TommyJames

Yes, the McLaren is about the only car I'm interested in the moment if I sell my SV. They did finally come around and extend my warranty, so who knows when I'll part with the SV. It's unlikely it will be for an Aventador.

No, that's a car that can't come to the US. Notice the triangular side markers in front. Roy's may have been the only Monterey Blue allowed in the US.

Not any more. He gave up the order.

Good, we still get together often. We did CES together as we do every year and have a great time. He dumped his LP640 on a black McLaren MP4-12C last summer and loves it. I don't think he will be another Lamborghini owner anytime soon, but one never knows. He goes through a lot of cars. He's constantly praising the interaction with the factory at McLaren; said they treat him extremely well. All the McLaren owners up here praise the factory and dealers.

Hahaha! Yea, we're ditching the green vests this year- moving into jackets. Ohhhh-Ahhhh! For those wondering what CC's talking about, in 2009 we started a Saturday morning exotic car gathering and over the years it's really blown up to be a big deal around here with an average of 200 exotics and rare cars showing up every week. I still volunteer so most of the pictures of me floating around are in a green vest, leading many to think I'm really well paid parking attendant. In this photo I'm standing with Paul Williamsen of Lexus. He's been a regular competitor in the Baja 500 and 1000 with lots of crazy stories. Truly one of the nicest guys I've ever met.

Thanks! I just get busy with other things. Our car season kicks off soon up here so I'm starting to read the forums again.

Yea, I spent a lot of time in my LP640 and didn't want less comfort.

Here is a favorite shot. Acting as a chase car in Tacoma.

Mostly black. The interior "SV" is silver. This is one of the very few pictures I could find of the interior. I have thousands of the exterior.

Yes, those are the seats, minus the belts. They only offered stitching in the original SV colors, so I went with black.

I just went through about 1,000 pictures and I don't think I ever took any of just the seats. This is the closest I could find where you can see the SV seat pattern. They are Alcantara, similar to the LP640 seats that are adjustable. I didn't think the lightweight SV seats were very comfortable for me and these were 40 pounds more weight in total. I figured that was a few gallons of gas difference, so I preferred comfort. If I'm out for a drive, I'm out for hours at a time and after spending time in an SV prior to ordering mine, I decided I wanted something different. As I recall, they were the same price, either way. My car is in for service and won't be done until the end of the month so I can upload some better shots then.

There were three Verde Ithaca SVs made. Only one for the US market. One is in Russia and is the car on YouTube doing all the challenges. The other is in Italy and shows up now and then on the streets, and my car. It's fairly easy to spot my car because of the US side markers. I've made no modifications to the car. I had the OC exhaust on my LP640 Roadster but decided to leave this car original given how few were built. All three SVs have different colored calipers. I've got the only one with black. The other two cars have yellow and gray. I have a lot of respect for the LP640 and in some ways miss my Roadster because of the glorious noises I'd hear with an open top. Still, the differences are so numerous between the LP640 and LP670 that it's difficult to see them as the same car. The SV stands all alone in the automotive world.

I'm always here for you in spirit Allan!

I'm always here for you in spirit Allan!

Thanks! It's not been that long.

I've not been here in a long time and found this thread and read it end to end. Very well written and I have very similar observations. I didn't plan to keep my SV this long but I just don't know of anything else that's as fun to drive. Yes, the Aventador is a beast and deserves high marks, but it is a different direction entirely. I just didn't warm up to it. I didn't see how many miles you have on your SV, but I will say there was a much longer break-in period than my LP640 which seemed to find its spirit at around 5,500 miles. The SV took longer and I didn't really notice it come alive until after about 6,000 miles. For whatever reason, there does seem to be a difference when you add miles. Also, according to my mechanic, they show fewer and fewer problems as they settle in. As for the extended warranty with the SV, Roy is correct. From what dealers and other owners told me, the factory seems to do everything in their power to not extend the warranty. If the car changed hands in the warranty period, it can't be extended. To me that's a worthy challenge in court. They also require that service intervals be based on time since date of purchase rather than miles so all cars that are now 3 years old, must have at a minimum their 15,000 mile service completed. My dealer quoted me $9,100 for that service even though I only have 7,600 miles on my car. When you add the extended warranty cost, plus inspection, you're looking at a big number, so unless you already have the miles on the car or plan to drive the miles in the coming year, it's not a great program and I believe Lamborghini was intentional in designing it that way. It's an especially big ripoff for those very low mile cars. Meanwhile, for less than $500k I can't find a more exciting car to drive than the SV. I love the rawness and the stability at very high speeds. I also agree that it's the end of an era. They only built 186 SVs worldwide, and there are only about 30-35 remaining in the US so it already is a very rare car, especially when you deduct those that crashed- probably 20 or so. I wish the factory would step up and tell owners the truth about production, and renumber the badges in order of production, fair and square. The badges are otherwise completely meaningless. Really terrific thread!

Your comments are also reflected in the dealer's statement about where their customers are coming from- Porsche and Lamborghini.

Yes, this is a car you have to drive to experience because it is so different. I've got friends with very serious track time who also loved it.

Yes, I did drive the MP4-12C and I was very impressed, far more impressed than the Aventador, mostly because it retained the fun factor, something that I find missing with the Aventador. I enjoyed driving it far more than I did the 458 however to be fair I'd have to drive the two back to back. One of the things I like about the McLaren is the exhaust note is especially deep and very nice. Anthony Ray (Sir Mix) dumped his LP640 in favor of the McLaren and loves it. We've run next to each other a few times and it just sounds bad-ass at speed and unlike anything else on the road. Yea, I have a bit of trouble with the soft looks on the front end- definitely a bit tame compared to the bold looks of the 458, however as you move around to the back of the McLaren, it starts to look more complex and interesting. One other unique element is that the McLaren has far more presence than what you see in photos, especially when rolling in contrast to the cars surrounding it in average traffic. It really does stand out as something unique, even though it seems tame in photos. Overall I give it extremely high marks. One other point, and this is a big one in my book. EVERY McLaren owner I've spoken with so far has been extremely impressed by McLaren's customer experience. I give Lamborghini extremely low marks by comparison, and the lowest of all exotic brands. Hands down, from everyone I've spoken with, McLaren is welcoming to the brand and they do a terrific job of supporting their customers, right down to offering them free updates on their cars. Imagine that! Compare that to Lamborghini's super-secret approach where you buy something only to receive an announcement after the deal closes that something has been changed and you're shit out of luck. Right now, we've got three in Seattle and more are on their way. Two were former Lamborghini owners and one was a Porsche owner. From what I've heard, the two brands getting cannibalized the most are Lamborghini and Porsche. It's lateral for Lamborghini and an upgrade for Porsche owners. From what I also hear, few Ferrari owners are making the jump.

I don't remember the number. Josh is an excellent mechanic up here and he's managed probably as many SVs as anyone in the country. I'm guessing there are five or six that go to him and the SV is unique, with a smaller clutch, etc. The best way I know how to get the right number is to go out with the mechanic. It's what Josh and I do. We drive around and he gets the setting just right for my driving. It's what I'd strongly recommend. It will be nice to have another SV in the area. What color?

Thanks Guys! I'm down in Phoenix with a friend racing some of his cars at Thunderbird Raceway. It's been interesting. There is only one Lamborghini here and it's not racing and I didn't bring my cars. I promise to post more. I've just been busy with other parts of my life. Thanks again for the birthday wishes!

Another place I'd look is that a certain number ended up as track cars. I'd check with Reiter Engineering and see how many SVs were converted to R-SVs and what was their original number. They could also tell you if anyone else did a race conversion. There was a rumor that a Texas car became a track car as well.

Hi everyone, I didn't see this until now and I apologize for not coming on here sooner. Thanks for the birthday wish even if I didn't see it until nine months later. It's much appreciated. I'll try and be on here more often. The SV hasn't been out all that much lately as I've been focused on other stuff in my life. Thanks again everyone!

Three for the US market. I don't know about the world market, but probably not a lot. The demand just wasn't there for more.

We got to pick our numbers from a range that were available at the time of the build. They have nothing to do with anything other than picking a number between 1-350 of 186 cars built, with about 42 making into the US originally before a handful were purchased and taken out of the US. To know the true order you'd have to look at the last four numbers in the VIN and to me that's a far more accurate representation.