Ok this isn’t really politics in the traditional sense, but as a car nerd I must say I have to admire the car collection former dictator Bashar Al Assad had. When they entered his mansion (the presidential palace) and went to the garage they found some cool cars. A Lamborghini LM002 (an SUV that competed with the Humvee for that contract back in the 80s but the US chose the GM option instead of course so they ended up making it a civilian vehicle), of which maybe 500 of them exist. A Ferrari F50 (one of 349 made, worth 5-8 million each) plus whole fleets of Toyota FJ Cruisers and Mercedes S Class sedans.
Got to say, he had a good taste in vehicles. Must hurt to lose all that. I expect the new Syrian regime will auction off the more valuable ones (like that F50) for state income and the rest (especially all those S-classes) will enter the government fleet.
Diablos are awesome that’s for sure. And the F1, while amazing, has some downsides. Jay Leno has talked about the issues with owning one. They cost over 100k a year just to sit in the garage because parts don’t wear out; they time out. So you’re doing a clutch on the car every other year even if you don’t drive the thing.
That LM0002 is pure fantasy to me. I always thought they were awesome. A military SUV that sounds like a Countach because it has a Countach V12 in it.
Assad is jealous of me. I got one of the very last Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s off the line before it was shut down. The biggest challenge is to stay off the throttle and average 20 mpg.
Nah man. Those cars are made to be driven hard. Drive it hard every time you crank it up and put a smile on your face. That’s how I did my Trans Am for years. I always made sure to kick it out sideways on every drive.
Heck I changed jobs recently. Working parts at a Ford dealer now. We just got a Dark Horse Mustang in a customer ordered a year ago. That thing sounded fantastic. But imo it wasn’t as good as the 22 model we got at a Ford low mileage auction. We got it in the dealership service dept for its inspection, popped the hood, and discovered someone put a Whipple on it. Didn’t even know before they bid on it lol.
Course this is a rural dealership and when it comes to new cars it’s all trucks on the lot. Got lines of F350s out front. They don’t really order Mustangs to keep on the lot. We only get news ones in when a customer orders one specifically. Well when I first started a month ago they did have one six-speed GT in the showroom but it took them forever to get rid of it. So I think the sales dept is done ordering Mustangs to keep on the lot in this market.
