John Cena's Fake Lamborghini Cost Him Nearly 20 Years and $409,000 to Fix

John Cena's car-buying history has plenty of ups and downs, but nothing compares to the replica Lamborghini he ordered in 2003. The WWE star told Shannon Sharpe on Club Shay Shay in August 2024 that he didn't want to pay for a real Lamborghini, so he bought a fake one, a Diablo VT Roadster replica fitted with a BMW V12 engine.

The car arrived two years late, in 2005, and was not roadworthy. Cena said the motor was "held together with the timing of two Chevy V6s," and it wouldn't go into gear. Over the next two decades, ten different mechanics tried to fix it. According to Yahoo Autos, repair costs eventually reached roughly $409,000, more than enough to buy one and a half real Lamborghinis.

The restoration was finally completed around late summer 2024. Cena listed the metallic blue replica on Bring a Trailer through Naples Motorsports, and it sold for $146,000 later that year. Despite the massive financial loss, Cena told The Autopian, "I have lost so much money on cars," and he now sees the ordeal as a lesson in the hidden costs of kit car ownership.