By Antti Kautonen
There are people who will tell you the Lamborghini Countach is impossible to live with, terrible to drive and a pain to reverse. There are also people who will build their own Countach in their basement, if it means they can have one. Whatever your lean on this particular subject, the Countach is sure to elicit some kind of reaction from you. It’s a true haters-gonna-hate car, and one that went through a million improvements in its life to gradually become even more in-your-face.
This 1981 Countach LP400 S is some kind of a watershed car, since it’s not the full spoiler bonanza car, but it already has the wide flares. It’s for sale by a Swiss dealer, and you’re free to check it out here.
That face. It’s kind of funny that like the F40, the Countach only mostly features indicators under the clear covers that resemble headlights. Both cars, in my opinion, look worse when the pop-up headlights are up, and it’s not often when I feel that way. I’m a pop-up person, but here they do not really work. Luckily, the Countach here features DRL:s mounted on both sides of the licence plate.
A Countach just has to have telephone dial wheels.
White leather matches the Eighties excess, even if the car is “only” a 1981 model and not a full-on 1987 yuppie version. Also, I think manual windows on an outlandish supercar are hilarious.
The 30 000 km car features the 355-horsepower four-litre V12. The LP400 S was slightly detuned from the previous version, which had all of 375 hp.
You could order the LP400 S with the V-shaped spoiler, and most did, but without one I think the Countach here is more clearly a link between the earlier, flareless cars and the later somewhat overdone cars. And you know, you could also have a spoiler on the nose, if you really wanted.
It’s a mean machine, no questions asked. This is the shape Lamborghini’s echoed ever since. All Diablos, Murcielagos, Gallardos, Aventadors tip their hat to this rear 3/4 shot.
[Images: Lutziger Classic Cars]
Bradley Brownell
Iconic, yes. Pretty, no. I'll have the Miura, please.
They can't both be beautiful? I mean, I am torn here. There's no way I could choose one over another.
If you find them both equal in beauty, I can't, and won't, fault your judgement. But the Miura looks timeless to me, and the Countach, while not ugly in any real aesthetic sense, has not aged as well in comparison. I know it's design debuted in the '70s, but as it got older it acquired too many '80s styling cues. The Miura to me is as purely fresh a design as the '55 Citroen DS. Most non-hoons today would have a hard time guessing when either one debuted as new. Then again, my list of the three most beautiful cars in the world probably has 1137 cars on it. And they change hourly.
I thought it was neat that Jeep made some very similar wheels (called "gamblers"), here's some on a GTI, because VWVortex:
<img src="https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/310827_719435528777_1674767065_n.jpg" width=500>
I just wasted hours navigating that thread thanks to you. 🙂
Sorry / You're welcome.
The very first Countaches are the prettiest. The spoiler and other garbage look like pimples on an Italian prom queen.
Agree. In its purest form, the shape still screams for attention.
But when covered in Tupperware, it just looks juvenile.
*flamesuit on*
I actually like the later, be-flared and be-spoilered Countach better than the prototype.
*flamesuit off*
I'll be honest, though. If it has a raging bull on the badge, it's welcome in my fantasy garage.
Add a spoiler and this is the exact car I had on my 4th grade Trapper Keeper, love it!
Edit: Thanks to the google I stand corrected.
<img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_leoGYAeiH44/TH8PLTT5PsI/AAAAAAAALTo/4Ua6odz4h4Y/s1600/fasttrapperkeeper.jpg" width="600">
335/45 R15 super low profile, super wide 15" tires seem laughable today.
anyone with too much time on his hands should read Countach, a manga about a man-boy who somehow acquires his childhood dream car, an LP400.
it's filled with all the contrivances, gimmicky bullshit, fan service, and extremely unlikely occurrences that characterize any anime or manga involving cars or guns, but the art is great and the author clearly has a passion for the countach.
http://www.mangareader.net/countach
This is one of those very rare cars that deserves to proudly wear that bright red paintwork! Beautiful!
Also, imho, the V-spoiler was awesome. It completes the outrageous look so well.
Love it. Though I think (and allegedly Balboni agrees) that the 5000QV was the best Countach of all. Sans wing, of course.