Lamborghini Murcielago engine transplant makes this Fiat 500 utterly insane.
It takes a special kind of person to put a thunderous V12 engine into a pint-sized car. A person like Dini Gianfranco, an Italian mechanic who has been taking cars apart and putting back together again since he was just nine years old.
The Fiat 500 you see before you has a 6.2-litre V12 Lamborghini Murcielago engine, giving it a ridiculous 580hp and a top speed of 186mph. Certainly more than the 84bhp you get in a standard, modern-day Fiat 500 TwinAir.
It took a whopping 3,000 hours to complete over a period of nearly two years. Initially the project started out with the gearbox and engine from a Porsche Carrera 3.2-litre, before the Gianfranco and his team of three mechanics decided to up the stakes and drop in a Ferrari V8.
“The next car was a Fiat 500 Ferrari V8 3.0-litre, which was completed in December 2009 after two years of work. This led to more appreciation from the public,” car modification specialist Oemmedi Meccanica founder Gianfranco said.
“After the Ferrari, we felt so driven to exceed ourselves, which led us to our most recent creation ─ the Lamborghini,” he added.
The front lights and roof line hint there is an old Fiat 500 in there somewhere, but the extremely wide arches and all-round beefy exterior make it look more like a Renault Clio V6 Cup crossed between an American hot rod, with a hint of VW Beetle thrown in for good measure.
Inside is a brightly coloured interior with very little in the way of mod cons. The grey central console houses a number of analogue dials to keep an eye on what the Lambo engine is up to, various different coloured buttons, steering wheel on the left (we’re in Europe, remember) and a manual gear stick.
The ‘master’ mechanic admitted the 500 Lambo would’ve been impossible to build without the experience gained from the two smaller engine transplants. He now plans to sell his creation. For how much remains to be seen.
We’re not entirely sure where you can go after Lamborghini V12 in a Fiat 500. Bugatti engine in a Mini? Jet engine in a G-Wiz? Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
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