Skip to main content

Wall proves no barrier

A car enthusiast in the US state of Wisconsin built his own Lamborghini but had to hire an excavator and demolish a wall to remove the simulacrum supercar from his basement. The man was so inspired after seeing the B-movie Cannonball Run about an illegal car race held on public roads across the US that he decided to build his own Lamborghini. The film starred Burt Reynolds, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Junior, Farrah Fawcett, Jackie Chan, Peter Fonda and Roger Moore, at least some of whom can be assumed to have
July 6, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
A car enthusiast in the US state of Wisconsin built his own 3066 Lamborghini but had to hire an excavator and demolish a wall to remove the simulacrum supercar from his basement. The man was so inspired after seeing the B-movie Cannonball Run about an illegal car race held on public roads across the US that he decided to build his own Lamborghini. The film starred Burt Reynolds, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Junior, Farrah Fawcett, Jackie Chan, Peter Fonda and Roger Moore, at least some of whom can be assumed to have been in need of the money at the time. In the film two women compete in the race, driving a black Lamborghini Countach, which fuelled the man's burning desire to construct a replica car. Building his own Lamborghini took the man 17 years but digging out a slope, knocking down the wall, hauling the car out, rebuilding the wall and filling in the hole was accomplished in a matter of a few hours. The man is not the first to have had to demolish a wall after building a vehicle however and perhaps the most famous person to have done so was Henry Ford, founder of the 3423 Ford car motor company. Ford assembled his first car in a coal shed but it was too wide to fit through the door and he had to chop down a wall to get it out. It is worth noting that the Lamborghini firm had its first successes making agricultural tractors but when its founder complained about the 5489 Ferrari he had just bought, to Enzo Ferrari no less, he was told in no uncertain terms to return to his tractors. In response, Lamborghini then developed the now famous rival performance car brand, although the business was later sold and the Lamborghini family continued making tractors.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Bent sportscars
    May 24, 2013
    The Japanese authorities are investigating a crash that involved a large number of expensive sportscars last year. Six people were injured in thecrash although luckily there were no fatalities. The incident resulted in damage costing some US$4 million and involved 10 high performance cars, as well as one rather more conventional vehicle. Footage of the incident shot afterwards showed the damaged Ferraris lying along the highway, with broken body panels strewn across the roadway.
  • Jet propelled
    April 16, 2015
    A motorcyclist in the western province of Rajasthan in India had a rather unwelcome surprise when he was knocked from his motorcycle, suffering injuries in the process. The cause of his mishap was somewhat out of the ordinary as the man had been struck by a part from an Indian Air Force MiG-27 fighter bomber as it crashed into a field nearby.
  • Driving to dinner
    February 21, 2012
    A British man has set a speed record for the world's fastest item of furniture by driving a dinner table at 182km/h. The table comfortably beat the previous record of 147km/h set by a sofa in 2007. At its peak on one run the table hit 208km/h along the 500m drag strip although the vehicle's driver and builder said he felt he was travelling somewhat faster
  • Dancing with death
    February 28, 2012
    A Romanian truck driver has now realised that posting video clips of his antics while at the wheel has had serious repercussions that affect his chosen career. The man filmed himself dancing around the cab of his truck to music, oblivious to the risks that this posed to other road users as well as himself while his vehicle thundered along at highway speeds. The man gave the recordings to a TV station after videoing his own behaviour for the amusement of his friends. The man filmed himself unfastening his se