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.

sunshine superchik | part ii

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Sometimes I feel like a sucker in a strange land.

I was going to stay away from a completely negative rant, but as Aesop's scorpion says, "I'm a scorpion," so rejoice, fellow sociopaths!

Part of being a scorpion involves spending the majority of my college life eating my way around the world and spending daddy's all sorts of money in foreign lands. The fact that I was doing this, instead of "learning" or "acquiring skills", is supported by a mountain of questionable photographs and my laughable current job as a faux-Australian servant-girl.

To compensate for my lack of (useful) education and marketable (legal) job skills, I have experiences. Priceless experiences that led to some wisdom I'd like to share with you now: do not eat any "typical meals" that your hosts prepare for you.

"Typical meals" are great if you've landed somewhere like Tuscany or Paris, but if you're anything like me, then you're a dipshit liberal-arts major and you've decided that "No! The way is to travel the exotic third world, with its strange 'third' spices and 'third' peoples and 'third' currency exchange rates."

Aside: anyone else notice that "third" sounds like "turd"?

In the exotic third world, "typical meals" are chock-full of exotic bacteria, erratically-refrigerated ingredients, and crippling dysentery.

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BEEN THERE.

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I am fully aware of the sketchy nature of third-world refrigeration. I've walked the quaint, earthy marketplaces. I've seen the sun and the rain and the smog beat down on llama heads, guess-the-animal ribs, and goat scrotums. I've seen a strange pink fluid wiggle its way through a pile of potatoes "displayed" on a dirt floor. Uphill.

It makes for pretty pictures, but if they'd had common sense (imagination?) they'd know an American stomach isn't accustomed to that sh*t.

Why would they serve me llama gasbag soup!?

Worse yet: Every time I was presented with a new gastronomic adventure, my hosts would delight in making me eat it. I was guilted into it by their exotic third world smiles.

Some of these dishes even sound made-up. Guinea pig? Really!?

Really.

I've come to believe that these exotic third world natives are either completely daffy, or it's all some sort of vast, passive-aggressive class war conspiracy. I immediately took ill after finding meat with fur stuck to it and a strange honey-combed bit of matter in that afternoon's stew. I carried that illness all the way home, and I could still hear their exotic third world laughter.

Now, after careful consideration and multiple degrees in anthropology and world literature, I have finally decided what I think of the third world: I want revenge.

See plan, below.

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The next time someone visits me from some hideous third world rat-hole like Nicaragua, Bolivia, or Detroit, I'm going to serve up a typical 'Murican First World meal. Something heinous, like wet burger sliders with slimy onions and tongue-bubbling hot wings ... and I am going to make. Them. Eat. It.

I will make them eat it because it is truth, justice, and the American Way, and because those bastards have it coming.

has to be fake

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A recent study published by UPI (which, at first glance, is not some UK equivalent of the Onion) indicates that women are sexually aroused by the sounds of powerful luxury automobiles.

Ya, I know.

We touched on this subject a few months ago when we had that Heffner Ford GT on the RENN's dyno ... but I'm still waiting for the punchline on this one.

CLICK HERE to read it for yourself.

ml&e beats me to my own punch!

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Modified Luxury and Exotics magazine let the hybrid cat out of the bag this morning when they posted the first "pics" of RENNTECH's upcoming Mercedes-Benz GLK 350 based concept car, "the Rally Dominator".

I have to give some special thanks to ML&E editor Colum Wood, though, for getting my early GLK 'chops international attention (Danke! You're the best.), even if I was trying to keep them under wraps until October!

That said, the GLK WILL have a hybrid power plant, as well as bodywork that can best be described as a bit more ... aggressive?

Yeah. More Aggressive.

CLICK HERE for the original ML&E article, and stay tuned ...