Countach, the ultimate supercar

Not to deviate off track, and I love the Countach, but how reliable was the car?

 

Which car?
My QV drove 1200km this past weekend to join the meeting of the "Lamborghini Classic Club Germany" in Bad Kreuznach without a single problem, even the AC works, not unimportant at 32 degrees C...

The QVX was a racecar and finished some races, as always race cars should be reliable... but...

 

Badge and the shape of the rear light housing...

Saw this car in action at a test at Silverstone..
sounded awesome.. looked terrible on track.. twitchy and not at all planted.. looked a bloody handful in fact

 

I just watched a French movie from 1987 and saw a Countach which had a text which seemed to read "Garage Black Cannes". Does anyone know of such a dealer?

 

The letters where quite hard to make out, so it could very well be "Blanc" instead of "Black". There's a photo of the car and text at http://img204.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sainttropez69on1.jpg. On a second inspection, it could also be "Garage Palace Cannes".

 

Just been back from a day driving on some beutiful quiet Scottish country roads and jumping from one car to the other! I was amazed at how well my old Countach QV kept pace with the more modern cars. Whilst The newer cars are awesome in many respcts, overall I felt the oldest was best! It is a car you 'need' to drive rather than let it do the work for you.In outright performance terms on a public road it is quite close if not near identical to the Diablos, but less torquey than the murci and less nimble than the 360cs!
The reaction form the other drivers was the most unual as I thought they would struggle with the old car. Instead they all loved it! Put a grin on their face and all couldnt believe how competent she was!
I accept I had to work harder to keep pace but sometimes work is fun!!
Just thought would share my views on an truly amazing day with you
Paul
Glasgow
Scotland

 

Hey can you guys comment on the LP400S one- vs two-mirror versions? I have seen some that have one side mirror (driver's side) and others that have two (driver and passenger). There are also different mirror types; any differences between them?

 

Paul,

Good to see you here

Do you have any historical or great new pics of the car?

You will need to give me a shout for the next run although I do admit i was slightly hung over on Sunday!!

Off topic, the Espada, I noted some cars have the knock off thing that goes in the centre of the wheel. I know you mentioned changing them but I would keep (in silver) and find out how to sort the powdercoating being magnesium. Have you got knock offs or can they be fitted?

Matthew

 

LP400S came from factory both with one or 2 mirrors
the older cars tend to have manual vitaloni sebring model (as the LP400) while the "newer" ones tend to have the big square toronado model ...but

this said i have seen cars with sebring with a later VIN than car with toronados


this not mentioning that very late 400S serie 3 had the vitaloni turbo since new and many other 400S have been upgraded with late turbo vitalonis now

 

as requested!!
hope this works as never done it before!!!

 

Single mirror 400S as described:
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That worked! Nicely done. Looks like a great day out.

 

nice

looks an early QV...do you know if the wing came with the car when new?

 

SUPERB PIC!

 

Interesting -- looks like the 'square' mirrors came in two shapes. Unless I am mistaking the one on the black car as a square when in fact it's different?
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Hi all,

I took this picture yesterday...
Lucky shot!

Ciao!
Marcello
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Very cool.

 

They are different mirrors. The one on the left is the later Vitaloni "turbo" electric, the one on the right in the earlier Vitaloni Tornado. The Vitaloni Sebring (I think) is the small round bullet shaped one on many LP400's and early 400S cars.

 

That is great info...thanks!

Do you happen to know if the different Vitaloni mirrors are interchangeable? I am wondering about the bracket and the bolts/holes that hold it on the front of the door.

 

My memory banks are probably not perfect here, but I think they are relatively interchangeable. I seem to remember that when you take the mirror off, the holes are not specific to that exact mirror bracket - there was some room for whatever bracket in that rough style you were going to put there..... I think........

I had the Vitaloni turbo electrics on my Countach, and I had to remove then quite a bit to repair the pot metal mounting bases they attached to - a buddy of mine and I even had some made from aluminum because the originals are pretty cheap and would crack at the stress points (that's why Countach mirrors vibrate and droop).

 

the "flag" style mirrors look best on the 400s imo