1974-90 Lamborghini Countach
Nobody thought a relatively new exotic automaker would seriously
compete with Ferrari in the 1960s, when it was well-established, but
nobody figured there would be a Lamborghini.
By the next decade, it seemed that every boy and young man in the
civilized world put a poster of the wild 1974-90 Lamborghini Countach
sports car on his bedroom wall, where Ferrari posters were noticeably
absent. The Countach was the ultimate automotive fantasy poster car for
more than a decade.
Enzo Ferrari gained fame in auto racing circles with Alfa Romeo race
teams before World War II and started his own auto company with its
racing arm after that war. Lamborghini didn't come along until the
early 1960s, but it soon became a prime Ferrari road car rival.
The story goes that Lamborghini began building autos in 1964 after
self-made multimillionaire Italian industrialist Ferruccio Lamborghini
became unhappy a few years earlier with his temperamental Ferraris and
told Enzo he could make a better car.
"You stick to making tractors, I'll continue making world-class sports
cars," Ferrari supposedly told Lamborghini, founder of the
automaker that carried his name.
Ferruccio then methodically built an ultramodern auto factory near
Ferrari headquaters in northern Italy, hired that country's top auto
talent and began making cars many thought were superior to Ferrari road
cars.
While Enzo Ferrari lived for racing his cars, Ferruccio Lamborghini
didn't feel racing was necessary. Even Maserati, an old-line Italian
exotic sports car builder and longtime Ferrari racing rival, pretty
much gave up racing in the 1960s, partly because it had become too
expensive, and concentrated on making fast road cars.
Lamborghini came up with the Countach because it needed a successor to
its fast, wild-looking 1967-72 Miura sports car, which was the most
exciting exotic Italian sports car of its day, topping Ferrari models.
The Countach was simply astonishing with its impossibly rakish styling
and V-12 engine that whisked it to 175 mph.
The Countach would eventually produce 420 horsepower with four valve
cylinder heads and would go even faster. I once quickly accelerated
from 75 mph to 150 mph in a friend's Countach on a nearly empty
interstate highway, and the car felt relaxed all the way, with
exceptional stability.
The new Lamborghini's name was pronounced COONtahsh, which was a
Piedmontese expression of amazement or wonder. It reportedly got its
name from a Lamborghini worker who saw the car the night before it was
introduced as an experimental model with no specific name at the 1971
auto show in Geneva, Switzerland.
That Lamborghini stole that show. Show visitors were amazed because
nobody had seen anything like the mid-engine, two-seat Countach coupe,
which seemed as if from the distant future.
Changes had to be made to the Countach show car to let it be produced.
The final production version thus wasn't displayed until 1973 at the
Geneva show, and the Countach went on sale the following year. It
officially was designated the LP400, but almost everyone called it the
Countach.
The first Countach had an awesome 4-liter, 375-horsepower V-12 that
powered other Lamborghinis, including the Miura, with no less than six
carburetors, four camshafts and four exhausts.
This was a complicated, hand-built car with a sharp-edged, nearly
pyramidal body design from talented designer Marcello Gandini of
Italy's Bertone auto body design firm.
The car's shape didn't follow established car design rules. And later,
more-powerful versions looked more muscular and menacing as body
scoops, scallops and spoilers were added. Some felt those additions
were cool, but others felt they cluttered the original Countach design.
The engine was put longitudinally in a multitubular space frame, with
fuel and water carried in twin side-mounted tanks and radiators. The
Countach had nearly 50/50 weight distribution, which helped high-speed
stability, although it took a while for drivers to get used to its
ultrawide body.
The initial plan was to make the Countach a very limited-production car
that would be available only to those who proved themselves skilled
enough to drive a road car that acted much like a race car. Ferruccio
Lamborghini was reluctant to even offer air conditioning because it
might make the Countach civilized enough for unskilled drivers. But it
eventually was decided to make air conditioning and even leather
upholstery standard.
Rear visibility was terrible, though--you had to open the door and sit
on the sill while looking over a shoulder when the car was in reverse
gear. Steering was heavy, and the interior was cramped, with an
overnight bag consuming most luggage space.
But such faults were expected in such an exotic car and were forgiven
because the Countach looked spectacular and had a race car's speed,
handling, braking and stability. And it was generally practical and
reliable for a supercar-nearly as comfortable in city traffic as when
moving flat out on Italy's no-speed-limit highways.
The Countach was continually improved. Four years after its arrival, it
became the LP400S coupe and got a modified suspension, superwide
Pirelli P7 tires on wider wheels, fender flares and a front spoiler. A
large rear wing was optional to give it more stability at very high
speeds and made it look more like a race car. Television star Jay Leno
removed that wing from his Countach because he felt that the
chances of going so fast on Los Angeles area roads with the car that it
became airborne were very unlikely.
The engine size was increased to 4.75 liters for the 1982 LP5000S model
to handle new, power-robbing emission standards, although horsepower
remained at 375. Lamborghini thought that wasn't enough, so it unveiled
the 5000 Quattrovalvole model in early 1985 with a 5.2-liter V-12 that
had four valves per cylinder and generated 420 horsepower--or 455 in
European tune. It could now top 180 mph.
Unfortunately, most Americans missed out on Countachs from the
mid-1970s to about 1982. That's largely because Ferruccio Lamborghini
had sold the now-struggling firm, which had problems meeting new U.S.
auto regulations.
Most potential Countach customers in America didn't want to bother with
"gray market" importers of the car, although some Countaches were
modified to meet the regulations and certified independently by
American outfits--at considerable expense.
The rules eventually were relaxed, and even Chrysler bought Lamborghini
in 1987 and owned it for a while. So did Germany's Audi, which invested
a lot in it and made its cars more technically sound and reliable.
The Countach finally was replaced by Lamborghini's rakish Diablo model
after a Countach Anniversary Coupe was produced.
The more modern Diablo was generally a better car, but it lacked the
amazing allure of the Countach.