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(DUBAI) The city that boasts the world's tallest building is equipping its police with US$400,000 (S$495,000) Lamborghini sports cars that Dubai's deputy police chief says are in keeping with the Gulf capital's image. They also go fast, since according to the website of Lamborghini, an affiliate of the Volkswagen Group, all the Italian company's cars reach 100km/h in well under six seconds. Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina said that a fleet of Lamborghinis, each estimated to cost around US$400,000, had been obtained by the Dubai police for use at main tourist sites. "The aim is to reflect the reputation of the emirate and the high stature it achieved," Mazeina said. "It will also help promote tourism and showcase the security role the Dubai police plays in safeguarding the city," he added. The vehicles will be deployed at the downtown area near the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa tower, the Mohammed Rashid Boulevard as well as the cafe- and restaurant-lined walk of the Jumeirah Beach Residence, one of the most popular waterfront developments in Dubai. Photos of the vehicles published in local media in the United Arab Emirates showed a green-and-white vehicle decorated with the Dubai police insignia on the front hood. Dubai, one of seven emirates in the UAE federation, is staging a recovery from the financial crisis it suffered during the global financial crisis in 2009. The emirate recently has announced several major projects, including a huge tourism and retail development with the largest shopping mall in the world.

I think this deserves a seperate post: Tokyo Auto Salon 2012 - The Italians There were no shortage of sexy Italian metal in the halls of the Auto Salon. Pimped up Lamborghinis, petite Fiat500s and a couple of Ferraris. Let's start with some old school flavour with a black Testarossa flanked by 2 lovely laides, sitting at Goodyear's booth, next to the lovely RUF featured in a previous post. HRE had a California with 2 different sets of wheels on each side. Pirelli had a pretty stock looking Ferrari FF, it was my first time seeing the FF in the flesh and being a fan of the Shooting Brake style, i loved it. Need new wheels for your Prancing Horse? How about some Asantis? I liked the detailing on the edge of the rim. Hyper Forged wheels had Ferrari's stablemate, Maserati, on some rather big kicks to fill up the entire wheelwell. Not forgetting Ferrari's parent company, there were some Fiats on display as well. This yellow 500 from Tipo looked particularly sweet.

..are getting cheaper now.... Like this one.... http://www.sgcarmart.com/used_cars/info.ph...260&DL=2093 For an LP640...pretty cheap...hmm...when is the next recession??? [laugh]

Growing up in a country where cars (even a humble Toyota) costs a premium to own, it's not uncommon to see owners of even a Perodua Kancil polishing their four wheeled possessions with lots of TLC on a Sunday afternoon. So it is especially infuriating for a Singaporean car enthusiast like myself to see exotic classics being left abandoned and uncared for in other parts of the world. It just seems morally wrong to leave a classic Miura SV rotting in a barn. How do these people sleep at night? I shower more TLC on my 1:18 model cars than these owners do on their real supercars! It's ridiculous! During the Iraq invasion of 2003, US troops stumbled upon some rare classics owned by the sons of Saddam Hussien. This included an ultra rare Lamborghini LM002 in pretty good condition. Most Lamborghini enthusiasts will balk at what they did next. The soldiers, ignorant of the car's historical significance decided to test the effects of Improvised Explosive Devices on it. Suffice to say, one of the rarest Lamborghinis (Only 300) ever built was blown back to the stone age at the careless squeeze of a trigger. A rare classic blown to bits... This next example is especially painful for me considering that I'm one of its biggest fans. The Ferrari F40. Built from 1987 to 1992, 1,315 were produced to celebrate Ferrari's 40th Anniversary. It was also the last car to have Enzo Ferrari's involvement before his passing in 1988. It is perhaps one of the most iconic Ferraris of our time and teenaged boys from the 80s and 90s had huge posters of the F40 plastered across their bedroom walls. A prime example is worth over US$1.6 million these days. If you're curious about how big a fan I am, I possess three 1:18 scale models of it. A normal red F40 and two F40 Light Weight racing models in both Red and Black. Yes...I'm a really big fan of it. And here I present the one (probably the only one) that's in the worst shape of all. The story goes that a Prince dropped it off for some regular servicing and neglected to pick it up (how could anyone forget an F40?). So the garage owner just left it as it is to collect decades of dust and thus explains its deplorable state. Having been given some ridiculous offers for the car, the garage owner still refuses to sell it even though it's obvious he doesn't have any intentions of ever restoring the F40. It's extremely painful to see one of Ferrari's most sought after models in such a dilapidated state. I'm sure Enzo Ferrari will be turning in his grave at the news of this. If he were alive, I'm sure he would convince the Italian government to send the Army to forcefully take it back if a sale couldn't be reached. I guess it is true that overindulgence dulls appreciation...sigh