In love with an Italian girl…
Dear Rennteamers,
Some of you may remember my (very) old thread about my Zuffenhausen beauty, which I took home quite some time ago.
Well, it was about time for a new love (though still in love with the German girl), this time again from Italy. And as RC threatened me to hurry (so that he won’t be first ), I'm proud to present you my new Italian love:
Ups, sorry, rather shy beneath her black dress, but here she is:
And just look at her rear...
She’s got nice shoes as well…
So some may ask why no Ferrari, but a bull? Well, the answer is easy, but it’s a rather long story.
My last experience with the prancing horse dates back to the 458, which was technically a brilliant car, engine and gear box were fabulous at that time, but it was intolerable when it came to build quality. Beginning with the exterior and a paint “quality”, that didn’t deserve this term, crooked carpets, trim that fell off during the first drive (no joke here!), twisted rubber seals and, and, and.
In fact it was that bad, that my longing for a Ferrari was saturated for quite some time. It was saturated for so long, that I forgot about the Speciale, which also looked a bit too overdone to me at the time, with all its wings and holes and winglets.
Interest in the prancing horse came back with the Speciale Aperta, which I was determined to get, after my dealer shed quite some hope that I could get one. The Speciale A offered all I wanted, a high-revving naturally aspirated V8 as well as some “specialness” that cars like the 458 or 488 never achieve and I also grew accustomed to its look over the years. Actually I could do without a limitation and exploding prices, since I want to drive my cars and don’t want to be afraid of damage, theft or things like this. But you can't have it all, can you?
Well, it came as it had to be expected, I didn’t get one. And I was rather upset that “my” dealer obviously played some games after telling me for twelve (!) long months that that there would be decent a chance to get the car.
The last nail to the coffin with the prancing horse came when I enquired – after some cooling from the Speciale A disaster – about the chances to get the successor of the Speciale. Note that this was long, long time before anything was known about the car, no name, no specs, no nothing.
The answer of the dealer the best way to get this car – the coupé, not a potentially limited edition Spider – was to order a 488, a 488 Spider or a California, all cars I had – and have – zero interest in. Sorry, but I want to decide which car I buy and I have neither time, nor the desire to play silly games. Now, that the Pista has been presented, I’m actually glad I did not participate in the Ferrari-dealer-game, as the car, though sure fast and a great evolution of the 488 concept, strangely enough still leaves me stone-cold.
And as time went by, it came as it had to come, Lamborghini presented the incredible Performante. This car had all I ever dreamed of but never dared to think of. In fact I always liked the design of the Huracán better than that of its rival(s) from Ferrari. For me the bull always had the better, more coherent design. And the small Lamborghini still has a NA-engine, is more compact, more aggressively looking, better sounding, has more cylinders, more capacity, more everything. And the Performante has all taken this to the max.
So I took the plunge and bought a Huracán Performante. In the end I had to hurry, as the time frame for ordering one was closing fast. As RC can confirm, “last order” was end of November and the possibility to order a car after your fancy got worse with every day rapidly.
The biggest question was the exterior paint. This car deserves a somewhat flashy colour, so I ruled out all shades of black and grey from the beginning. White was in consideration, as I like the black and white theme with the Style Package and the forged carbon, but I really wanted some colour for this car. At the same time I didn’t want her to come in some of the “typical” Lamborghini colours like orange or green, as I think these colours are already a bit too common on a Performante. Furthermore IMO you can’t do bright red (though it is a classic Lamborghini colour!). But I definitively wanted some kind of red on the car as I figured it would look great with black accents of forged carbon and the golden-bronze shine of the engine and the fantastic Narvi rims. So originally I was planning to order some kind of dark red metallic with a hint of blue, some historic colours like Rosso Granata crossed my mind. But as I said, time for “Ad Personam” colours was quicker over than you could think of.
And then there was this wonderful Performante at the dealer, which caught my eye, painted in a beautiful Viola Ophelia. Well, I didn’t hesitate too long and made the deal. And now I have a car in some kind of dark red metallic with quite a big hint of blue.
Interior is just as I would have configured it as well, black with white stitching and accents. The white is perfect, as it breaks up the dark inside, yet there isn’t an additional colour on an already quite colourful car.
I swapped the shiny black Narvi rims against their siblings in matt bronze, which are a must for me on a Performante. In real life the purple together with the black and bronze just looks absolutely terrific.
Well, the rest is history. I took her home four weeks ago and am now a proud owner of my first (!) Lamborghini. I’m still running the car in, but I can already tell you that this car is magic. It combines the soul and the emotion of an Italian sportscar with the quality and the perfection of a Porsche.
I ordered her blindly, even without doing a testdrive (remember it was winter, when the chance to order a Performante was running out), now I know I did right.
In this context I would like to thank especially two people here from Rennteam, because without them I most probably would not have taken the plunge.
First to mention is Iain.
Thank you so much Iain for encouraging me to go for the Huracán. You were of invaluable help when it came to make up my mind as well when configuring the car. For me Iain is one of, if not the one here at Rennteam with the most immaculate taste when it comes to configuring a car and getting the details right. Thank you Iain.
And there is RC.
As you might think, we two had A LOT to discuss over the last couple of weeks and months and I think we both benefited from each other. I would like to thank Christian especially for making the contact to the dealer, as his dealer is now my (new) dealer as well. And of course for those numerous PM, telling me I made the right decision. Thank you Christian.
And before this gets too long and I talk too much, I will close with one last pic of my Italian girl in all her glory in the bright sun light:
All the best,
Rossi
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We're at the point where you can be the fastest or just sound like you're the fastest.
The secret of life is to admire without desiring.