Lamborghini Gallardo Gallardo 2d 4wd on 2040-cars

Auto blog

1963 Lamborghini 350 GTV still looks fresh on Pebble's Concept Lawn

We already brought you a gallery of Lamborghini's latest rockstar, the Veneno, from it's vaunted spot on the lawns of The Quail here in Monterey. Apparently the Italian brand didn't want the Pebble Beach crowds to feel left out, so it brought the supercar along to the Concept Lawn here as well. Not to miss out on the classics action Lamborghini has matched the Veneno with the car that started everything for the company: the original 1963 350 GTV prototype.
With 50 years separating the Veneno from the debut of the hip 350 GTV at the Turin Motor Show, Lamborghini cheekily mentions that it has stuffed "100 years of innovation in half the time." We'll leave the judgments of historical significance in the capable hands of the Pebble judges, but will agree that the original Lamborghini still looks amazingly hot, decades after its reveal. Apparently the classic 350 GTV doesn't travel a whole lot either, so we're happy to have a chance to lay eyes on it here.

Wrecked Lamborghini Countach from 'Wolf of Wall Street' fails to sell in Abu Dhabi

Martin Scorsese used two genuine 1989 Lamborghini Countach 25th Anniversary Editions in "The Wolf of Wall Street." They're both headed to auction in December, one of them for the second time. See, in August, RM Sotheby's announced that it would auction one of the movie cars in New York in December, its lot being an undamaged Bianco Polo Countach 25th Anniversary. At the time, no one had information on the location or condition of the second car that had been damaged rather badly as part of filming, victim of the main character driving under severe influence and the stunt department putting in some sledgehammer work. In November, the second, wrecked car showed up in the catalog for Bonhams' On the Grid auction at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Grand Prix. Bonhams put the presale estimate at $1.5 million to $2 million. Someone submitted a bid for $1.35 million, which the seller rejected, so the auction house is putting the car up for sale at a later date. For some perspective on that rejected bid, Hagerty values the 1989 Lamborghini Countach Silver Edition in good condition at $440,000, the qualification being that the car "Runs and drives well. Flaws not noticeable to passersby." An example in concours condition, which is "World-class. Could compete in the world's best Concours d'Elegance events," is valued at $780,000. Classic.com, which tracks transactions of exotics and classics, shows a number of sales this year. Bring a Trailer sold three over the summer, one for $577,600, a second for $632,000, a third for $670,000. Other summer auctions for the same model pulled $472,500, $465,000, and a rejected high bid of $342,000. The highest prices paid this year are $775,000 for a car with 154 miles and $715,000 paid for a car with 102 miles. "The Wolf of Wall Street" car is an undriveable heap, a piece of cinematic sculpture at best, for which the owner seeks at least double the price of a practically new car. And what's wrong with that? Art regularly goes for more than $1.5 million, if that's what this is to be considered — and that might indeed be the consideration. RM Sotheby's recently put a 1962 Ferrari 250/330 GTO on the block at one of its art auctions in New York, perhaps Bonhams plans to do something similar. Car & Bike wrote that the Lamborghini heads to auction again in December. Bonhams' site lists three car-centric auctions in December, the Countach so far not shown among the lots.

The mood at this year’s Paris Motor Show: Quiet

The Paris Motor Show, held every other year in the early fall, typically kicks off the annual cavalcade of automotive conclaves, one that traverses the globe between autumn and spring, introducing projective, conceptual and production-ready vehicle models to the international automotive press, automotive aficionados and a public hungry for news of our increasingly futuristic mobility enterprise. But this year, at the press preview days for the show, the grounds of the Porte de Versailles convention center felt a bit more sparsely populated than usual. This was not simply a subjective sensation, or one influenced by the center's atypically dispersed assemblage of seven discrete buildings, which tends to spread out the cars and the crowds. There were not only fewer new vehicles being premiered in Paris this year, there were fewer manufacturers there to display them. Major mainstream European OEM stalwarts such as Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Nissan and Volkswagen chose to sit out Paris this year, as did boutique manufacturers like Bentley, Aston Martin and Lamborghini. This is not simply based in some antipathy on the part of the German, British and Italian manufacturers toward the French market — though for a variety of historical and societal reasons that market may be more dominated by vehicles produced domestically than others. Rather, it is part of a larger trend in the industry. Last year, Mercedes-Benz announced that it would not be participating in the flagship North American International Auto Show in 2019 — and that it might not return. Other brands including Jaguar/Land Rover, Audi, Porsche, Mazda and nearly every exotic carmaker have also departed the Detroit show. Some of these brands will still appear in the city in which the show is taking place, and host an event offsite, to capitalize on the presence of a large number of reporters in attendance. And even brands that do have a presence at the show have shifted their vehicle introductions to the days before the official press opening in an attempt to stand out from the crowd. In many ways, this makes sense. With an expanding number of automakers, with diversification and niche-ification of models and with wholesale shifts that necessitate the introduction of EV or autonomous sub-brands, there is a growing sense that, with everyone shouting at the same time, no one can be heard.