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Last Updated: 16 Jul 2003
I first saw a photograph of the Lamborghini Countach somewhere around 1974. It was of the yellow LP500 prototype. Even without any performance figures I was in lust - the taut, smoothly flowing shape reached in and twanged something down in the reptilian recesses of my lower cerebellum.
It took a few more years before I came across more information on the Countach. Imagine my horror when I saw what had been done to Gandini's pure shape - donkey ear air scoops on top, fish lip fender flares, hideous wheels poking out past the body, and the coffee-table-sized wing on the deck lid. It was enough to make me puke my lunch, but to most people, that was that a Countach looked like. Hardly anyone had ever seen or heard of the yellow LP500 show car.
The LP500 was Lamborghini's replacement for their highly successful Miura. It was styled by Bertone for Lamborghini, who built and exhibited the "Longitudinal Posteriore 5-Litri" styling exercise at the 1971 Geneva Motor Show. Reception was mixed; most people liked it, but felt it was too radical to be developed as a real production car.
Lamborghini's show car was a running, roadable vehicle, and racked up thousands of miles near Sant'Agata Bolognese as various problems were sorted out. The resulting information was used to design the LP400 production prototype.
The LP500 show car used a bored and stroked version of the 4-liter engine Lamborghini was using in the Miura. Concern about reliability caused them to drop back to the standard 4-liter displacement for the Countach, so the LP400 follows the LP500 in Lamborghini history. The LP400 was eventually enlarged to 5 liters and renamed the LP500, just to keep you on your toes...
The LP400 prototype had various differences from the LP500 - the smaller engine, of course, and an entirely different chassis and cooling system. Of the three, the cooling system was the most obvious visual change.
Lamborghini only built a few LP400s before they started gorping it up with crudely designed add-on doodads; I wouldn't have been surprised to see some Superfly headlights, running boards, and lighted curb feelers after seeing the crap they stuck on the poor LP400. But the customers loved the junk, and most Countaches are duded up with everything but the kitchen sink.
Enough! You can get the history and specifications for the Countach in a lot of places. Here is a visual tour of the Countach the masses never knew...
LP500 - Images
LP500 - Technical
LP500 - Fate