Happy Tuesday Web Riders, Big_Blocker here for a look at a vehicle I just found out even existed yesterday. When cruising through the WRTV forums I came upon a thread that had a gallery of an oddly shaped SUV that looked like an older Jeep on a heavy dose of Human Growth Hormone (sorry Roger Clemens). Well I did some research and found out that my initial assumption wasn’t too far off. Hit the jump to read more.

When I first saw this thing I thought someone was playing a cruel joke on me…there is no way in hell that Lamborghini made this monstrosity. However, after doing some research I learned a little more about the SUV dubbed the “Rambo Lambo”. After failing in their design of a prototype off-road vehicle for the military (it was codenamed “Cheetah” and powered by a rear-mounted V8), Lamborghini went back to the drawing board and came up with the LM002. Instead of being powered by a lowly V8 (definitely not Lambo’s style), they dropped in the V12 that powered the ultra-fast Countach.

The LM002 was offered for military as well as civilians with the military version deleting some of the amenities in the civilian version and replacing them with machine gun mounts for desert warfare. Something I immediately noticed was the size of those meaty-ass tires on the LM002, and it turns out that Pirelli was commissioned to manufacture them for the beefy SUV with run flat capabilities as well as a special sand tred.

As far as the military versions were concerned, the bulk of them were ordered by the Libyan and Saudi Arabian armies for use in the harsh desert conditions found in both countries. The civilian versions however were marketed to rich businessmen and royalty of predominantly desert countries with a few of them finding their way into the US. Speaking of royalty however, one particular LM002 was purchased by the now deceased son of Saddam Hussein, Uday. Unfortunately the “Rambo Lambo” owned by Uday met an untimely demise when it was used by coalition forces who hadn’t realized its value to demonstrate the effects of a Improvised Explosive Device or I.E.D. on a vehicle. After seeing pictures of the scrap left over from the device it is safe to say that the damage won’t buff out.

All in all only 301 LM002’s were produced making them extremely rare and sought after by collectors of rare European supercars. After learning about it myself I am still slightly unsure whether to love it or hate it…who knows, maybe with time I will come to like it. Stay tuned for the newest Muscle Car of the Week, Big_Blocker out.