Countach, the ultimate supercar

correct, this car

 

Interior Shoots of LP400 #1120001

1974:
http://www.countach.ch/History/LP400/1120001_AutoCar1974.jpg

how I found it in 2000:
http://www.countach.ch/History/LP400/1120001_3.jpg

 

The white Car with swiss registration GE-156330 was already used in 1981, I found a picture in the Quattroruote Magazine!

I will add a new section on my Countach-Homepage soon showing all known pictures
http://www.countach.ch/History/PaceCar/index.html

Looks like at least one red car of 1983 was still a LP400S, also the white car used in 1981 with GE-156330 plates could also be a LP400s, the only picture I have with the 1982 letters do not show the registration plates. I think this was an error to say GE-156330 was a 5l without having detail pictures.

The IXO model of the white 1982 car wears registration 5889L4 batched Countach 5000s, the red LP400s of 1983 6555L4 batched only as S, no idea what kind of plates these were.

 

nice

funny enough the last one with OZ advertising has campagnolos on!

 

Any shots of the white one pranging the drivers side rear against harbour side armco on piscine exit in 83 ! Looked very painful from north-facing grandstand.

Peter

 

Wow the differences are considerable. Having seen the car in person I can confidently say that the 'Factory Restoration Department' has a lot to learn from the likes of Gary Bobileff.

It never ceases to amaze me how people get stars in their eyes when thinking that the 'factory' will be restoring my car or that 'It is being sent to Italy' to be looked after like there are some magic restoration fairies that do Gods work there. Fact is that some of the finest restoration shops in the world are in the USA and their depth of knowledge and quality of product goes well beyond what most Italian shops can imagine. I'll take Gary's place any day over some place in Italy to restore my classic Lamborghini thank you. Now to just get the car first

 

there are great places to restore an old lambo in US and in Italy
as there are bad places in either country

you need to take time to find one or more shops that really know these cars and also do some research and homeworcks

the more you know about the car yourself, the smaller the chance to end with an uncorrect restorated car (or even worse a bad running one)

 

LOL

 

You should not forget that 1120001 was the preproduction development car, there are a lot of things different on this car compared to the later LP400 production units. Also it got changed several times until it was finally sold to the swiss owner who seems to have it owned for a longer time.
Obviously around 1975 the factory changed a lot of the interior to match it the production cars like the seats and all the indicator lights, leather colour was changed as well.

Also the factory did not restore #1120001 in any way since they got it in 2001, they cleaned and polished the car and made it run again.

The huge question is, if it shall be restored to which point in time/version or at all.
The red version is the oldest and farest away from the regular LP400, the green version of 1973/74 was not finished but would show the car like presented in Paris/London show etc.
Or finally restore it like is was delivered?

IME it should be left in the state it is, she got it's patina of 37 years of existence, any restoration would remove the traces of it's fromer life, I wouldn't doubt in any way that Gary would be capable to do an amazing job.

 

It appears as though I jumbled my ideas together and made a mess of it. To clarify there were 2 ideas here. One was that there are some real differences to the original and current sates of the first Countach and the other was that some of the best restoration shops in the world reside in the US. An extension to that idea is the assertion that restorations done in Italy have no greater value nor are they more likely to be correct than those done elsewhere. Too often people get wrapped up in these notions that workers in Italy are somehow more skilled than those elsewhere.

As a related story years ago I was given my grandfathers old wristwatch that had sat unused for over 20 years. As a valued keepsake of him I wanted to have it restored. As such I sought out the best jeweler I could find. Naively I did this by going to the local high end jewelry shop where they spend most of their days blowing smoke up their customers behind telling them how great they are. So I take them this watch hoping to enter into a meaningful discussion of how the restoration would be approached. The clown I dealt with starts going on of how it would be sent to a 'specialist in Switzerland' like there are no mere mortals in the area that can compare to the great Swiss wizards. I chuckled to myself at this outright lie picturing the watch sitting on a first class seat on a Swissair flight Naturally I took the watch elsewhere and my one regret is not telling the guy that he was a flat out liar. But I digress.

 

Is that a QV? How did it pass emission? Regarding the bodywork, was it Federalized as is or did the owner took off the ugly bumpers and rectangular side markers?

 

Just my .02, possibly some alterations were done after the fact. Once the reg. is legit and the inspections are done, the car gets customized. -or- Its not what you know, but who you know.

 

very nice car, Joe

 

Since I can see through the rear window it is not a DD 4 valve. Not a low body either. So it must be an S3 400S or a 5000S. Probability wise it's the 5000S.

 

Alex, you have a good eye
it is a late LP400S or "countach S rialzato" as called by worcks

 

Very pleased with my new arrival, wanted a decent model of this for years!
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Very nice, White and Black (with contrasting interiors) are my favorite Countach colors.

 

Very Nice! And, check this one out. My wife got this for me on Christmas. Notice that its a USA Fuel Injected model, and very close to my colors too! She thought I'd really like this! SHE WAS RIGHT!!!

Mike
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I just wanted to say thanks to mr joe sackey.

This will be my final regular post as a fellow Fchatter.

This has been my favorite thread of all time. I have found much great useful information just by reading this thread. So hopefully in the future I will include pics of my own Countach.