Adrian Portelli, ‘Mr Lambo’ opens up about his booming car enthusiast club LMCT+

Millionaire businessman Adrian Portelli appears to live a pretty interesting life and now the cluey entrepreneur has opened up about how he made his extraordinary wealth.

Adrian Portelli has opened up about his extraordinary wealth. Picture: Nicole Cleary

Melbourne entrepreneur Adrian Portelli, who splashed $39 million on a CBD pendhouse and was dubbed “Mr Lambo” after a flashy appearance on The Block, has opened up on his extraordinary wealth.

Portelli, 34, has made a fortune through his car enthusiast club LMCT+ which he founded in 2018 and has grown into a membership rewards club known for giving away luxury cars and property to its subscribers.

Last year he launched the female focused Luxe+, a designer and luxury product rewards program.

Having been broke at one point in his 20s, he told The Frankie Lee podcast in October that his businesses now turned over $60 million a year with no employees.

Adrian Portelli has made a fortune through his car enthusiast club. Picture: Nicole Cleary

And his asset base is so large he doesn’t know how many cars or properties he owns.

“If I am not working 16, 17, 18 hours a day I am f*cking depressed,” he told the podcast.

“I have been absolutely broke and now I have a lot of money, and I am still not content, I am still not happy.

“I have the cars I wanted, I dreamed of as a kid, I have everything, houses all around Australia.

“I don’t know how many cars I have got, I don’t know how much money, I don’t know how many houses, there is just shit everywhere.

“I think we have about $14 or $15 million worth of cars.”

The revealing podcast was recorded months before he bought the penthouse at The Sapphire Tower in Melbourne for a record $39 million.

“I’ve got like five houses on the Gold Coast, they are all furnished,” he said.

“They are just sitting there. All up I think I have about 10 houses (not including the penthouse).

Mr Portelli owns $15m in cars. Picture: Instagram

Mr Portelli says he has everything he dreamed of as a child.

“Every one of my cars is an appreciating asset. I won’t buy something that is going to depreciate. Everything I buy (they are) very limited numbers, hard to get.”

Portelli added that he also invests in watches and jewellery.

“I think I spent in the past 12 months at least over a million in watches and jewellery,” he said.

“I just love the fact that you can carry that amount of money on you and not have it in the bank, not that you are doing anything shady, I just love that you can walk around with $700,000-$800,000 on your wrist.”

Despite his vast wealth, Portelli said he was no better than anyone else.

“I don’t think money changes people. It just reveals their true characters,” he said.

“Anyone that thinks they are better than somebody because of their wealth is a piece of shit. “I am no better than anyone. I can do cool things, but what makes me any different to anyone else? We are all human.”

Mr Portelli owns several Gold Cost homes.

Mr Portelli owns a $39m penthouse.

Portelli invests heavily in online marketing with his businesses and doesn’t have employees.

“I don’t have any employees, I don’t like fat, I don’t like overheads,” he told the podcast.

“I’ve got contractors, there are a lot of people behind the scenes. I will not employ anyone.”

Surprisingly he described himself as a “dumb shit.”

“I am not the most academically smart person and that is why I can resonate with so many people,” he said.

“I consider myself an absolute dumb shit, but with graphics I can express myself.”

Portelli grew up in Melbourne and developed his love of vehicles from his mechanic father.

He started a graphic design business at 18 and moved to Los Angeles in his 20s where he ran a car chauffeur business.

The business came to a halt after one of his cars was hit by a driver who ran a red light and was underinsured.

Portelli has previously spoken about how while in America he posted an ad for a flat mate online, and ended up finding someone who helped him develop several successful apps, which he later sold.

Coming back to Melbourne he embraced his love of cars and set up LMCT+ in 2018.

“The business was never made for giveaways, it was a software based business,” he told Frankie Lee.

“I used to buy and flip cars. We built the software to find the best deals out there on the market.”

He decided to give away a Nissan GTR as a way to attract attention to the business. It was that move that led to him to evolve the business into a subscription-based rewards platform.

Portelli said despite what people saw on social media his life was “not cool.”

“I don’t have a life. Everyone sees me driving cool cars and shit, but I am driving from one place to another to go and work,” he said.

“My life is not cool. I wake up at 6am, check my phone, start sending emails and I go until 12am, 1am in the morning.

“I am petrified to be broke again.”

Portelli’s new focus is diversifying his investments and making his fortune bigger.

He also runs his own charity the Little Legends Foundation and is building four childcare centres in Perth.

Failure, he said, was part of the steps on the road to success.

“I failed heaps,” he told the podcast.

“It is fail, look at what you learnt from that experience, start a new business and apply what you have learnt to the next business.

“You hit your lowest point just before you make it.

“Just before (I made) it I hit my lowest point, (I) couldn’t even afford bond in the place I wanted to rent, (I) had to go and sell salvaged car parts in my garage just to cover the bond.”

Originally published as Adrian Portelli, ‘Mr Lambo’ opens up about his booming car enthusiast club LMCT+