Mat Armstrong Reveals The Chequered Past Of The Lamborghini Murcielago That Scammed Him

Sep 04, 2023

YouTuber Mat Armstrong got more than he bargained for with this Lamborghini Murcielago rebuild that went off the rails.

When YouTuber Mat Armstrong bought a used Lamborghini Murcielago with the intention of a rebuild project, he ended up almost biting off more than he could chew. He’d always had a fascination with Murcielagos and when he heard that a used one was up for sale, that piqued his interest.

Promised that it was in usable condition and in need of only light repair, he ended up buying. There were a few wrinkles with the car, and a botched repair job meant that it wasn't ready for the road. But as the host of a YouTube channel based around his escapades rebuilding and refurbishing secondhand exotics in his garage, Mat Armstrong thought he and his team were up to the challenge.

Unfortunately, the dark history of this specific Lamborghini Murcielago would come to light later. What started out as an unexpected opportunity to work on a dream car turned into a saga of lies, half-truths, and dead ends. But ultimately it became the story about the chance to fulfill a childhood aspiration.

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Speaking with VinWiki, Mat Armstrong opens up about his childhood dream to one day drive a Lamborghini Murcielago. So when a track day experience company reached out asking him if he’d like to see a 2002 Murcielago they had for sale, he jumped at the opportunity.

Knowing that as a track day experience rental car it would have had a "lot of love" and plenty of wear and tear, Mat Armstrong went to see the Lamborghini with what he thought were low expectations.

It was a rebuild waiting to happen. They found it amid a garage full of discarded supercars. They’d removed the engine about seven years ago and never put it back. The entire engine was in a state of semi-deconstruction with parts laying all over the place. Also, the flywheel and clutch and other components were missing. The track day experience company informed Mat Armstrong they’d attempted to rebuild the engine themselves. However, it was pretty obvious that something had gone wrong during the rebuild, so they never completed it. Later Armstrong discovered that the previous mechanic who worked on the car and failed to do it properly was incarcerated, charged with armed robbery.

Despite this, the track day outfit promised Mat Armstrong they’d include all the parts except for a few that they’d reimburse him for. With that promise Armstrong and his team paid over the money and loaded up the Murcielago to bring it back to their garage.

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Launched in 2001, Lamborghini created the Murcielago to be the successor of the famous Lamborghini Diablo. It was also designated to inherit the coveted role as flagship supercar of the illustrious Maranello brand. With a legacy that included the Countach and Miura, this latest Lamborghini supercar had big shoes to fill.

Thankfully, it did that with ease. Thanks to an exquisite profile penned by Audi designers who reinterpreted Lamborghini's familiar low-slung look to incorporate clean classical shapes, it perfectly updated the distinctive Lambo look for a new era.

A 21st-century take on Lamborghini heritage, the Murcielago perfectly sidestepped potential pitfalls by paying tribute to the past in a way that was clearly modern. Now under Audi-Volkswagen ownership, Lamborghini had to reinvent itself as a truly modern brand.

The Murcielago did that perfectly. Classy but slightly outrageous, with Italian style and flair by the bucketful, it was a simply powerful car. Its naturally-aspirated 6.2-liter V12 produced 580 HP that could accelerate this machine to 60 mph in only 3.6 seconds. Today, a good example of this no nonsense V12 Lambo Murcielago with a manual gearbox will set you back $277,000.

Rightfully iconic, this car carried the Lamborghini legacy into the new century with strength and poise. At a critical juncture, it came through and captured the hearts of a new generation of car enthusiasts and reestablished Lamborghini as a master of supercar design and passionate automotive charisma.

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While pumped he got the chance to work on his dream car, Mat Armstrong and his team of grease monkeys soon noticed more and more things about this Murcielago that worried them. First off, they realized the cam caps were all misordered requiring refitting in the correct order. Whoever had tried and failed to rebuild the engine hadn't been anything near a capable mechanic.

Then there were the broken piston rings, ignition timing that had been totally thrown off, and critical bits of the engine broken, missing, or tampered with. As issues began to mount, Mat Armstrong reached out to the track day company asking if they had some of the parts that were missing. There was no answer, so Mat and his team just plowed on with the rebuild.

Things took an interesting turn when Mat Armstrong called in the help of a local Lamborghini expert to help on the project. As the go-to Lamborghini mechanic in the area, he’d encountered this particular Murcielago before and soon filled Mat in on the sordid history of the car, the company he’d bought it from, and the botched rebuild the car had been through earlier.

Apparently, as well as the other shortcuts and shoddy workmanship that had gone into the car the electronics and instrument cluster had been totally fried during an attempt to jump-start the car. As he learned more and more about this Murcielago and the track day experience company he’d bought it from, a picture began to crystalize of a business bordering on a scam.

Shady business dealings, conned customers, mistreated employees, and bad relationships within the local car industry created a paper trail that Mat Armstrong discovered a little too late in the game. If he’d known about this sooner it's unlikely he’d have purchased that Lamborghini.

But Mat Armstrong and his crew never lost faith in their project. They believed they would eventually get this Murcielago up and running. That was the whole point of the project anyway - to rebuild a Lamborghini from the ground up. While they ended up given a greater challenge than they’d bargained for, it gave them a great opportunity to rebuild an iconic supercar as well as tons of great content for their YouTube channel.

In the end, things began to look up. One of the biggest challenges was retooling an E-gear system swapped in for the original Lamborghini gearbox. Wedged into the car and accommodated by a large hole drilled into the middle of the transmission tunnel, it was a great example of the poor quality of the previous rebuild. Mat Armstrong and his team eventually got the gearbox into workable condition and then took the car for a spin.

Surprisingly, this Lamborghini got brought to life. It still needs a good dose of nurturing before it will be race-ready, but considering the state it was in not long ago it's almost a miracle that it can travel under its own power. As for Mat Armstrong, he admits it was a big challenge but enjoyed the chance to work on his dream car. He has big plans for this one-of-a-kind supercar specimen in the near future. Watch this space for more.

Kaelin Abbott is a freelancer who simply loves writing - about pretty much anything. That being said, he has a special passion for cars. As an auto industry writer who chronicles upcoming car models and covers the latest automotive news, he enjoys scoping out the newest trends and daredevil feats of the automotive industry. When he's not writing, he enjoys using both two- and four-wheeled machines to go places.