November 10, 2008: Cellar Lamborghini

17 years ago, Wisconsin resident Ken Imhoff saw the movie Cannonball Run, and fell in love with the Lamborghini. So he began assembling one in his cellar. Maybe the problem never occurred to him, or maybe he figured he'd never finish it anyway (it did take him 17 years, after all,) but he eventually had to confront the critical issue: how does one get a fully-assembled car out of one's basement?

Well, you hire an excavator to dig up the lawn and rip out the foundation of your house, that's what you do. It is a Lamborghini, after all.



The effort was well worth it, Mr. Imhoff reported. "I was like an expectant father watching it come through the wall. I was literally shaking and running the supposed plan over and over in my head. 'Have I overlooked anything? Is some of the wall going to fall on my work of seventeen years?'

"The neighbours started gathering around as it emerged, waiting for me to remove the blankets. It was like an artist unwrapping his masterpiece. I had never seen it in the light of day either.

"As the last blanket and car cover were removed I knew at that moment I had accomplished what I had dreamed about so many years ago and to see it sitting there in front of me was surreal.

"The next day we filled the hole in the basement with new blocks. In no time it was good as new."

Missing critical info . . .

. . . does it GO????

I found a youtube video of the engine starting, and it sure does sound powerful, but I wanna see him drive this damn thing around.

Good to see an IotD reference The Cellar itself.

He's clever for building his own lamborghini.

He's a dope for building it in the cellar with no way to get it out.

He's a bigger dope for filling the hole in instead of reinforcing it and creating his own covered secret hideaway driveway ... ordinary-looking lawn splits open, palm trees lean back ... VROOM! Thunderbird 6 is GO!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZenGum He's a dope for building it in the cellar with no way to get it out.

Good point. :p anyway.

I don't get it... How do you just assemble a Lambo in your basement? I mean seriously! How'd he get each and every part? One at a time on Ebay? Someone down the street had an engine laying around? He mail ordered each part? "Yes I need 3 of those screws that hold the the thingamabob to the whatsit. Tomorrow I'll order the whatsit."

Maybe he had the original Lambo in the garage and disassembled it so he could reassemble it in the basement.

Maybe it's one of those fiberglass kit cars you plop on top of a VW bug.

It's not a Lambo, it's a replica. He made the body himself, but I would guess he begged/borrowed/stole, the mechanicals.

Quote:

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce ... but I would guess he begged/borrowed/stole, the mechanicals.

I wonder what the total cost was, incl. the digging, etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZenGum ...instead of reinforcing it and creating his own covered secret hideaway driveway...

They say that if you buy all of the parts to assemble a car piece by piece, you'll pay 7X the retail value of the car as a whole.

But is that true now in the Internet day? Parts I've found on the net are like 1/7ths the price at dealer parts departments.

If he had skipped the Lamborghini and built a bulldozer instead, he would have had no trouble getting it out of the basement.

maybe you could break even then?

Thanks you Brianna. Long Live Johnny Cash

a replica, with a Ford 351 engine, this was posted on Jalopnik last month or so, and the guy had his website overrun, costing him almost a grand in extra bandwidth fees.
the car runs and handles very similar to the Pantera, from what I hear.

Welcome to the Cellar, twilliams1797.
Yeah, that's where I saw it.