Lamborghini Countach Returning for Limited Run
Lamborghini’s Countach is arguably one of the most important vehicles ever to be manufactured in that it solidified the brand’s reputation and helped create an entire subgenre of automotive pornography. The model is often touted as being one of the only posters featured on more teenage walls than Bo Derek and was among the first performance automobiles to appear in videogames with any regularity. Introduced in 1974, it’s the one Lamborghini almost everyone recognizes and probably the vehicle that best represents the brand. It’s wildly impractical, beyond garish, and totally obsessed with giving an experience so unique that you cannot help but place the car on a pedestal.
Oh, and Lamborghini said the Countach is coming back in limited quantities for its 50th birthday. Though it’s to be reimagined as a modern automobile.
Reboots typically work best when the original subject matter leaves a lot to be desired and doesn’t have an army of hyper-loyal fans prepared to tear the new-and-improved version to shreds. This is something Hollywood has taught us repeatedly without seemingly ever having taken that lesson to heart itself. But there’s reason to think the next Countach might get a warmer reception than the last few installments of Star Wars or that horrendous Ghostbusters reboot from 2016.
Despite being one of the most famous automobiles in living memory, the Countach kind of sucked as a regular car. My experience with the model barely exceeds smelling the interior but it has some of the worst rearward visibility you can encounter without getting a commercial driver’s license, had a clutch that’s heavy enough to qualify as self-abuse, and came with a monstrous (optional) rear wing that many claimed still reduced the vehicle’s top speed over a decade into its production. Owners have also said that the car feels substantially faster than it actually was, due in part to its noisy V12 and famously uncomfortable ride. By most accounts, the flying wedge was adept at making a statement while standing still or hurtling down the road at perilously quick speeds and very little else.
Lamborghini teased its successor on Monday, hinting that it would be leaving some of those older character traits in the dust. But the flamboyance of the Countach is the one aspect that makes it truly special, so the brand would be wise not to tone things down too much.
Thus far, teasers have given us a glimpse of fender vents in and a car-covered profile that seems to indicate this thing comes with one hell of a spoiler. Beyond its planned debut at Pebble Beach — potentially as the “Countach LPI 800-4” — that’s about all we know.
But the name hints at it being a hybrid (or Longitudinale Posteriore Ibrido) V12 outputting 800 PS (789 hp) and rumors suggest the company is using the Sian as its base. That would be a fitting choice considering it’s the most striking example in the automaker’s lineup and Lamborghini would be crazy to employ even the slightest hint of subtly on the Countach.
We should get our first look at the vehicle during the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance on August 15th. Inside sources have suggested the car will retail above €3 million ($3.52 million USD) and be limited to just over 100 units over the next several years.
We make dreams come true. We did it with the classic Countach in the 1970s. And we’re doing it again. The new Lamborghini Countach is coming. pic.twitter.com/nXctgIuyqe
— Lamborghini (@Lamborghini) August 9, 2021
[Images: Lamborghini]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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Two weeks ago, on a weekday afternoon on the nearly empty Highway 407 I was passed by an Aventador. Just after he passed me, there was a puff of smoke from his exhausts and he drifted over to the shoulder seemingly without power. Incredibly I did not see anybody pull over to assist him. Schadenfreude? Perhaps. I however was rushing to a medical appointment so have a somewhat objective excuse.
Another body kit on a aventador? yawn.