1990 Lamborghini Countach 25th Anniversary – 3,292 km!

Details

The Lamborghini story is fascinating in itself but for the company to have survived all these years and indeed celebrate its 50th Anniversary in 2013 is quite amazing. Ferruccio Lamborghini was an entrepreneur, a very successful businessman and a lover of the finer things in life, including sports cars. He was fortunate enough to own some wonderful cars including Ferraris, however, he found fault with them all. According to the legend, following a meeting with Enzo Ferrari to discuss some of the shortcomings of his cars, Enzo dismissed Ferruccio and he subsequently decided that he could and would build a better car.

Not long after, in May 1963, Automobili Ferruccio Lamborghini SPA was established and the small town of Sant’Agata Bolognese, located between Modena and Bologna, was chosen as the location to build the factory. Born under the Zodiac sign Taurus, Lamborghini chose the raging bull as the emblem for his sports cars.

Lamborghini knew what he wanted and he put together a highly skilled team. His first car, the 350 GTV, was shown at the Turin Motor Show in October 1963. This car received mixed reviews, however, Lamborghini was not deterred and made a number of improvements and design changes to the original concept. The first Lamborghini production car, the 350 GT, left the factory in 1964.

The 350 GT evolved into the 400 GT 2+2 and later the Islero. In parallel to building these classic front engine V12 GT cars, Lamborghini wanted to build a supercar. Enter the Miura, which was first shown as a rolling chassis at the Turin Motor Show in November 1965. Fast track to the 1966 Geneva Motor Show and the stunning Bertone designed Miura was officially released to critical acclaim. The Miura is considered by many to be the first real ‘supercar’. The first model was known as the P400, followed by the P400S introduced in 1969 and the P400SV which was introduced in 1971. Even though the Miura was a great success it was starting to show its age.

Under the project name LP112, chief engineer Paolo Stanzani and his staff began working on a successor to the Miura in 1970. For this project, he collaborated with test driver Bob Wallace, assistant engineer Massimo Parenti and designer Marcello Gandini of Bertone.

Ferruccio Lamborghini had a preference for Grand Tourers, but he recognized there was a real market for uncompromising sports cars. He gave the development team his approval to push the boundaries even further than what they had done while designing the Miura.

The first prototype, designated LP500, was first shown to the world at the 1971 Geneva Motor Show. The prototype Countach shocked the world. Surely ‘just another show car’ they said. The Miura was a tough act to follow and Bertone’s design team pushed the boundaries to create what is today one of the most recognisable shapes on the planet! The word ‘Countach’ is a slang exclamation of astonishment in Piedmontese, a northern Italian dialect. This expletive was uttered when one of Bertone’s design team members was building a scale model of the car . . . and it stuck! The Countach became reality when the first production car rolled off the Sant’ Agata production line in 1974.

The original LP400 was replaced by the LP400S in 1978. The “S” model had the wide wheel arches and uprated suspension to accommodate the massive Pirelli P7 tyres / Campagnolo wheel rims along with other subtle improvements. In 1982 the LP500S (also referred to as the LP5000S) was introduced. The major change here was the increased engine capacity from 3929cc to 4754cc. The Countach continued to evolve and in 1985 the LP5000 Quattrovalvole (or “QV”) was introduced. With the “QV” the engine was improved again, bored and stroked to 5.2 litres (5,167 cc) and given four valves per cylinder (quattrovalvole in Italian). The final variant of the Countach, the 25^th Anniversary, was released in 1988. The 25^th Anniversary variant was celebrating Lamborghini’s 25^th anniversary as an automobile manufacturer. The bodywork of its predecessor, the LP5000 QV was redesigned by Horacio Pagani, the creator of the Pagani Zonda. There are about 500 subtle changes and improvements found on the 25^th Anniversary compared to the LP5000 QV.

The Lamborghini Countach is in our opinion THE first supercar and it was an incredible success with circa 2,000 cars built. Production spanned an amazing 17 years from 1974 to 1990. When the 25^th Anniversary was introduced, Lamborghini was owned by Chrysler. They took their time to develop and introduce the Countach successor, the Diablo, so the 25^th Anniversary was somewhat of a ‘gap filler’. It was, however, very successful and 657 examples were built.

Oldtimer Australia is delighted to offer for sale a very low mileage 1990 Lamborghini Countach 25^th Anniversary.

According to the Lamborghini Registry’s factory records, this car was completed on the 30^th March 1990 and its original colour scheme was ‘rosso’ (red) with a ‘panna’ (cream) interior and red piping.

This Lamborghini Countach was destined for the Australian market, however, at the very last moment it was diverted to Brunei where it became part of the Royal family’s private collection. Due to the secrecy surrounding the royal family in Brunei, not much is known about the car’s early history, however, it is fair to say the car was sparingly used if at all. Cars belonging to the royal family were never formally registered with the Land Transport Department in Brunei. The car was gifted to a close friend of the royal family who first registered it on the 18^th December 1997 as BAC4902. There are records on file showing the car remained registered in Brunei until 2004. The car then ended up in a storage facility and unfortunately it wasn’t well looked after. There is a record on file showing the car was last registered (to be off the road) on the 18^th September 2010. At that time the car carried the registration BP8168. This car, along with many others, was sold by public auction in late 2016. The car was acquired by Gullwing Motor Cars who are headquartered in Astoria, New York in North America.  The car was approved for export to the USA on the 14^th December 2016. At that time the car was cosmetically in poor condition.

This late model Lamborghini Countach 25^th Anniversary was acquired from Gullwing Motor Cars by its current Brisbane based owner. He is a Lamborghini enthusiast and former Lamborghini employee who wanted to set up a boutique business to restore high end classic cars, particularly Lamborghinis! There are usually Espada projects out there, but he wanted ‘something special’ and this Countach was ‘just perfect’.

The car was imported into Australia in early 2018. The owner then started the journey to completely restore this Countach to its former glory. The photos on file show this was by no means an easy project. When the car was dismantled it became apparent the long-time storage in Brunei had not done it any favours. The Countach body is mounted on a complex space frame chassis that is prone to rust. It was immediately apparent that this car had some rust in the chassis so the body was removed and the chassis restored. A complete cosmetic restoration was undertaken and the car was repainted in its original colour. They have done a wonderful job and today the paintwork presents like new. The wheels were carefully polished and also present like new. Correct Pirelli tyres were fitted all round. All of the external trim was either refurbished or replaced. The glass is original and in excellent condition, consistent with the mileage of the car.

Fortunately, the interior was incredibly well preserved. All of the upholstery, the dash and even the carpets were in very good condition. With a significant amount of elbow grease the interior has cleaned up particularly well. All of the instruments and controls have been checked and refurbished where necessary.

The car was totally stripped mechanically and everything was rebuilt as required. The engine and gearbox were all in very good condition and did not require rebuilding. That said, everything was stripped, new gaskets & seals were used throughout and all ancillaries were overhauled. When imported into Australia the odometer was showing 3,247 km.

An absolute fortune has been spent restoring this car to its former glory. All the new parts used were sourced through Lamborghini and no short cuts were taken.

Today this car presents essentially ‘like new’. The interior shows the slightest amount of patina, most noticeably on the door cards. The boot is original and whilst it is in good condition, there is some slight discolouration and marking on the carpet.

Perhaps surprisingly to some, the fuel injected V12 engine starts easily. Driving any Countach is ‘an event’, so once you are in the zone and the engine has warmed up you can hit the open road. Refined is not a word one would associate with a Countach, but the 25^th Anniversary is surprisingly refined compared to its predecessors. Once mobile you learn to live with the fact every second car on the road has someone wanting to take a photo as you drive by! We were able to ditch the paparazzi and find a relatively quiet stretch of road to enjoy the Countach as its maker intended. This beast is tight on the road and it steers and stops as one would expect. In today’s politically correct world the only place you can really experience a Countach as Ferruccio had dreamed is a race track, but that was for another day. On a typical beautiful Brisbane winter’s day under a cloudless blue sky our job was to make sure that this car did what it needed to do. This Countach 25^th Anniversary passed with flying colours and it is now time for the car to find its next custodian.

The car has an interesting history file, including registration documents from Brunei, restoration photos and invoices for new parts purchased. There is also the correct space saver spare wheel under the front bonnet. Unfortunately, the tool kit is missing.

We are delighted to offer an incredibly unique opportunity to purchase every young child’s dream poster car.

Highlights:

• A rare, factory right hand drive Lamborghini Countach.
• Presented in its original colour scheme of red with a cream interior.
• Fascinating history.
• Recently refurbished by Lamborghini trained enthusiasts to a very high standard.
• Only 3,292 km on the odometer.

 

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