Lamborghini Sesto Elemento: the 1st live photos

After the first presentation of Jean Pierre, here are the pictures of the presentation of self in the great VW press conference held this evening.

Top Luxury Cars - The Car BMW and Lamborghini Built?

What if you took two companies that had contrasting, unique strengths with cars and put them together to build a car emphasizing both of their traits? Well, that's exactly what happened in the 1970s when BMW and Lamborghini got together to build a legendary car - the BMW M1.

The BMW M1 was a car built in a soap opera environment of sorts. The problem wasn't BMW, but Lamborghini. BMW had retained the Italian exotic sports car company to design the M1. Alas, Lamborghini was having major financial problems at the time and ended up going bankrupt half way through the project. BMW was thus forced to take the car back and complete the project on its own.

These odd circumstances led to an odd car. The first M1s look more or less exactly like you might think they would if Lamborghini did half the work and then handed the car off to BMW and did not consult on the rest of the project. The car has some of the swooping designs you see with all Lamborghinis, but also some of the typical lines you see in BMW. Put together, the car looks something like...a DeLorean. To some, this is a beautiful design. To others, it is not.

The BMW M1 was sold to the public for only three years - 1978-81. The sales for this period totaled 456 cars, the smallest production line in the history of BMW. Oddly, the base engine was a 6 cylinder, with twin cams and produced a top speed in the 160 miles per hour range. Other BMW models were later given the M1 version, but they were just upgrades of the respective base production cars and not real M1s.

It must be said that the powers at BMW really liked the M1. They actually started a PRO M1 racing series that restricted teams to using just the M1 car. The series became a launching pad for Formula One drivers. The iconic Ferrari driver Niki Lauda won two PRO M1 championships and future F1 Champ Nelson Piquet won one. BMW still supports the series today although M1s long ago were phased out in exchange for 3 series cars.

Why write about a car nearly 30 years old? Well, BMW is considering updating the car and releasing a modern version. It is called the M1 Homage Concept. The car has only been seen once, but it just looks brutally wicked in a good way. The current economic environment has stopped BMW and other companies from pursuing such projects, but expect the car to get some attention when the economic situation improves. I honestly don't care for the original M1 design, but the Homage Concept looks like an absolutely beautiful and aggressive car design worth every penny of what will certainly be a very high price.

Dirk Gibson writes BMW articles for DCJ Auto Parts - your source for BMW aftermarket parts.
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The 2009 Lamborghini Murcielago

The 2009 Lamborghini Murcielago is carryover from 2008 Lamborghini Murcielago. Chosing a luxury sports car or convertibles sports car.

There are two kinds of trims available:

1. 2009 Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 Roadster
2. 2009 Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 Coupe

Specs:
- 6 Speed Manual transmission with overdrive
- 6 Speed Automatic transmission is optional
- Standard 6.5 liter
- 631 Horsepower engine
- 2 door 2 passenger

Humorous Beginnings of Lamborghini

Most companies originate because a person or persons has an inspiring vision that they've pursued most of their life. Then there are those companies that are founded on stories that would make great films. The origins of Lamborghini certainly fall into this category.

Lamborghini is, of course, the exotic sports car company in Italy. The company has made famous brands ranging from the Countach to the Diablo GT. They are beautiful cars as one has come to expect from the Italian tradition of exotic cars design. The origin of the company, however, is something entirely different.

Ferruccio Lamborghini created the car company bearing his name. He was not by nature a car designer. Born in 1916, he was an industrialist know for manufacturing heaters and tractors. In fact, Lamborghini tractors are still sold today. Regardless, he was very successful and this soon led to some serious wealth. He started buying sports cars. As his wealth increased, so did the quality of cars he bought.

Ferruccio eventually started buying Ferraris. He was a big fan and owned three of them. The only problem was he kept having clutch problems. He eventually went directly to the source to discuss the problem - Enzo Ferrari. Enzo, of course, created the Ferrari brand and line of cars. Imagine the scene - the two individuals responsible for starting Ferrari and Lamborghini having a conversation.

This epic conversation did not go well. The conversation quickly became an argument. All indications are Ferruccio accused Enzo of poor workmanship while Enzo accused Ferruccio of being an inferior driver. Ferruccio couldn't let that stand. Upon returning to his home, he decided it was time to teach Enzo Ferrari a lesson. He would build a car better than the Ferrari.

The rest, as they say, is history. Ferruccio gutted one of his tractor factories and hired two former Ferrari engineers to design the car. The result was the beautiful Lamborghini 350GT. Built in 1960, it topped out at 150 miles per hour and was generally considered the best car of its time.

Passion burns bright, but does not burn long. The promising start for Lamborghini failed to evolve into a long term success. The company has been near bankruptcy numerous times. Ferruccio finally sold off his company in 1973. Since then, it has been owned by an odd group of individuals and companies, including Chrysler for some time, before Audi finally purchased and stabilized the company.

Lamborghini is once again producing beautiful cars that few can afford. Audi has brought stability to the company. Ferrari is definitely more successful these days, but that doesn't mean Ferruccio Lamborghini won't win out in the long run!

Dirk Gibson is with DCJAutoParts.com where you can find more Lamborghini info.

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