With 27,151 miles on the odometer and a price tag somewhere between $30,000 and $35,000, that’s not a bad deal for a six-year-old Italian V12-powered exotic two-seater. When you consider that retail prices for one are typically ten times that amount, you might be tempted to call it a steal, but there’s a catch. There’s something very special about this one-of-500 unit, or more precisely, there’s not: the bodywork is all gone.
Freddy Hernandez is a careful YouTuber with a penchant for wrecked supercars: He lent more than half a million dollars to buy and rebuild a flooded McLaren P1, and so far progress has been slow and slow. But until that British wreck can sound the trumpets of Turbo triumph again, the car enthusiast, who goes by the wildly popular YouTube persona “Tavarish,” has purchased another project car.
In short, he purchased a Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster (2018 model year) with a salvage title and 27,151 miles (43,695 km) after the previous owner simply abandoned it. The car allegedly belonged to a cryptocurrency speculator investor who, at a certain point, decided that his example needed some customization following an accident.
Photo: YouTube/Tavarish
As a result, he had the bodywork completely removed and the chassis (somewhat) repaired, only to then abandon the deal with Lambo, which at the time was a non-body shop (as no real progress had been made with the wreck).
Apparently, the previous owner had had enough after the engine started acting up, and one thing led to another. So here it is, the vlogger's “I bought it to fix it” prized possession. However, the Lambo needs a little more TLC than a typical trip to the parts store (or your local Lamborghini rep).
A closer look at the car reveals a mix of good and bad news. Let's start with the hopeful: the car starts, once Tavarish finds the secret lock hidden under the dashboard. Immediately, the instrument panel transforms into a Christmas tree of warnings, with reports of gearbox, suspension, and engine failures.
Photo: YouTube/Tavarish
However, the engine fires up after a precautionary oil change and sounds dramatic, as if it isn't running at its full twelve-cylinder power. Six years ago, when the car rolled off the assembly line in Sant'Agata Bolognese, the 6.5-liter V12 was rated at 730 hp (530 kW) and 507 lb-ft (740 PS, 690 Nm).
The last of the twelve-cylinder, purely aspirated masterpieces from the House of the Raging Bull was capable of over 217 mph (350 km/h) despite being a 1.6-ton supercar with four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering. When new, or at least before it was wrecked, this transmission-driven rolling chassis could reach 60 mph (97 km/h) in 2.8 seconds from a standstill, but all that is now in the past.
The crash didn't cause any superficial injuries, as it stripped the car to its carbon-fiber monocoque. The stripped-down roadster will need some structural work (the underside doesn't look ready for full-throttle adventures anytime soon) and a lot of bodywork.
Photo: YouTube/Tavarish
That’s, of course, after getting a body in the first place, which isn’t as easy as driving to the local boneyard and rummaging through the scrap candidates for the Aventador S Roadster’s fenders, doors, quarters, bumpers, spoilers, and so on. The running engine is a good base to start building on, but let’s not get our hopes up too high, lest the winds of disappointment blow it into oblivion.
After all, that V12 was declared non-functional for a reason, good enough to make one owner abandon the Lambo altogether. It might not be ideal, but there’s always the Dubai graveyard for desperate solutions: the internet is full of flash flood victims of supercars popping up in the Arabian city. Tavaris might consider this option unless you plan to go rainbow hunting during hurricane season and start mining at the end of the optical mirage.
