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Drive like a prince: Join us for a walk through Monaco's car collection

Small, crowded, and a royal pain in the trunk lid to drive into during rush hour, Monaco sounds like an improbable location for a huge car museum. And yet, this tiny city-state has been closely linked to car culture for over a century. It hosts two major racing events every year, many of its residents would qualify for a frequent shopper card if Rolls-Royce issued one, and Prince Rainier III began assembling a collection of cars in the late 1950s. He opened his collection to the public in 1993 and the museum quickly turned into a popular tourist attraction. The collection continued to grow after his death in April 2005; it moved to a new facility located right on Hercules Port in July 2022. Monaco being Monaco, you'd expect to walk into a room full of the latest, shiniest, and most powerful supercars ever to shred a tire. That's not the case: while there is no shortage of high-horsepower machines, the first cars you see after paying ˆ10 (approximately $11) to get in are pre-war models. In that era, the template for the car as we know it in 2023 hadn't been created, so an eclectic assortment of expensive and dauntingly experimental machines roamed whatever roads were available to them. One is the Leyat Helica, which was built in France in 1921 with a 1.2-liter air-cooled flat-twin sourced from the world of aviation. Fittingly, the two-cylinder spun a massive, plane-like propeller. Government vehicles get a special spot in the museum. They range from a Cadillac Series 6700 with an amusing blend of period-correct French-market yellow headlights and massive fins to a 2011 Lexus LS 600h with a custom-made transparent roof panel that was built by Belgian coachbuilder Carat Duchatelet for Prince Albert II's wedding. Here's where it all gets a little weird: you've got a 1952 Austin FX3, a Ghia-bodied 1959 Fiat 500 Jolly, a 1960 BMW Isetta, and a 1971 Lotus Seven. That has to be someone's idea of a perfect four-car garage.  One of the most significant cars in the collection lurks in the far corner of the main hall, which is located a level below the entrance. At first glance, it's a kitted-out Renault 4CV with auxiliary lights, a racing number on the front end, and a period-correct registration number issued in the Bouches-du-Rhone department of France. It doesn't look all that different than the later, unmodified 4CV parked right next to it. Here's what's special about it: this is one of the small handful of Type 1063 models built by Renault for competition.

Drive shows how Lamborghini LP750-4 SV hits 217 mph

No matter how you look at it, the Lamborghini Aventador LP750-4 SV is an absolutely astonishing automobile. Imagining more performance than the standard Aventador is difficult by itself, but company's engineers are able to boost power by almost 50 horsepower to 740 ponies, and copious carbon fiber body parts trim 110 pounds from the scales. We also already know that this limited model offers the spectacular ability to race around the Nurburgring in just less than seven minutes. Now in a sponsored video about Lambo, the brand's research and development boss Maurizio Reggiani is poetically telling Drive what goes into crafting such a special machine. According to Reggiani, the whole point of the SV is to make any driver feel like a hero behind the wheel. The model's abilities should let a person reach their own limits well before the coupe ever nears its own. That massive performance envelope then pushes the coupe's owners to keep getting better. While Reggiani beautifully expresses the passion behind engineering the Aventador SV, the real thrill in this clip is seeing and hearing the coupe snake around the Catalunya circuit. The 6.5-liter V12 makes a symphony of exquisite sounds around the Spanish track. Best of all, the closer the revs get to the 8,500-rpm redline the more that the engine lets out that rapturous wail. This is a video where you should turn the volume up and enjoy.

Lamborghini launches Polo Storico heritage division

Lamborghini has always been more forward-looking than it has been focused on its past, but it has still left an undeniable wake of historically noteworthy and highly collectable classics. To tend to them, the company has launched Lamborghini Polo Storico. Sant'Agata's heritage division brings with it new initiatives and consolidates several existing operations under one roof. For starters, the new department will be responsible for the Archivio Storico Lamborghini, a historical archive detailing the company's past models as well as materials and techniques employed in their construction – all of which is being digitized for the first time. Polo Storico will also stockpile original parts and (if necessary) reproduce them from the original blueprints. The services will extend to offering customers the chance to have their classic Lambos restored by experts at the factory using original parts, and even have the vehicle's authenticity certified by a technical committee. Of course Lamborghini isn't the first European automaker to offer such comprehensive services for its historic models. Arch-rival Ferrari launched its Classiche department several years ago, and more recently Land Rover opened a similar operation of its own. These developments underline an increasing emphasis that automakers have been putting on their own heritage and the preservation of their history in the metal. Related Video: Lamborghini relaunches Restoration Center: "Lamborghini Polo Storico" provides unique knowledge and guaranteed authenticity for classic Lamborghini cars Sant'Agata Bolognese, 16. Aprile, 2015 – Automobili Lamborghini is relaunching its restoration center under the name of Lamborghini Polo Storico. The new department includes the brand's historical archives, the vehicle restoration center, vehicle certification, and guarantees the availability of numerous genuine spare parts for all historical Lamborghini models. With its new Polo Storico, Automobili Lamborghini emphasizes the importance of preserving its broad heritage and unique knowledge. A big part of this new formula is the Archivio Storico Lamborghini. This historical archive includes the documentation of historical Lamborghini car models, as well as technical schemes, body colors, leathers, images and several publications ever made by the company.