Perfect

Drive Time

Iain Tyrrell talks about one of my favorite cars of all time, the Lamborghini 400GT.

Here’s my take.  Lamborghini, when it popped the Countach cork, went off to some kind of schoolboy fantasy design trip, and they’ve stayed with it ever since.  I know, there’s a market for that kind of thing because clearly there is a vast customer market of men with small penises.

But their first cars — the 350GT and the 400GT — were the closest to old man Ferruccio’s original plan for his cars:  fast, reliable and comfortable tourers:  the antithesis of the capricious and unreliable Ferrari sports cars, in other words.

Now watch the video and listen to that glorious V12 pushing the back of the car down as it accelerates.

Want.

I’ve ranted before about the foolishness of men who would drop half a million bucks on a car, and I still feel that way.  But I might just make a teeny exception for a 400GT (because that’s what a well-restored one of these goes for, if you can find one).  The one that Tyrrell’s driving would be worth far north of that sum because of the custom-built pistons, amongst other delicious things, that he and his team of automotive wizards has put together.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and check my lottery tickets.

5 comments

  1. Odd looking creature.

    The windows and roof look like an Aston Martin DB5, the tail (from this angle) looks like a 70’s Volvo, and the front looks like a 80’s-90′ Jag XJ.

  2. The problem with all this (cars and motorcycles, all flavors) is that the traffic density is so much greater than it was back in the 80’s and earlier. Driving is no longer any fun for me. It’s a chore and a high risk activity that just annoys me. Even if I had the car of my dreams, I’d be loath to risk it in actual traffic. While I was still working and commuting daily, I’d see 2 or 3 wrecks a week. Bad ones. Living in the Houston area pretty much should come with hazard pay for the commute. Even without the other drivers, the streets themselves are either pure crap or under permanent construction. I’ve considered looking for an antique since my retirement but then realized that it would just be an expensive ornament in my garage, never driven and seldom seen.

    1. Which is why I’m in Lake Placid this week with 750 other Porsche \owners from all over the US and Canada at the Annual series of events known as the Parade. Driving all over the lightly traveled roads of the Adirondack’s

  3. It’s all a matter of perspective. If you’re 75 and sitting on a 4 or 6 million dollar portfolio then 200 or even 300k doesn’t seem like a lot. Your portfolio likely went up that much last quarter anyway. Given the current market.

    That photo does not due justice to the 400GT. In person it’s a very good looking car. Certainly for the time. Remember that Ferrucio was trying to build a better GT car than Enzo out of spite, because Enzo would not sell him a car.

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