CarBrandLogos archive · Lamborghini · 1974

LamborghiniCountach

Sixteen years of production for a shape that was drawn as a show car and never toned down.

Photo: Brian Snelson from Hockley, Essex, England · CC BY 2.0

The story

A defining chapter in Lamborghini history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Lamborghini Countach, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

1981 Lamborghini Countach LP400S series 2 rear

Origins

Marcello Gandini's brief at Bertone was to replace the Miura, a car widely regarded as the most beautiful in the world. He responded with something that shared none of its curves. The LP500 shown at Geneva in 1971 was a wedge: flat surfaces, sharp creases, a windscreen laid almost horizontal, and doors that swung upward on forward-mounted hinges because conventional doors would not clear the wide sills. The name comes from a Piedmontese exclamation of astonishment, reportedly used by someone in the workshop on first seeing it. That original show car did not survive: it was consumed in barrier crash testing during homologation a few years later.

1981 Lamborghini Countach LP400S series 2 rear · Mr.choppers · CC BY-SA 3.0

Design and engineering

Underneath, Paolo Stanzani addressed the Miura's weaknesses. The V12 was turned through ninety degrees to sit longitudinally, but reversed, with the gearbox running forward between the seats and the driveshaft passing back through the sump to the rear differential. That gave a direct, precise gearchange, separated engine and gearbox lubrication, and improved weight distribution, at the cost of a very wide transmission tunnel. The steel monocoque of the Miura was replaced by a tubular spaceframe with aluminium panels.

Lamborghini Countach · Craig Howell from San Carlos, CA, USA · CC BY 2.0

In production

Production began in 1974 with the LP400, a comparatively slender car with a 3.9-litre engine and a periscope-style roof channel for the rear-view mirror that gave early cars their periscopio nickname. From there the Countach grew steadily wider and more heavily decorated: the LP400 S of 1978 added Pirelli P7 tyres, flared arches and the optional rear wing, the LP500 S enlarged the engine to 4.8 litres, the 5000 QV of 1985 went to 5.2 litres with four valves per cylinder and downdraught carburettors that required a hump in the engine cover, and the 25th Anniversary of 1988 restyled the bodywork with revised ducts and skirts.

Fo S20162016 0623 090034AA · Matthew Lamb · CC BY-SA 2.0

Legacy

Visibility was poor, the clutch was heavy, the cabin was hot and reversing required opening the door and sitting on the sill. None of it mattered. Through the 1980s the Countach was the poster on a very large number of bedroom walls, the fixed image of what a supercar looked like, and it sustained Lamborghini through a period in which the company changed owners repeatedly and came close to failing more than once. Production ran to 1990 and around 2,000 cars in total, a figure spread across sixteen years, which says something about how long a genuinely arresting shape can carry a design past its engineering. The Diablo replaced it, and Lamborghini revived the name in 2021 for a limited hybrid model that borrowed the styling cues rather than the engineering.

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Produced

1974–1990

Engine

Lamborghini V12

Designer

Marcello Gandini at Bertone

Body

2-door coupe

Technical specification

The Countach, in detail.

Production: 1974–1990
Class: Sports car (S)
Body style: 2-door coupe
Layout: Longitudinal mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive
Engine: Lamborghini V12; LP400, LP400 S: 3929 cc ; LP500 S: 4754 cc ; 5000 QV, 25th Anniversary: 5167 cc
Transmission: 5-speed synchromesh manual
Designer: Marcello Gandini at Bertone
Assembly: Italy: Sant'Agata Bolognese
Manufacturer: Lamborghini