Hand made Lamborghini built in a basement sees the light of day

This is actually old news, but it was lost amoungst all the mayhem between SEMA and the L.A. auto show. The story is so incredible, however, that we were determined to post this as a credit to the craftsmanship and amazing dedication that was poured into this project.

Seventeen years ago, Ken Imhoff watched Cannonball Run and became so enamored with the Lamborghini Countach in the film, he hand-built his own, in his basement. In what we imagine might be the most Jalopnik build ever undertaken, Ken designed and fabricated his own tig-welded frame, installed a thoroughly massaged 351 cubic inch V8 with a ZF-25 5-speed transmission, hand-formed the aluminum body over a meticulously measured and accurate body form, and finished it all off in a beautiful metallic gray. It took Ken 10 years to complete the project, and the results — as you can see in the gallery — are amazing. There's only one problem, when you build a car in a basement — how do you get it out?

Ken went into the project fully aware of the problem of a getting the car out of his basement — it was your classic ship-in-a-bottle project problem. When the faux Lambo was complete, he actually hired a contractor to knock out a part of the basement wall, build an earthen ramp, and then drag the car out of its subterranean workshop.

A little history on the car.
100% hand crafted Countach out of aluminum and a space tube frame. All aluminum body formed on a wooden buck using an English wheel. My own design space frame with Corvette hubs and custom A-arms. Mated to a ZF-25 5 speed. S.S. 180 degree headers GT40 design "bundle of snakes" Boss 351 bored stroked to 377 515hp 48 IDA Webbers. One off TransAm BBS rim shells to my own center section wheels. Custom brake package to fit 16" wheels. Fuel cell, twin aluminum sprint car (Howe) radiators. All aluminum interior with leather dash, Momo seats and 5 point harness, on board halon fire bottle. quick release steering wheel. Low to the ground at 2700 lbs. 100% body correct by using a real Countach to measure from. Over 10 years in the making.

Major kudos to you, Ken! It's folks like you that keep our hobby alive, and show that anything is possible with the right amount of dedication and time, not to mention money!

STS Twin Turbo C6 Corvette

Looking absolutely menacing in matte black, the The Squires Turbo Systems twin-turbo C6 Z06 gives the former most-powerful Vette model a boost to 700 horsepower. All this power is achieved at a very reasonable 7 pounds of boost, which, depending on how sorted the Bilstein-shocked suspension is, could give it a good shot at sticking with a stock ZR-1.

The most unique thing about this car is that STS mounts the turbos remotely, at the rear of the car. That placement keeps the engine bay freer and adds a host of technical perks like lower temps under the hood and cooler oil going to the turbo. And according to STS, some customers have even gotten better gas mileage. Strangely, though, for all of that new performance, the brakes look untouched. But who cares about brakes when you have earth moving torque?

The $39,623 Oil Change

Image via WikipediaFor most of us, changing the oil in our car is as simple as buying a few quarts or taking our car to the local quik lube. When you live in Qatar and you're a Sheikh, things so simple can be a little more complex.

While I'm sure there probrably aren't too many quik lubes in Qatar, surely there is a better way to change the oil in your 2008 Lamborghini Murciélago LP640 than to ship it to England, isn't there?

Apparently not. An owner of said car recently did just that. And it cost him a cool $39,623 for the service. The car took a 6500 mile round trip to get it done. Wouldn't it be cheaper to fly the technicians to the car instead of the other way around?

I guess such petty things don't matter when you have millions of dollars. So I have one message for sir Sheikh. Next time you need an oil change, fly me over to Qatar and I'll throw in a free car wash. Maybe even vacuum it for you.