This Is the Highest Mileage Lamborghini in the World

Rewind to the late 1990s and, like many, I’d harboured a passion for those supercars with the bull on the bonnet. I’d spent most of my twenties trying to work out a way to acquire one. Fortunately for me the answer came in the early 2000s with the boom in buying ‘to let’ properties.

As a gas engineer for a UK utility company, I just about managed to acquire enough houses to afford the finance payments on a spanking new, £187 000 (about R3,7m in SA at the time), Murcielago. September 4th, 2004 found me at Lamborghini Manchester being talked through the controls of my Arancio Orange Murcielago with just 58 miles (93 km) on the odo.

Now I wasn’t naïve. I knew I wasn’t the typical wealthy new Murcielago owner. This big Lambo was going to have to earn a living to justify its existence. That said, I was also fully determined to buck the trend of sticking it in a garage and polishing it. Yep. I was going to drive this Murcie’ and enjoy it for as long as I could. Supercar magazine evo soon got to hear about its exploits. The editorial team offered me a regular monthly diary to document its colourful life.

In fact, from 2005 to 2018 it featured most months in the ‘Fast Fleet’ section. This become a useful outlet for its owner to rant about its few shortcoming – but many adventures. Less than a year old and the Lambo was hitting race circuits with paying customers at the wheel on so called ‘driver experience days’.

Sure the miles racked up, but so did the punters pound notes and most weekends saw the Murcielago racking up to 300 miles (480 km) on a track. I had a brake pedal fitted on the passenger side so I had overall control. But most customers didn’t even drive fast, the majority being terrified of its sheer width and near 600 bhp.

On top of this, the Murcielago became my daily driver haunting the M1 motorway on a four-hour commute. It came on holiday too, visiting Scandinavia, all the mainland European countries and the Scottish highlands. Of course the maintenance was sky high but the income it brought in on the event days covered those costs.

By 2010 it had over 130 000 miles (209 000 km) on the odometer and was accumulating mileage at such a terrific rate it also generated a steady stream of complaints from paying customers on seeing the mileage. To alleviate this, chunks of track acquired mileage was wound off it – the exact same mileage being added back on – right after its rebuild from a severe shunt on a circuit during 2013. Hence in 2018 the MOT history shows a Millennium Falcon type jump!

Click here to read our driving review of an extremely rare Murcielago.

The aforementioned 2013 disaster ended in one fell swoop the Murcielago’s track exploits. The car was condemned to a five-year rebuild which included being bent back into shape on a computerised jig. Fast forward to 2022 and a second, albeit less serious, collision turned out to be a cloud with a polished silver lining.

Heading north on the M1 on a damp January day I failed to avoid a stepladder which had clearly fallen from someone’s van. Demolishing the front bumper in the process the Murcielago leaped over it landing back on tarmac with a terrific crash. Zurich Private Clients initially paid out £44 000 for the carbon bodywork repairs just before the V12 imploded in spectacular fashion. Giving me the benefit of the doubt Zurich then replaced the original engine with a factory fresh lump, new clutch and host of other oil contaminated parts. Total cost of repairs hitting £174 000. Result.

So 2024 sees the Lambo enjoying another lease of life and rapidly heading towards 300 000 miles (480 000 km). That said, only the chassis, two rear panels, gearbox casing and engine lid are qualified to claim that mileage. The rest of it having been replaced along the way. Ten clutches, 111 sets of Pirellis and two V12s later the Murcielago is still here. And let’s face it, given it can’t possibly drop in value any further – what’s the point in not driving it! Follow Simon’s continuing adventures on his YouTube channel.