Aventador 2013 50 Aniversary on 2040-cars

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Jay Leno's Garage gets agrarian with Lamborghini tractor

Stepping away from the trendy and arcane, the next guest in Jay Leno's Garage is a 1968-69 Lamborghini R485 tractor. In case there's anyone who doesn't know, the same Ferruccio Lamborghini ultimately responsible for giving us the Aventador started off making tractors in his native Italy after World War II.
The specs are a long way from anything we'd expect from the company's road-going products. The vineyard and orchard tractor has a 5.0-liter, four-cylinder engine that produces 85 horsepower and 350 foot-pounds of torque, a two-foot clutch and 12 forward gears that get it from 0.3 miles per hour to 14 mph. It's also got a starter motor from a Countach.
There's a whole lot more interesting info on the farm implement, the man who built it and the man who currently owns it in the episode below.

Lamborghini CEO says Urus headed to production

It's only a matter of time before Lamborghini is cleared to start producing the Urus sport utility vehicle, and, according to CEO Stephan Winkelmann, that time is expected to be soon, The Detroit News reports.
"We're going low profile now," Winkelmann says. "I can't tell you much on details now, but when we get close to the launch, we will have more." The CEO reportedly said earlier this year that the Urus would start production in 2017, which was backed up by earlier statements made by parent company Audi's CEO, Rupert Stadler, who told Autocar, "Lamborghini has to do it. Because of the need to dovetail into production cycles, we should see the Urus in 2017."
Lamborghini delayed production of the Urus a year ago due to Europe's economic climate while continuing to develop the SUV. But since then China, one of Lamborghini's largest emerging markets, has exhibited a slowdown of high-end luxury item purchases. Winkelmann now reportedly says the biggest opportunities are in "Japan, the Middle East and especially the US."

BMW Z8, Lambo LM002 sell for $192,500 apiece in Detroit [w/poll]

Think a car are a bad investment? That all depends on what kind of car you're talking about. Because while most cars depreciate in value as soon as you drive them off the lot, others can do even better than hold their value. The cars that appreciate tend to be pretty high-end exotics, but they don't have to be multi-million-dollar classics to command a premium at auction. Just look at the results from RM Sotheby's Motor City sale in Detroit this past weekend. The auction house moved a solid $7.4 million worth of metal, which is pretty impressive when you consider that – unlike events at Lake Como or Pebble Beach – not one of the lots dipped into seven figures. 1930s-era American classics performed the strongest, with Duesenbergs, Packards, Auburns and the like all fetching hundreds of thousands. But what intrigued us most were the European exotics that rounded the top ten results. Amidst the Depression-era American steel were a BMW Z8 from 2001 and a 1988 Lamborghini LM002, each of which sold for an equal $192,500. Hardly the highest figures paid for European exotics this year, but considering how much they were worth just a few years ago, they've proven solid investments. BMW only made 5,703 examples of the Henrik Fisker-designed retro Z8, of which only 2,543 were brought to the United States, where they originally sold for $128,000. The most anyone had ever paid for one at auction, according to Sports Car Market, was $184,082, just this past March at Silverstone. That makes the price achieved this weekend a new record for one of the slinkiest vehicles the Bavarian automaker has ever made, representing an impressive 50-percent increase in value over the course of fourteen years. This particular example – chassis WBAEJ13481AH60437 for those keeping track – is decked out in silver over black, with less than 15,500 miles on the odometer. This Rambo Lambo was produced early in the 301-unit production run, with the sought-after carbureted engine and 32,000 miles on the clock. It didn't set any records at the same price, other examples of the LM002 having traded over the past few years for over $200k. But considering that Sant'Agata originally charged around $120-130k for the SUV when it was new, its selling price still represents about 50-percent appreciation (leaving inflation aside).