this many is too many

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FOUR INCHES IS WELL WITHIN THE NORMAL RANGE

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Over a 16 year production run, Lamborghini built 2042 Countach supercars.

I will admit that the word "iconic" has been horribly overused since Superman Returns, but in terms of exotic sportscars and teenage lust, very little compares to Lamborghini's iconic Countach. The Countach is an icon in the same sense that the venerated images of the saints are, mounted on walls by true believers, and looked to for hope and inspiration.

This post, however, is not about the Countach. It's about that car's corporate grandson - the Murcielago.

The Murcielago brings to mind a particular saying that I heard in some cartoon or movie years ago. The source never stuck with me, but the message did, which is to say: everything valuable is rare, but not everything rare is valuable.

Which brings me to today's announcement from Lamborghini (via Autoblog).

Italian Super sportscar manufacturer Automobili Lamborghini proudly celebrates a historic event: an LP 670-4 SuperVeloce version of its current flagship V12 Murciélago, carrying series number 4,000, has just left Lamborghini's factory in Sant'Agata Bolognese, destined for a Chinese buyer.

That's right. There are 4000 (four-thousand) Lamborghini Murcielagos running around out there, and all of them were built in the last 9 years.

SO, I'd like to ask: how many is too many?

Would you call a Volkswagen Passat W8 a more exotic car than a Murcielago? There are more Murcis out there now than W8 Passats.

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THERE WERE ONLY SIX MADE WITH TRANSPARENT ALUMINUM

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I'm not sure how that line about everything valuable being rare plays out in the case of the Murcielago, but I can tell you this: 4000 seems like a lot of cars ... and there are even more Lamborghini Gallardos out there than there are Muricelagos.

In a few short months, the current batch of Lamborghinis will be more common than Fox-bodied Mustang Cobras, 4th-gen SS Camaros, and Buick GNXs. We are living in a world where late-model Lambos probably outnumber street-worthy US Lancias and Alfas by a wide margin, and yet ...

... I don't know, exactly, but that charging bull on the hood just doesn't seem so special anymore.

Congratulations, then, to Lamborghini, for making our icons a little more ordinary.

i write about wine | part i

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One thing that has always surprised me about this blog is how little I actually write about my own cars and bikes and scooters. Indeed, since I started this blog about two (2) years ago, I've owned quite a number of semi-interesting vehicles that I have barely written a word about.

Only slightly more surprising (to me, anyway) is the almost total lack of Lancia related posts on this blog.

See, when I was growing up in Miami, there was a 1975 Lancia Beta slowly disintegrating in our driveway. Every now and then, my aunt Cecey or uncle Luis would come out and get it running - for a while. And while it ran ... wow.

The noises that 1800 cc DOHC Fiat/Lancia made through its ANSA mufflers imprinted me forever. I have, in the years since, experienced the many varied howls and screams and growls and barks of Ferraris, McLarens, Lamborghinis - more than any gearhead kid could possibly beg or hope or deserve to; yet none of those crippled my sensibilities the way that Lancia did.

When I was 14, my aunt signed the Lancia's title over to me. I was never able to get it running "right". When I was a few years older, I bought another one - a 2.0L 1981 coupe. Red.

I got to drive that one, however briefly, and I learned a valuable lesson about all things Italian: they are fickle, crazy things that break your heart, shred your savings, and toy with your emotions - but they can be Perfect, too. It is that perfection that binds our emotions to these things, as if they were friends or children or lovers.

When you're talking about Italian women or Italian industrial design, you are talking about a real, physical perfection that is always just out of reach. Just out there, beyond your grasp. It teases you. It taunts you.

Just then ... the box from Bayless arrives. Huzzah!

You fix the car. You go for a drive. You take in the sights and sounds and smells, and it is GLORIOUS!

Then it breaks down.

Again.

You call your buddy Roy with the hot wife to come get you.

Again.

You call Bayless.

Again.

You tear the car apart and into a thousand pieces and swear on your life and on your heart and on your mother's grave - and you swear to Jesus and to Ganesh and to ancient Gods you can't name and to your wife that you will never Never NEVER put yourself through this again.

Again.

Just then ... the box from Bayless arrives. Huzzah!

You see what I'm getting at?

These stupid cars are in my blood. They are in the veins of all the masochists and mental patients at FLU, and firmly entrenched in the heart, mind, and (dare I say it!?) soul of anyone who's ever heard a Group B rally car steer sideways at wide full-tilt-boogey open throttle.

Not a day goes by that I don't type "Lancia" into eBay's search engine and not a day goes by that I don't quietly hope Fiat will see fit to build a new HF or Stratos. In short: I take my Lancias seriously.

It is with that in mind, that you must forgive me for thinking that there is something ... a little wrong about this product.

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The bottled blasphemy above just stinks of unmitigated EVIL and badge-engineering such that, if you actually bought this wine, you are made of suck and fail.

Everyone knows, of course, that Lancias are best served with Martini.

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F**k, yeah!

NOTE:
vehicles owned since beginning this blog listed, below, in order of acquisition.

1998 Dodge Neon 2.0 DOHC
2006 Yamaha Vino 125
2006 Pontiac Solstice Z0K
2009 Chevy Malibu Hybrid
2009 Honda Ruckus
2009 Volkswagen Routan SES