Lamborghini LM 001 (LM - Lamborghini Militaria)

Lamborghini LM 001 По решению итальянского суда фирму передали во внешнее управление братьям Мимранам — Жан-Клоду и Патрику (two brothers, Jean-Claude and Patrick Mimran), ценителям итальянских суперкаров, швейцарским миллионерам и владельцам сахарной империи в Сенегале. Они пригласили на должность технического директора выдающегося инженера Джулио Альфьери из Maserati и реишили взяться за проект супервнедорожника Cheetah, возродив его под кодовым индексом LM (Lamborghini Militaria). The Mimran family injected some cash into the Italians. The plan remained similar, and Cheetah's dual round headlamps were gone, just like the Chrysler V8. Instead, a 360 cubic inch AMC engine was put at the rear with a modest 180 horsepower. The LM001 was displayed at the '81 Geneva Show next to Lamborghini's new and more affordable car, the Jalpa, which was developed from the Silhouette. This sand-colored brick could do 100 mph in a straight line, but suffered from the same design flaw: it was tail-heavy. It's hard to see what did they expect after the Cheetah's failure. Despite the failure of the Cheetah project, the idea of a Lamborghini off-road vehicle was still very much alive, and with new capital from investors, the Cheetah concept was redesigned into the LM001. Unlike the Cheetah's Chrysler engine, the LM001 prototype had a 180 hp 5.9L (360 ci) AMC-built V8, with the intention of offering the V12 from the Countach for production models. The LM001 was found to have unfavorable handling characteristics when accelerating. This problem was traced to the placement of the engine in the rear. As a result, the LM001 was discontinued after one prototype was made.

Patrick Mimran "..However, others arrived with the right ideas to save this prestigious make and, in the end, the judge entrusted the company to two brothers, Jean-Claude and Patrick Mimran, the wealthy owners of a sugar empire in Senegal and, naturally, sports car lovers. The two brothers, assisted by their plenipotentiary in Sant’Agata, Emil Novaro, immediately set out to reconstruct the company. The ‘Nuova Automobili Ferruccio Lamborghini SpA’ company was thus formed in January 1981 and from that moment on, work was seriously underway again. "

Giulio Alfieri right One of the first decisions – an exquisitely technical one – was to hire engineer Giulio Alfieri as the company’s technical director. The emblem of Maserati’s golden age, Alfieri had clashed with Alejandro De Tomaso, the new owner of the Modena car company. As a result, he was delighted to tackle the endeavour to help rebuild Lamborghini. The two brothers, assisted by their plenipotentiary in Sant’Agata, Emil Novaro, immediately set out to reconstruct the company. The ‘Nuova Automobili Ferruccio Lamborghini SpA’ company was thus formed in January 1981 and from that moment on, work was seriously underway again. One of the first decisions – an exquisitely technical one – was to hire engineer Giulio Alfieri as the company’s technical director. The emblem of Maserati’s golden age, Alfieri had clashed with Alejandro De Tomaso, the new owner of the Modena car company. As a result, he was delighted to tackle the endeavour to help rebuild Lamborghini. With this celebrated designer at the helm of the company and loyal staff members, like Ubaldo Sgarzi, who had been with the company since the outset, Lamborghini went to the Geneva Motor Show in March 1981 with a new stand that, first of all, displayed the new company name. It exhibited a Miura, restyled by a Swiss company with debatable results, and the Countach S with its large rear wing. Also on display was the initial attempt to reinterpret the hefty off-road Cheetah, which had been modified extensively to avoid legal action threatened by FMC and was thus dubbed the LM 001.