A Legendary Gathering
- when the movie came out in 1981 I saw it at least a dozen times at the theater and I've Loved this car my whole life I think the younger me would never believe that I actually own this car much less would ever even see it I have an image of my foot on a wooden block because I was too short to reach the pedals [Music] the Lamborghini Kunes LP 400s revolutionized the automotive World in 1979 and in 1981 it became a film star inspired by true events cult movie The Cannonball Run tells the story of a cross-country
- car race from Connecticut to California in the screen version a black Lamborghini kunach lp400s is the star of the show from the outset with the iconic angular design ripping through the desert as the opening credits roll the super sports car is driven by characters Marcy and Jill played by Adrienne barau and Tara Buckman who ultimately cross the finish line first to win The Cannonball Run [Music] on the other side of the movie screen Florida attorney Jeff iitti remembers seeing the film as a young boy when it
- was released in 1981 like many of those who saw it he dreamed that one day he might own a Lamborghini like the one roaring through the American landscape on the Silver Screen little did he know that one day his dream would come true today he not only owns a Lamborghini cach but the exact super sports car used on camera in The Cannonball Run a vehicle that made history in 2021 as it became one of only 29 vehicles to enter the US Library of Congress for special significance in American pop culture history for this episode of angles we
- invited Adrien barau and Tara Buckman to be reunited with The Shining black cach LP 400s for the first time since the movie was released and we talked to its owner Jeff iitti about his relationships with the Cannonball Run and his Legendary Super sports car we haven't seen each other since we made the movie but then I was forgetting what year we made the movie we made the movie in 1981 or it was released in 1981 so so there you go a little earlier than that which how many years ago yeah I don't want to add well you haven't
- changed hardly at all you look great we both haven't fabulous we're holding up we're holding up not as good as the car [Music] but cannibal run was one of my first features I've been doing stage and film and I mean television and everything and I mean I was going to act I was going to create a character I was going to say the words that were on the page right nobody else did there was a a joke yeah I it was just and it worked it worked for the film but from my point of view there was a sense of oh we can just as long as
- we're having fun doesn't matter what we say it doesn't matter what we do the audience will have fun we laughed a whole lot I think Don took up the time I mean the k spoke for us you know that was the [Music] star the opening uh shot that you see is that gorgeous Lamborghini and coming down you see the speed and screeches so impressed I got to ride in it fast and I got to take off in it fast and I have to tell you that my experience in that car it was just comfortable it was smooth I was living in Upstate New York grew up
- in Syracuse New York and back then I mean I had heard of Lamborghinis but never seen or heard a car in in a film or certainly in person I was a kid when the movie came out and I saw it and especially that first four minutes of that car on the screen it was just amazing to me I went back and saw the movie the next day and probably the next but at least a dozen times when it came out and I've probably seen it more than a 100 times now the the opening scene where the car was coming at the camera and it looked so low and so flat um and so Sinister
- and black and then the sound of it and watching the car going back and forth and playing cat and mouse with with the cops it was just an amazing four minutes for me on the screen and every time that car showed up again during the film I just again was so mesmerized by it um just loved it and I that has never stopped you know it was the first exotic car that I actually saw um and saw and you could hear and see it move on the screen um and it was just so futuristic I mean even now today nearly 50 years later it still looks amazing it
- still looks incredible my brother and I started a charity event to benefit make AWI in 2004 and it was a car show based in Central Florida and I knew that Ron Rice from Hawaiian Tropic had owned the car since the filming of Cannonball Run and Ron lived in normon Beach very close to where we were in Orlando so I thought it would be cool to have that car at our event and I called the Lamborghini dealer in Orlando and asked if he would introduce me to Ron Rice and perhaps get the car to the event Ron couldn't have been more
- gracious he called me the next day and said because it's a charity event he'd be happy to send the car and when he did I just I was mesmerized to me it was a mov star Ron was not at the event but the person that brought the car to the event said Ron may consider selling it so I called Ron right there standing in front of the car and um it took a while but we negotiated back and forth and then I finally owned it and um put into a two-year restoration by my friend Tony [Music] ardi well my favorite thing about being
- in that movie and unfortunately it didn't have to do with the car but we were filming in Lancaster and it was very very hot and Roger Moore's air conditioning went down in his trailer oh gosh and he asked if he could come sit with me and I was so Star Struck I thought oh my God what are we going to talk about what are we going to talk about it's Roger Moore and I think we ended up talking about the school system in southern California or something but I still and Roger in his white suit in the middle of the desert with you know the cars racing
- past was pristine it was always there was never a dust spot on him the stunt crew was fun too cuz they were really professional and obviously there were a lot of stumps I didn't do a lot of the driving obviously yeah but just getting in and out was just awesome I may be wrong correct me if I am but it was this movie that brought the Lamborghini to the United [Music] States to me it's always been an important car and I think everybody in my age group had a picture of the count poster of the Kos on their wall growing
- up so it's iconic and the movie was hilarious it was a great film one of the biggest films of 1981 but for me it was about always about the car first um and then a few years ago I got an email from uh Hagerty who runs the National Historic vehicle registry for the Library of Congress and the car was inducted as the 30th car in history onto the National Historic vehicle registry so what that means is that Congress of the United States has determined or deemed that this car is important into American history so one
- of 30 um and I think that says it all about how important this car is to American culture and you know what it meant to a whole generation of people and what it meant to a company like Lamborghini I thought the car was just beautiful uh and it still is we had the best car yes oh no question no question well we run we won the race I think the Kun looks like a winner I mean what none of the other cars could have won the race for me my favorite feature of that car is just the way it looks it's so low and it's so flat um I got speaking to uh
- ruven uh the CTO for Lamborghini last week and we got talking about the size of Cars and Cars have grown to huge Dimensions now comparatively and while the car when you're looking at it up close seems like a normalized car when you put it next to a 2024 model it seems positively tiny and what ruven explained is with the technology now and the safety features that cars have to have it's impossible to make a car of this size in this shape anymore um it's so dramatic to me and again even after now after nearly a half a century it is
- still an absolutely dramatic astounding looking car driving it is like a rolling circus and it's I always say it's like shock and awe when people see it I still walk into my garage after nearly two decades and I get chills um sometimes I have to go out and just touch the car to prove to myself it's actually real it's not just driving a car it's a whole experience with this car thank you for listening to this episode of angles a Lamborghini podcast new episodes will be coming regularly on Spotify Apple podcasts YouTube and
- lamborghini.com we hope you can join us for the next episode coming very soon
