Update on Murcielago SG54..it's (almost) back

[alpgta]

simonspider said:

Front view..

As regards a road trip I've missed the two I planned on going on. So decided to drive to Genoa and get the ferry to Sardinia next month.

Reason for this is I've always had a soft spot for the 1977 Bond film 'The Spy Who Loved Me'.
Its what got me into cars (had a S1 Esprit many years ago) so I'm going to follow the route taken in the filming along the coast roads (where the Cortina kept up with the Esprit) and the helicopter chase..
Plus the film is 40 years old next year.

Well done Simon, fantastic work. I've been following your adventures in Evo for ages now and so glad to see it back on the road again. That's an amazing bit of jig-work to pull it all back 100% again.

Good choice of film too. Movie trivia time, but the helicopter sadly wasn't piloted for the real action by Caroline Munro, but by Captain John Crewdson who used to own my house. He owned a Spitfire that he used to keep in the farm next door and would also land his own helicopter in the garden when the grounds were much bigger than they are today. :-) Only found out when we moved in and found his name on certain documents relating to the plumbing and googled his name. He flew stunts in several Bond films, flew the biplane in Lawrence of Arabia and the scarily low pass in the B-17 in Steve McQueen's 'The War Lover'. Worth a look at the War Lover low pass if you like planes.

[Gorbyrev]

Just makes me smile to think this Murc is still on the go. Have a virtual pint on us Simon for being a proper petrolhead. Back in the day I remember you writing that your neighbours were none too chuffed at V12 start up noises. Always thought it would be reassuring to be awoken by a Bizzarini yowl.

[SnipsSt]

This is a hero car for me.

[LanceRS]

Always enjoyed following this car's life. I can't believe that the crash was four years ago (where did the time go), that's a long time to wait to get your car back.
Glad to see it out and about again.

[upsidedownmark]

PHMatt said:

Are you saying people "pause" the odometer on track days? It shouldn't matter where or how you clock up miles, you should record every MM you travel. If people are doing that they're effectively clocking their cars.

And I can't see how that would account for a car having a low mileage on an MOT but not in real life.

Edited by PHMatt on Friday 21st October 15:04

Sidenote, but I can see one good reason for doing this (albeit a bit of a grey area) - limited mileage insurance policies. They don't cover it on track, so...

Epic work on the murcielago though.. only just heard of this. I had an old saab at 220k, but not quite the same

[PunterCam]

Seems longer than 3 years ago.. I'm amazed try can straighten a chassis out like that.. Will it ever be as ridged and strong again? Surely not.

This car will be more classic than many others in the future, what with its well documented life and exciting stories like this! Glad to to see it happen.

[myhandle]

Wonderful. I remember the first picture of this car in Evo, braking hard with the nose low to the ground. It made a really big impression. The Aventador is a good looking car, and is ageing well, but I think the original Murcielago looks better. It is such a clean design. The modern era Countach periscopo. Glad to see it being enjoyed and also that all the comments here are positive!

[ZX10R NIN]

Great to see this car back on the road.

[Niffty951]

soad said:

I like this photo!

2006 was a great year at Le Mans. I almost certainly have a pic of this car too but now the shape still feels so fresh that I can't imagine Murcielagos being around that long ago!

Finished pic today looks amazing btw. That's proper car love

[FZP]

Out of curiosity, have you had a discussion with Lambo UK to see if this is the highest milage Murci in the world? If not it must be close.

[PoopahScoopah]

As said above, the MOT history mileage readings are very weird. In any other case I'd assume some sort of foul play, but since Simon a} seems quite proud of the high mileage b} actually wants to hit 300k and c} is totally open about this publicly and clearly there's no benefit to the car's value then it's obviously not being clocked for any deceptive reason.

Come on Simon, what's going on? I'm genuinely intrigued by this! is it the same MOT tester each year and he/she suffers Dyscalculia, Lol? Maybe Lamborghini only fitted a 5 digit ODO as they never expected them to go beyond 100k :-)

[fluffekins]

Soov535 said:

Lovely. A really lovely thing. This car (along with Angelis' 348 and flemke's F1) is in the list of "PH cars I want to drive the most".


At 260k mileage and given the accident, plus spot on rebuild, and purely out of prurient interest, what does the trade value this car at I wonder?

You can go one better than just drive Angelis' 348, you can buy it! He sold it a month or so back for a lovely 360.

[andymc]

PoopahScoopah said:

As said above, the MOT history mileage readings are very weird. In any other case I'd assume some sort of foul play, but since Simon a} seems quite proud of the high mileage b} actually wants to hit 300k and c} is totally open about this publicly and clearly there's no benefit to the car's value then it's obviously not being clocked for any deceptive reason.

Come on Simon, what's going on? I'm genuinely intrigued by this! is it the same MOT tester each year and he/she suffers Dyscalculia, Lol? Maybe Lamborghini only fitted a 5 digit ODO as they never expected them to go beyond 100k :-)

good lord the car isn't for sale so what's the issue

[PoopahScoopah]

andymc said:

good lord the car isn't for sale so what's the issue

There isn't an issue so cool your fecking jets. I said I was interested. Curious. How does an error like that come about? Is that alright with you? Jeez.

[bobbo89]

Just out of interest, did you used to live around the Holmfirth area? Would be a few years ago but if so I used to live for seeing and hearing this rumble past my bedroom window on your way up the hill!

[C7 JFW]

You're a hero in my eyes too. You make me want a leggy supercar even more than I already did!

What a truly awesome piece of kit. That soundtrack, daily no less.

Living the PH dream right there.

[Notorious100HP]

Absolute hero. I drove SG54 at Elvington, must've been back in 2010. Weirdly, despite always want to drive a Lambo, I only ended up going for this as the drives in the Ariel Atom were all booked up. I'm glad they were now. Always keenly followed Simon's updates in Evo too and when I ended my subscription, the only thing I was sad about was that I'd miss more updates and eventually seeing this back on the road. Very pleased to find this thread.

[red_slr]

Notorious100HP said:

Absolute hero. I drove SG54 at Elvington, must've been back in 2010. Weirdly, despite always want to drive a Lambo, I only ended up going for this as the drives in the Ariel Atom were all booked up. I'm glad they were now. Always keenly followed Simon's updates in Evo too and when I ended my subscription, the only thing I was sad about was that I'd miss more updates and eventually seeing this back on the road. Very pleased to find this thread.

My last copy of Evo was the copy with the crash report in - well I say report it was just a small segment IIRC. Seems like a very long time ago now.

[simonspider]

Jules360 said:

i don't think he can be accused of hiding the true mileage

In answer to the queries on the 86k mileage, yep I had it adjusted for my company's track days as I really didn't wish our customers driving it seeing an odo with 200k plus on - no matter how tidy the car.

Now the Murcielago is retired from the track and back on the road the accurate mileage of 248,048 is now showing.

[simonspider]

alpgta - I've read much about John Crewdson he was an epic Helicopter pilot.
I know that Roger Becker (Lotus' chief test driver) was the driver of the white Esprit during the Sardinia sequences in 'The Spy Who Loved Me'.
Some may remember the clip where the Esprit comes around a corner to be confronted by the Jet Ranger hovering 'firing' at the car.
Roger Becker had discussed with John Crewdson that the chopper needed to be around 20ft above the Esprit at this point. In fact when the Esprit appeared the Lotus only just got under its skids by inches such was its height. I think Becker got a big shock so I'm told..