2008 Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder Convertible 2-door 5.0l on 2040-cars

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Lamborghini Miura and Countach driven back to back in bid to make Autoblog staff jealous

For the Autoblog staff, we're in the honeymoon phase following the Monterey car week and Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. In terms of big, huge, labor-intensive events on the horizon, we're free until the beginning of October, when we'll ship off to Paris for its annual motor show. That means we're free to look back on the beautiful metal out in California, which included more than a few classic Lamborghinis, including the Miura and Countach.
Unfortunately, we never had a hope of getting behind the wheel (believe it or not, asking exceptionally wealthy car collectors to borrow their meticulously maintained, extraordinarily rare vehicles doesn't elicit immediate cooperation). Considering this grave injustice, we're left taking solace in the latest video from Car, which sees the British outlet taking spins in both the Miura and Countach. The pair of vehicles served as forbearers to the modern supercar, with the former's early mid-engine layout and the latter's aggressive, wedge-shaped styling.
Take a look at the latest video from the lucky bastards team at Car.

The Mansory Venatus is a widebody Lamborghini Urus that could scar your retinas

Nothing says, "I am a person of exquisite taste with an appreciation for subtlety" quite like the purchase of a Lamborghini Urus, but there are some in the world for whom that is not enough, people who need just a little bit more if they're to be properly satisfied.  From the extensive use of carbon fiber in crafting new exterior parts, to the hours spent painstakingly poring over every detail of the interior to make sure it was as blue as possible, it's clear the Mansory Venatus is nothing if not more. It's also not new, strictly speaking. With the 2020 Geneva Motor Show deteriorating into a sort of chaos, we've been perhaps a bit over-vigilant in looking for anything that may have fallen through the cracks in coverage. While researching Mansory's new Bentley Continental GT offering, we spotted this gem and quickly realized that it slipped under our scopes last year. Either that, or the sight of it alone inflicted so much trauma that we've blocked it out; it could easily have gone either way.  The Venatus is essentially a collection of wide body panels and other exterior parts from Mansory's growing Urus catalog. Everything from the individual pieces of the fender flares to the front of rear bumpers can be ordered individually, or as part of Mansory's three available Urus packages: Soft Kit, Wide Body and this one.  This is far from the first time Mansory has thrown carbon fiber at a Lamborghini. We're frankly surprised that it isn't even more extreme, either visually or in terms of performance, as the German tuner has gone down both roads before.  Related Video:      

Lamborghini exploring more elegant designs

Ferrari's front-engined V12s and mid-engined V8s have taken turns monopolizing the brand's perception; the 550 Maranello was probably the last front-engined V12 to be first-to-mind, now the 458 Italia leads the family. Not so at Lamborghini, where a mid-engined V12 has been the go-to and centerpiece since the extraterrestrial Countach landed, and it still is no matter how much the Huracan outsells the Aventador. That shape, those doors, that engine – they're the franchise. That doesn't mean Lamborghini isn't trying new things. The Asterion LPI 910-4 concept from last year's Paris Motor Show was more than the marque's first draft of a hybrid, it was an exploration of a different avenue in design. According to design chief Filippo Perini, "We need to understand if we can open another window in our future to be not so extreme but also a little bit more politically correct and elegant." The Asterion points at elegance and "a daily use of the car" with more room inside, a slimmer rocker panel and sill for easier entry, and a raised hip point in the seats for a higher driving position. Perini said that from the driver's seat, "You can see the color of the car. That is something unknown in our very extreme designs." Extreme Lamborghinis aren't going away, however – note that Perini spoke of opening "another window" of design. The goal, he said, "is to understand if [its] design language will be appreciated by a different kind of customer." We can't imagine why not, and we hope we get more news about the "hyper cruiser" GT outside of magazine articles and auto show grandstanding. If it were up to us, Lamborghini would open that window all the way.