The Best Model That You'll Never Drive

I enjoyed the drive. The purposefully sculpted Reventon handled beautifully. I say "purposefully sculpted" because there is absolutely nothing about the car's mostly carbon fiber exterior that does not contribute to speed and handling. It looks like a stealth fighter jet because it is meant to perform like one on the road.

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That raises the question: Why buy a car like the Reventon, the full power of which never could be used legally on any highway anywhere in the world, including Germany's Autobahn, which has speed restrictions in urban areas and is likely soon to have speed restrictions everywhere.

The answer can be found in the assembly bays at the Lamborghini factory, which annually can produce 2,500 Lamborghini automobiles of all types, and which is where the Reventon was designed and developed and where it is now made.

The men and women working in the plant are not workers in the generic sense. They are artisans, many of whom drive to the factory in Fiats and small Audis . . . and Chevrolets.

They approach their work with discernible pride. They aren't building cars. They are building masterpieces -- unique, expensive and sought after in the manner of millionaires (and apparently some thieves) seeking a masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci.

Lamborghini officials claim that the Reventon can be driven "every day." Truth is, that is not likely to be how the car's buyers will use it. Most will store it in a well-equipped garage, to be driven only on special occasions. Others might load it onto a car carrier for a weekend at the track, where they will attempt to drive the car to its limits. And others simply will hold it as an investment to be sold later to the highest bidder.

But no one will drive it every day. The desire to keep the precious car safe thus will have other benefits. The gas-guzzling Reventon -- 7.35 miles per gallon city, 15.68 mpg highway -- seldom will be about the business of guzzling gas and polluting the air. It simply will exist as an example of rare, extreme mobile art.