Countach, the ultimate supercar

Funny, #1120001 has still the holders for the swiss registration plates mounted...

 

So this car has actually been driven on Swiss roads by it's owner?
Do you know the plates? Are there any pictures of the car on those plates?
for how long did the owner use the car before he parked it in a shed?
Great story!

Ciao!
Marcello

 

Correct, when inspecting the car I found traces of red colour in the inner fender etc, so I knew immediately what piece of history I found, unfortunately I didn't have the money to buy it myself...

I heard from the seller that the owner was a painter, it's said to have been in Basel where I come from, but I never saw the car on the road nor on pictures. It's like it was hidden away 25 years and suddenly popped up in that yahoo auction 2000.

Indeed a great und strange story...
I'm really happy this car is now in the factory museum instead of being in Japan.

Here you can see the typical swiss reg. plate exchange mount and my wife when she saw the CT the first time.
http://www.countach.ch/MyQV/gla12997_79.jpg

 

Here's the picture you posted.
Unless you have other pictures wich proof different,
I would say these are Italian plates.
Swiss plates are white with black letters.
Nice to see see those golden rims.
Raymond, any traces of gold left when you found her?

BR,
Marcello
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Leimer took a lot of cars to Switzerland and sold them without giving the factory the money I heard, strange this went on till the factory went bankrupt...

Indeed this is not a swiss plate, it looks like an italian export plate. Also the Cheetah had a swiss plate prior to it's final test in the states.

 

Very interesting info Raymond. Was Rosetti any better, or did they both party untill the lights went out?
Do you know if "da picasso" from Basel bought it from Rene Leimer?
And did the car have golden rims then?
I noticed it did have huge non LP400 mirrors mounted, for road use, wich are now luckily removed again.

 

All I know now is that that car is in Japan, and the Bonsai tree's in the background seem to confirm that.
I will keep digging...

 

Also note that the originally silver painted front bumper is painted black now.
I would seriously advice the factory to bring it back to the original silver again.

Ciao!
Marcello

 

I agree i was so surprised when i saw the car at Concorso that the bumper was black, i even questioned Balboni whether it really was the true no1 LP400, as i was convinced the bumper was silver. I was also surprised at the cars condition. I thought it had been restored by the factory, before they put it on display in their museum, but its in a very worn state with cracked glass in the right door and looking a little worse for ware. A little preserved history is nice in a restoration but they dont seem to have even restored her?

 

Does the engine actually run, and is the car drivable?
I have mixed feelings about the car.
They just left the car "as found" with the patina that comes with it, I really like that.
A complete Sacky/Bobileff restoration would probably kill the car as well, death by concours..no offence
Back to original specs, and in driving condition, without losing the patina, that's the way to do it.

If leather is going to be replaced and repaint is done,
you might even think of bringing it back to red/black again.
I prefer the green though.

Ciao!
Marcello

 

ROFL!!!

 

No, I think Joe will exactly understand and hopefully agree what I mean in this special case, no need for discussions here about the excellent work they do on cars.

 

I think the fact that it is merely a relic of a bygone era (that the current owners probably don't care much about) and that it can't really make the company any real money is why it is left in its present state.

I too was not impressed with its condition but the fact that it was not crushed and recycled years ago is comforting.

 

Hi all,

Attached is a colour card of the Countach-Silhouette period, wich means between 1976 and 1979.
Does anybody have list of the original LP400 colours?
I think #1120001 would be "verde medio", like #120008.
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theres patina and then theres holes in the bodywork plugged but not painted,

 

I too was a little disappointed with the condition of the green LP when I saw it at the factory in 2005. All of the points noted by Joe and I will add that I was told that the car does not run. Please take this only as a comment given to me by the museum curator. With that said however, I have not seen any images of it moving.

On the subject of that car it is great to see Raymond a member here. If it is not too much to ask, I kindly ask if he could tell a little more about the finding of the car and the sale to Lamborghini. I have also always wondered what the asking price was back then. I'm sure enough time has passed that it would not be an issue to post it. So Raymond please tell us 'how much did they want for the Lamborghini barn find of the century?'

 

I found the car in a yahoo-auction and got in contact with the seller (located in canton Glarus in the alpes), the car then sold on yahoo for DEM 260k, but as I got to know the seller and buyer could not find an agreement about the shipping costs and how to ship.
I contacted Valentino and told him about the car, some month later the car was still in this barn-like garage and I contacted Valentino again, he went then there with Gamberini and they bought the car.

I don't know what the price was and what turned out with the buyer of the yahoo-auction and to be honest I don't want to know it either because it's not my business. Also the seller turned out not being a stand up guy, but that's another history.

The seller told me the engine ran but that there was a problem with the fuel pumps, the engine cranked in 2000.
The factory did only some cosmetic fresh up but no restoration, IME it's OK like this, this car has now 35years and is allowed to wear patina.
BTW the front bumper was black when I found the car: http://www.countach.ch/History/LP400/1120001_5.jpg

More amazing for me is f.e. that the louvres in from of the radiators are completely different from the later production cars, also the brake duct under the front were simply riveted onto the body (later they were integrated). All this proves that this is the red/green first car after the famous destroyed prototype.
Also the handbrake (on the left) and midtunnel is different: http://www.countach.ch/History/LP400/1120001_3.jpg

The only thing that is obvious on the car are the red painted exhaust tips:
http://www.countach.ch/History/LP400/1120001_12.jpg

Me at the factory in 2001: http://www.countach.ch/History/LP400/1120001_ray.jpg

Raymond
www.countach.ch

PS: I know I should update the history pages of the countach homepage but since I'm having a new house built even my car stands his tires flat...

 

Thank you Raymond for the story. I did a quick currency history and in 2000 260K DEM was just over 100K USD which, at the time, was quite a lot for an LP400 that needed everything. Of course this is a very special car but in 2000 the market for these cars was very cold compared to today so the asking price was for sure on the high end of the market. I guess my only other question is that did the seller know what he had or did he think it was just another (if you can ever say that ) LP400?

 

I saw the car prior to its restoration when it just had been taken from the transporter into the workshop who finally restored it. It seems to me that the resto was done not correct as at that point nobody from Lamborghini really supervised the work!

But how and when came the car to Sweden where it was found? Joe do you have a copy the of the UK-mag (C&SC??) where the find was featured?

Ciao!
Walter