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‘Silver bullet’ unveiled

Posted on August 25, 2009, 8:08am and updated on August 25, 2009 at 1:51 pm

Lamborghini

John Reeves pictured with his first Lamborghini, the 500hp V10 Gallardo.

When former Melbourne man John Reeves drove his Lamborghini Gallardo onto the streets of Mount Gambier he found the high performance vehicle could turn heads as quick and confidently as it could roar from stationary to 100kmh.

“I drove it to Mount Gambier the day I bought it and all eyes were on the car on the way here, with people taking photographs and videos and asking about it at places like service stations,” he said.

“It’s nice to meet everyone and talk about my special interest in high performance vehicles — I’m impressed with the interest in Mount Gambier — the car attracts a lot of attention — it’s a show stopper.”

The investor, who has a background in the technical side of television production, including a stint at Mount Gambier’s Win TV from 1992 until 1999, as well as Melbourne’s Channel 10 and ABC, said he always wanted a high performance car.

“Since I was a young lad I had a model black Lamborghini Countage and I always dreamed of owning one,” he said, adding his love of the car was also inspired by its portrayal in movies, such as The Cannonball Run.

Mr Reeves also has models of Lamborghini Superleggeras and Murcielago Roadsters and hopes to own all three sought-after vehicles eventually.

The Gallardo was a gift from his late parents, mother Jean and father Maurice, a former The Border Watch cadet and founder of national Track and Signal rail magazine.

He said an inheritance from his parents’ estate provided him with enough money to buy the $279,000 vehicle in July, when he became the second owner of the 2006 model vehicle, which had just 5350km on the odometer.

Mr Reeves said the car could be worth more than $500,000 new and was up to his expectations.

“The Lamborghini purrs like a kitten doing 60 kilometres an hour in town and roars like a bull on the highway,” he said.

Lamborghini interiorThe 500hp seven litre V10 boasts all leather interior and six speed manual gears, with a fuel tank for 90 litres of 98 octane fuel, which Mr Reeves said allowed for 600km of travel at 100kmh.

Other features include an electric tilting wing to stabilise the car against winds, electric door mirrors that fold upwards to narrow the width of the vehicle in tight parking situations, along with a hydraulic front-end lifter to raise the car to the height of a regular vehicle.

With a slim height of just 116.5cm, Mr Reeves said he felt comfortable in the car’s low seating position, akin to the experience he had driving an open canopy Formula Ford racing car at 220kmh on Calder Speedway.

“It has all the comforts of an everyday car with the thrill of a high performance vehicle,” he said.

“If you are behind four or five vehicles of holiday makers banked up on the highway you can overtake in seconds with ease.”

His vehicle can reach 100kmh from stationary in 4.2 seconds and a top speed of 309kmh, but he said he always abided by speed limits and regulations, even informing local police of the vehicle before he drove it to Mount Gambier.

Mr Reeves said he planned to exhibit the vehicle in Melbourne or Adelaide and join the Lamborghini Club of Australia with hopes to eventually test the high-speed performance of the vehicle on a suitable track.

In the meantime, he is still relocating from Melbourne and is yet to collect his VY Series II Commodore Executive from the city.

“The Lamborghini is my Sunday and interstate business car, but the Commodore feels like a wet sponge compared to the silver bullet,” he said.

He is also often occupied with cleaning the vehicle at the local car wash and drying it each time with a chamois.

“When I was handed the keys I was very nervous,” he said, adding he had monitored household alarms installed at his new Conroe Heights home before arriving in Mount Gambier after months of research before buying the car.

He has also had a portable wireless security camera placed inside the car to monitor activities while it is unattended.

With annual insurance bills of over $3400, Mr Reeves admitted “it is an expensive interest”, but said he may still update the vehicle in a few years as new models were released.

“It’s a crowd pleaser, which is fun, and I don’t mind meeting and greeting people,” he said.

JASON WALLACE

Lamborghini

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Comments

3 Responses to “‘Silver bullet’ unveiled”

  1. the diplomat on August 25th, 2009 8:49 am 1

    Good on you for achieving one of your life’s dreams but is this really news? I was the first person to buy a renault diesel megane in this town and I don’t remember getting an article in the paper? C’mon borderwatch, you could be doing so much better with the myriad of issues in this region. It is a great car, I am glad he has the position to own and run is it worthy of a story or is it because he has links with media?

  2. Editor on August 25th, 2009 9:06 am 2

    It always intrigues me when someone says a story isn’t news, and then proceeds to comment on it.

    A lot of what appears in a paper may not interest a majority of readers, eg the bowls results, tide times, wedding reports, etc.

    There are a lot of people who are interested in motor vehicles, however.

    If you mean the owner’s former association with WIN TV was a reason for writing the story, that had nothing to do with it.

    The Border Watch runs a weekly motoring feature and reporters are encouraged to profile unusual vehicles.

  3. the diplomat on August 25th, 2009 9:12 am 3

    My opinion is that weddings, bowls, tide times and other things etc. are “community related”. That is they involve or effect the community or the majority of community like to know that info. The story was not strongly written from the angle of a unique car as much as some as story about the guy who bought it.