- Yes
- No
General info
The story of the Lamborghini Cheetah would begin during the late 1970’s, Lamborghini was having great success with their new lines of sports cars, many nations were ordering them for export and other car companies could hardly rival them. The Cheetah would be Lamborghini’s first off-road design that wasn’t a tractor. The main intended purpose of why it was originally conceptulized was to hopefully allow Lamborghini to tap in the export market for military vehicles, something that at the time they thought they could exploit due to their reputation they had gained whilst selling sports cars around the world. Lamborghini at first marketed the vehicle to the US Army, to facilitate this they joined forces with MTI (Mobility Technology International) who’d also take part in the project. The Italian military wasn’t particularly interested at the time due to them not exactly seeing a use in the vehicle, and as such Lamborghini shifted their entire focus on providing the US army an all-terrain vehicle with the ability to mount multiple weapon systems. During development, it was clear that the Lamborghini Cheetah would have certain aspects which echoed the American XR-311 made by FMC. The XR-331 is the same vehicle which many reagard as also leading to the now famous Humvee. At one point FMC ended up actually suing Lamborghini and MTI due to the designs being quite similar. By 1977 the prototype was completed and would begin to be seen in numerous car shows, it would be sent to Italy to allow Lamborghini to refine the design and give finishing touches. In terms of mobility, the Lamborghini Cheetah used a water-proofed 180 bhp 5.9L Chrysler engine, which allowed the vehicle to reach speeds up to 105mph. The Lamborghini Cheetah’s body was made out of fiberglass. In terms of survivalbility, the Cheetah was in no way armored, It could likely withstand some small arms fire but anything else would seriously damage it. By looking at the design of the vehicle, its intended role would’ve likely been scouting/reconnaissance. When it came to armaments, the Lamborghini Cheetah was advertised to be able to be configured with multiple different types of weapon systems. It could mount anything from machine guns and also hard hitting M40 106mm Recoiless rifles (being able to fire HEAT and HESH). Other variants included a Hughes TOW ATGM launcher (being able to fire TOW, I-TOW, TOW-2) and a very obscure variant mounting a M261 rocket launcher (Which funnily enough was equipped on Apache attack helicopters). Sadly due to little to no documentation finding photo’s of the Cheetah being armed is extremely difficult. The Cheetah would be demonstrated but the US Army didn’t even bother to actually undergo a series of testing for the vehicle. The vehicle did boast of some upsides, since the Lamborghini Cheetah was low profile while also having an independent suspension, it was the ideal vehicle for military use. Overall the vehicle didn’t actually generate any interest in America or the export market, Lamborghini quickly gave up on the Cheetah, and moved on to working on the Lamborghini LM001 and the LM002. Due to it being a failed project, the prototypes that actually survive today are very hard to come by, and usually are owned by private collectors.
Armament
x1 M261 Rocket Launcher
x1 106mm Recoiless rifle
x1 TOW ATGM
x1 12.7mm Machine guns
x1 40mm Grenade Launcher
Specifications
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Why it should be in game
I think it should be in game because i can see the vehicle and its variants very wanted by the community, its variants allows it to have a higher chance in coming to the game due to the fact that armaments it could equip allow it to make it a very potent, fun vehicle to use. I also would like to see it in game because as of right now no other game has the armed Lamborghini Cheetah as a playable vehicle, since technically its a prototype its obvious going to become either a premium or event vehicle, considering the community will be most likely against it being in the main tech tree, and i agree considering this was a failed project and never saw combat, and never got put into service by any country. This vehicle is very nimble and would allow Italy to embrace the ‘battle car’ meme even harder with this addition, perhaps also bringing its American version in the form of the XR 311 to the American tech tree would also make people happy.
Sources
Spoiler
Rivista militare 1980
Pickup, van and 4WD
Lamborghini Cheetah – Un prototype de 4×4 militaire produit à 2 exemplaires en 1977 – 4Legend.com – AudiPassion.com
Lamborghini Cheetah - Wikipedia
http://www.lambocars.com/off_road/cheetah.html
Lamborghini Cheetah - Wikipedia
Lamborghini Cheetah (HMMWV Prototype) - Tank Encyclopedia
Classic Concepts: 1977 Lamborghini Cheetah | Classic Driver Magazine
Lamborghini Tried To Break Into The Military Market With Its G.I. Joe Toy Looking "Cheetah"
Lamborghini Cheetah: Prototype Found & Restored Like-New
Photos
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