Lamborghini’s former CEO Patrick Mimran was just 26 years old when he ingeniously took his company’s LMA off-road prototype to the 1982 Monaco Grand Prix. The behemoth circulating the pristine streets of the principality made for an inspired publicity stunt that truly grabbed attention. Four years later, the outrageous-looking production LM002 was ready to earn its deserved “Rambo Lambo” nickname. As well as royalty, Formula 1 World Champion Keke Rosberg, rock queen Tina Turner, and Rambo himself, Sylvester Stallone, came to count themselves as owners.

Despite the utilitarian styling and originally intended military application, the LM002 managed to combine supercar-baiting performance with genuine luxury. Behind the burled wood and leather dashboard sat a 5.2-litre, 48-valve V-12 lifted from later Countach models. The early LM002s were fed by some six dual-throat Weber carburettors to produce 444 brake horsepower. Slick use of the dogleg five-speed, close-ratio ZF gearbox could result in a 7.8-second sprint to 62 mph—the most accelerative of contemporary Range Rovers was far closer to 11s. LM002s acquitted themselves well when the going got twisty, too, thanks to the independent double-wishbone suspension that supplanted all four corners, plus enormous 345-millimetre-wide Pirelli tyres.

Between 1986 and 1993, just over 300 LM002s rolled off the Lamborghini production line in Sant’Agata Bolognese. This 1988 example is one of the earlier, more desirable carburetted cars. Finished in Acapulco Blue over a Grigio leather interior, it retains the original configuration, as confirmed by Lamborghini data produced using the factory build sheet that accompanies the car, and further benefits from the period-correct Alpine head unit, and Blaupunkt sound system.

Lamborghini records show that this LM002 was dispatched from the factory on 24 March 1988 before being delivered new to Sweden, where it was first registered in November. Later spending time in Italy, it is said to have been displayed at the museum documenting the life of eponymous company founder Ferruccio Lamborghini in Bologna. The car was then registered in the Netherlands in June 2015 before being imported to the UK, where a service was performed by DK Engineering the following December at a cost of £10,177.

Acquired by the current keeper in June of 2017, who shortly after freighted it to Kuwait, this car benefits from a replacement battery, air conditioning compressor clutch, fuel tank float sensor, oil filter, and a pair of rear axle CV boots, with documentation of the work performed supplied. Invoices from 2020 reflect that the braking, ignition, and fuel systems were recommissioned. The car sits on correct Pirelli Scorpion BK tyres. This LM002 arrived back in the UK last year, and shows 17,273 kilometres on its odometer at the time of cataloguing.

A performance SUV well ahead it of its time, the LM002 will forever continue to turn heads—just as the prototype achieved in Monaco four decades ago.