The grotesque Lamborghini Countach from 1974 sharply blazed the way for the modern supercar
Just imagine this car driving through narrow Italian streets in the 70’s. What is this this UFO doing here? I could totally imagine a young kid pointing at it, and an old nonna swearing at it. This is one of the most disruptive designs of the automobile industry. Remember the Lamborghini Miura from the 60’s with its revolutionary design and conception? Well the brand from Sant’ Agata had done it again, a decade after, with a car which’s name means “Damn” in Piemontese dialect. This car had to be eye-popping, and it was.
Back in the days, this was one of the cars that you’d see in every boys’ room. The Countach was featured on many posters, and was usually backed up by naked woman, but there were also a multitude of models. You probably had one. This car was everywhere. You just need to imagine that you’re in the 70’s, and the craziest things you’ve ever seen are concept cars that you will never see on the road. So, when the Countach replaced the beautiful Miura in 1974, it was a total game-changer. Scissor doors, sharp lines, short front, low and wide trapezoidal shapes and even pop-up headlights were brought to the mix of what was to become an idol of an entire generation.
Designed by genius Marcello Gandini, who was behind the Miura too, the Countach broke all the codes of its predecessor. Done with the long and smooth feminine lines. It was time to build a car that looked like it came from another planet. It now was a faster car that handled better and was more stable at high speeds. The Countach was, indeed, a very important car for Lamborghini. Firstly, it saved the Sant’Agata brand from bankruptcy and had a tremendous career that went on for nearly 20 years. Yet, the Countach didn’t get the clean start Lamborghini had wished for.
The Countach was featured on many posters, and was usually backed up by naked woman. Hugh Hefner.
This Lamborghini you see here is called the LP400. And this is where the story began. But three years earlier, Lamborghini had a prototype named LP500. That stood for Longitudinale Poseriore 5.0. And, unfortunately, this big centrally-mounted V12 didn’t have enough air to cool down. This resulted in several engines blowing up and many reliability issues. Therefore, the engineers decided to scrap the 5.0 and use the Miura’s 3.9 V12 that develops 375PS. At this point, the prototype was used for crash test purposes (ouch…). The first “mass” production cars differed a little bit from the prototype. They had larger air intakes to avoid overheating, it had a tiny rear window (that still didn’t help people to park it), and they got rid of the periscope mirror. Even though the latter wasn’t even featured on the car, the first Countach’s earned the name “Periscopio” in honour of the prototype that actually had one. Moreover, a few other details like the backlights and the digital dashboard didn’t make it into production, but otherwise, everything stuck to the original plan.
Only 158 Countach LP400 were built. Then the Countach became fatter, wider and even received a large rear-wing. Were they ugly? In my opinion, not at all. But the first iteration always kept a special place in purists’ hearts, and is unsurprisingly the most desirable version. In fact, the “Periscopio” is the only one you should’ve banked on if you wanted to make big money. Now, prices have skyrocketed and fetch up to 1.5M Euros. This particular model is an original factory LHD with only 8’000km from new, and this might be the lowest mileage “Periscopio” in the world. It’s finished in a beautiful Rosso paint with a dark blue interior. Got that Spiderman theme there. It’s a special car that still drags a lot (this is just an understatement) of attention. It didn’t take a lot of time for the whole village to come out of their homes to take a look at the car and take pictures. From nonnas to young kids, we could feel that the automobile passion is within every Italian. Which is great, because it just shows us that we’re not ready to bury cars like these anytime soon.