 standing for Lamborghini Militaria
Antiore.
Lamborghini developed a completely new chassis design and mounted the V12 Countach LP500S
engine in the front of the car, this way they fixed the weight distribution problem.
At this time the interior was kept very simple as they intended to sell the LMA002 to armed
forced in the Middle East and the United States, but that didn't quite go as planned.
In the rear, space was free now for six more passengers, together with the four seats inside
the vehicle this added up to ten people.
The suspension and the tires needed further development over those used for the LM-001,
mainly because the LMA-002 was about 500 Kg heavier and could carry six more people.
The overalldesign was still very similar with the LM001 with flat panels for easier armored
parts.
The biggest change was made for the new engine layout.
Since the LM001 had the engine at rear, it had some serious looking air intakes found
behind the rear doors but the overall design was very similar with previous prototype.
Also in 1983 Lamborghini build another prototype doubt LM003.
It was virtually identical to the LMA002, but instead of the V12 Countach engine, the
LM003 was powered by a 6-cylinder, 150 bhp (112 kW), 3.6L turbocharged diesel engine
provided by VM Motori, this prototype was built because the military required diesel propulsion.
Without any offers from military forces Lamborghini decided to build a road going version of their
car.
After much testing and altering of the prototype, the production model was finally unveiled
at the Brussels Auto Show in 1986.
The car had lost the A from its name and was just called LM002.
The LM002 was like nothing else on the market the closest competitor was the Rang Rover
but even the Range was far away from the Raging Bull.
The LM002 was one of the most luxurious cars on the market and the standard equipment list
included just about every luxury item available in the Eighties, four leather seats, thick
color-matched carpeting everywhere, air-conditioning, tinted power windows, and an Alpine stereo
system that for whatever reason was mounted on the roof console.
But like every Lambo the LM002, despite its massive proportions 1.89m tall and 2m wide
and with a weight of more than 2,700 kg was an incredible performer.
The LM002 could reach 100km/h in less than 8 seconds and reach a top speed of 200km/h.
The first production unit of the LM002 was delivered to H.R.H.
King Hassan of Morocco in late 1986 and after him an endless list of celebrities started
ordering their LM002.
In sort of way the LM002 was like the H1 was in the 90s Escalade in the 00s and G and Cayene
aare now.
Some of the famous peoples who owned a LM002 Sylvester Stallone, Mike Tyson, Keke Rosberg,
Malcolm Forbes and Tina Turner which I am going to talk about her Lamborghini later
on because is quite a bit interesting.
Rumor had it the Saudi army ordered 40 of them for their own use, to be equipped with
machine guns, another rumor talked about a vast order from Libya, but neither was ever officially confirmed.
The LM002 was build from 1986 to 1993 and through its 7 year of production something
between 301 to 328 cars were build.
I'm not sure about this because different sources say different things.
Beside the standard LM002 some lets say limited edition cars where built.
The US Importer of Lamborghini did create a special, the LM002 LM Americana edition,
this came with special chromed bumpers, unique striping on both sides, upgraded leather interior,
special side moldings underneath the doors and modified vents on the engine hood and
on the side, also custom alloy OZ/MSW wheels were mounted, most of them came with the fuel
injected Diablo engine.
Also, a LM002 with a 7.2 liter V12 engine normally intended for offshore powerboat racing
was offered through special orders.
Some sources say that also a 7L was available but I'm not sure about this, even though Lamborghini
built a LM002 prototype with a 7L engine.
Also, three estate version of the LM002 were built by Turin-based autoshop owner Salvatore Diomante.
This cars where built for the Sultan Of Brunei at least one of them has left Brunei, and
was for sale some time ago in Germany.
Also a pick up version was build for the Saudi Royal Family.
Some other sources say that also a 6 wheeler version was built but not much is known about
it.
Now about Tina Turner.
This LM002 is special because is powered by a Mercedes 5L V8 engine.
Apparently Tina doesn't know how to drive a manual so she swapped the manual Lambo gearbox
with an automatic Mercedes one.
This car was for sale some time ago for $262,000.
The LM002 would also be the first factory built racing Lamborghini.
In 1987, Lamborghini sent an LM002 to a team of special engineers with the intention of
making it capable of participating in the Paris Dakar Rally.
They stripped it of anything that added unnecessary weight and gave it an upgraded suspension,
engine modifications which brought it to 600 hp, full roll cage, plexiglas windows, and
GPS equipment.
But funding ran out before it could officially be entered in competition.
Lamborghini decide to race it to Rally of the Pharaohs in 1987 but didn't start the
race after the sponsor had a deadly accident.
The LM002 Rally re-appeared in the 1988 off-road rally in Greece, when Mario Mannucci was the
driver with Sandro Munari as the co-pilot, sadly the Lamborghini didn't finish this race.
When the Indonesian group took over Lamborghini they tried to build new models since Diablo
was the only model that they had for sale.
One of these models was a new off-roder a successor to the LM002, therefore a United
Kingdom based company was contacted to do the design but this job later was handed over
to Zagato.
Only some drawing were maa for this car because a dept market research study revealed only
a small interest would exist in the new LM003.
This project was killed completely after Audi bought Lamborghini.
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