Thank you Joe! Those dimensions are perfect!!! So far all the parts (Thanks Emilio!) fit perfectly. The rear euro mod is only taking a few hours. My car will be completely repainted. There are holes that were drilled (Hold the US bumper assembly) that need to be filled. Once I relocate the logos to the back plate, the back is done. I will remove everything before paint and then reinstall when I get the car back from the painter. I will also be removing the US side maker lights and making the car are accurate to euro spec that I can. I intend to freshen up the interior (its in pretty good shape) but install the correct stereo deck. I doing this over the winter to be ready for May next year. I have to say, this is so much fun.
hey Joe thanks for answering my PM about the missing part I need on my climate control panel on my Diablo lol
1987 R&T magazine flashback: "The Countach flew by in an absolutely spine-chilling scream of wind & engine noise, and disappeared into its own rooster-tail of atomized rainwater". Below, the GTO driven by Michael Gabel and the Downdraft by Valentino Balboni. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Joe, I believe you asked what the weight of the Countach rear spoiler might be earlier in this thread. Well, I can tell you it's 8.084kg, having weighed mine this afternoon. I've entered the car into the Concorso d'Eleganza Lamborghini & Design 2017 event next weekend in Switzerland and thought it best to present my Countach QV with the rear wing reattached, as that was how it was supplied when new. FYI, the wing will be coming off once I get back home, as I much prefer the design of the car with the wing removed..
Thank you for that Harry! In addition to the weight, I wonder how much drag it causes at high speed, and, given that these units were allegedly never wind-tunnel tested and definitely not Homologated, I always wonder if the angle of attack of the wing plane works for or against lift over the front & rear ends respectively. Either way, have a superb trip to beautiful Switzerland.
Yes, they were taken in Italy. Jeffrey Zwart the photographer accompanied Larry Crane and editor TC Browne to Sant Agata for a major Road & Track piece, early in the summer of 1986. Whilst they were there, Jeffrey also took images of the Mimran Downdraft coming down the 'line, which, incidentally, also had a Panna interior. Perhaps there was a deal on Panna at the leather suppliers that month... At any rate, any chassis number ideas on the black Downdraft? Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I was thinking GLA12904 if you have this as nero panna but it was consigned before GLA12997 was on the line...
Looking again I am wondering if there are two cars in those images. GLA12981 was bleu acapulco panna and fits the timing perfectly.
Thanks for this, very interesting. Yes, some magazines would use multiple cars, although, thumbing through the original copy I have in my hands, the car used in the inside feature is very definitely non-metallic black, however you could make a case for the car featured on the cover being Blu Acapulco. I'm hoping to have Jeffrey Zwart go through his entire box of 'slides from that trip one day, and I daresay the originals should reveal more definitive information.
Image Unavailable, Please Login I have a roll of red insulation tape that's near an exact match to the red paint on the Countach. 99% of people never spot it's there! I have filled the holes and had the boot lid repainted in the past too but the tape works well as a temporary fix..
Ok then, one more possibility. HLA12906 nero champagne consigned end December 87 but built end March 86. Perhaps a factory demonstrator fitted with replacement interior before consignment... VB might remember since he is in one of the images...
Downdraft FLA12824's owner reports: "Joe, thought you'd want the final numbers on the Downdraft. It generated 479 HP max @ 6,700 ROM, with 404 max torque @ 5,500 RPM. Just wrapped up a weekend with my wife at the Goodwood Revival, off to Italy for a Lamborghini Factory Tour tomorrow. Incidentally, only adjustment to factory set-up was increase in compression to 10.5:1, otherwise straightforward engine rebuild which was fully blueprinted & balanced. Incidentally final dyno numbers with factory cams and a new OEM exhaust. Engine runs quite smoothly as well". Thank you for sharing Jude, dyno sheet attached courtesy of his restoration shop on the East Coast. Meanwhile, I'm not sure there is continuing interest in this, but we have three (3) other Downdrafts that will make it on the dyno in due course, two standard production cars and a factory tuned car, the former 2 will be compared with a standard production Fuelie as a base comparison. Image Unavailable, Please Login
As an aside, when it comes to performance testing one day, I'd love to see if the Road & Track 1987 test which revealed similar performance numbers between the Downdraft and my other favorite car, the 288 GTO, will be duplicated. Something tells me from personal driving experience that a well-tuned Downdraft will be a formidable opponent for a GTO, and can be marginally faster both from zero to sixty and at terminal velocity. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Spent some time getting the Mimran Downdraft clean again, ready for a small event upcoming. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
The dyno graph looks good. Lotsssss of power in that engine. The most astonishing thing to me is the Torque. 404lb!! Thats some Italian muscle right there. Truly Italy's most wild muscle car ever, the Downdraft.