Looking at a Countach tomorrow

i am with, they are all nice and worth buyng
all the variants have some pros and cons...

the real reason to prefer the carbed one is to me the fact the countach was meant as a beast with 6 big Webers, all the FI car were (as good as they are) a way to make the car road legal in US market

nothing against FI lambos (i do own diablo), but an FI countach lacks a small part of the complete experience imo

 

The rockers were something that was really popular in the 80's. I remember seeing plenty of Porsche 911/930's with the boxed in rockers & Ferrari side vents on the rear fenders. The one on Joe's car makes it look like a 88.5, a newer car. In college I had a friend. His dad had a 63 Corvette. He took the split window out of it & added a 1 piece rear window to it in 64 so that it would look like a new one. You could change the rockers, if you choose to. It's more than possible that the stock one's are under the rocker extensions.

As far as power, go drive it. It's got more than enough power to rip up your license in a moment. They were fast cars for the time, but they are vintage cars now. A stock Viper will chew up any Countach.

 

I did not read the posts from other members. What I have to say, has most likely already been posted by other members. Quite a few people in the thread, have experience with the Countach.


I would not worry about factory performance from one model to another. A Countach is not going to run away from any modern performance car. In other words, buy the best mechanical car you can find. I never put much emphasis on exterior colors.


Check the condition of the clutch.
Have a PPI performed from a specialist independent service shop.
Look for mechanical service receipts without gaps.
Don't buy a bargain fixer-upper.


It is a buyer's market.

 

I think he did that already.
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Hey.

I sold all 3 Countachs Ive had this past month.

When you PM'd me I did not have a good car available.

I do now.

Send me an e-mail rather than a PM if you wish to discuss.

Best,

 

Andy Greene Sports and Racing 912 748 5737 Pooler GA.

 

i have to comment on this carb versus injected debate. i have owned several carb lambos and F cars as you guys are well aware. the injected Countach and my former QV have both shown me that you can reach in, turn the key, and drive off, bieng sure to watch the rev as the cars warms up while you drive it. even a well tuned carb car is a full drama session having to warm it up, and then trying to drive it in traffic in a city enviornment ( where Joe Frazar and i both live, abliet in differnt parts of town).

there is no space around here in Georgia where you can use 7/10 of what a "slow" injected Countach can do without going to jail. you can however, drive the car, like a car, and enjoy it before the tree huggers hippies make all of these sorts of cars go away.

for sheer performance, yes a carb car will be louder, and faster, but when you are behind a school bus at 45 mph, and your carbs are barfing and coughing, you will wish like hell you had a no muss, no fuss injected car.

there is no place to use all of this mystical top speed power these supercars have anymore in the states, in fact, more and more people are resentful if you even have a nice car on the roads anymore. dont know it its the have nots, or just the economy in general, but its not the same out there.

i have thought long and hard about Joes car, but i have other things i should be focusing on, and i would rather have three $25,000 cars, than one supercar. thats the only reason i have not bought it for myself.

 

I am in this camp as well...I prefer carb over FI. You really must drive both...make sure you do this before you buy. The sound of the carbs under full load is just fantastic.

Brian

 

It is not an easy car to drive around town.

It all makes sense, on fast roads at fun speeds. It takes a while to adjust to the car. Almost everything is difficult - shifting, engaging the clutch, steering at slow speeds, finding the correct pedal, lane changes, road gawkers, and backing up etc... The first time you turn your head around, you might be surprised by the small size of the rear window. With significant driving experience, you will feel more comfortable with the car.

This is your choice.

With carbs you have less production #'s and the original experience.

yep

Can you find an enthusiast in your area who has a car ?

Most likely with the first few drives, you will find it a difficult car to manage.

A round trip ticket on Southwest Airlines will make it happen.

 

Was that the non-runner?

It sounds odd that someone would have you come over and see a Countach they have for sale that's not working. And then another that's stuck on a lift with no wheels!

 

Erroneous information.

In fact, of the 2,000-odd Countachs built, only (approximately) 500 are fuel-injected cars. Far more carbureted cars.

 

i agree, as a buyer i would not look at a car that cannot be started or driven, even it it has to be the owner driving it, thats fine. but "seeing" a car for sale at this price point, under those non running conditions is nuts. fly somewhere and see on when you can. i still say an injected car is way more usable, unless you live in a large desert area with miles of nothing, and can go "fast".

 

I don't know who's tuning your cars but my DD QV drives at 1000rpm in fifth gear with 30 miles without any coughing, press the throttle and it accelerates away like a turbine.

 

Raymond I have to agree with you here. Claudio Zampolli tunes my carbs and I have no issues driving the cars in town. I also find the Countach's operation very easy.

 

Yes,

We are comparing 5000S 2V Carb vs U.S. QV F.I.

 

My DD car runs very tractible at low speeds at 3000 feet. Awesome engine.

 

323 LP500S carb cars minus the 37 converted to fuel injection leaves 286-odd LP500S carb cars, versus about 200 US QV fuel injected cars. Way more carb cars.

 

Has the factory released official #'s ?


______________________________


http://www.lambocars.com/cou/25th.htm {The bottom of the article}

Nobody actually knows how many Countaches have been made.

 

Sure. He then contradicts that notion by proceeding to tell us on his 'site exactly how many were built, here:

http://www.lambocars.com/archive/numbers.htm

The point is, SOMEBODY knows, to a greater or lesser extent, and anyway it has been generally accepted for the last 20 years since the last car rolled off the 'line that more or less 2,000 Countachs were built.

That Lamborghini production numbers are not an exact science is nothing new. The proviso is the word "approximately". We all know the economic and financial reasons why their record keeping wasn't an exact science and a re-hash of those reasons wouldn't change anything anyway.

As it relates to LP500S converted from carbs to fuelies, the factory has released absolutely nothing. But I will tell you who DID keep account of how many: the one-and-only Trefor Thomas, the man who with Jas Rarewalla was responsible for nagging the factory into going to FI for the USA. I had many discussions with Trefor Thomas during the course of the last 2 decades seeing as he felt free to tell me things ongoing factory personnel might not feel as comfortable to divulge. Fortunately for me, I like to take notes, and that habit has served me well. Unfortunately the stream of information stopped in the fall of last year when Trefor sadly passed away, but he is just one of a handful of factory insiders who has been helpful in clarifying all sorts of things, LP500S fuel-injected cars included.

 

Production numbers are like horsepower numbers with old Lamborghini....
in the ball park is "good enough". All part of the fun. I think people might get a little
too wrapped up in hp/model when looking at these cars. They are all icons and will certainly satisfy the dream of owning one. As far as carbs go, I have to kindly disagree, as the only pre-start production I see is pumping the gas a few times before turning the key as opposed to not at all with F.I. (Except for the owner here in FL. who says that even though he has a F.I. qv he still and always has, had to pump it to start)...... go figure
The JF car has many fans because it is KNOWN to be a good car, taken care of and is offered at a good price....not because it is injected or not.
Lastly, these cars have not hit their peak. I know that because the generation that really grew up Wanting them are not at the age yet when MOST of them can afford them.

 

Trefor passed away? That's sad, I always followed his explanantions with great interest.

I think he mentioned the number of 37 official FI LP500s, the hp number I have from a swiss car paper called "Automobile Revue", I think Alfieri told them in an interview the number 353 for the FI with catalyst.

Beside the official 37 FI a number of carbed cars were converted to match the EPA/DOT regulations, some with homemade aircollectors other with the official factory stuff. But I think in total not more than approx. 45 LP500s were FI.

 

May I suggest that getting FI vs carbed is probably not as important as getting a well sorted car? As you are a professional dater, you probably already know that the women you go out with will not know or care about the fuel delivery system, but they will care about getting stuck on the side of the road waiting for the flatbed to arrive.

Actually, with that said, I'd probably get the FI. One less thing to go wrong. Also please note that "well sorted" requires car to have been driven regularly,IMHO. Its been my experience that an unused "well sorted" lamborghini will not stay that way.

 

It's exactly the opposite, with an FI you have so many additional things which could to wrong that the possibility is much higher... remember that a special horseshoe of italian cars is the bad electric, the FI cars have much more relais and control units. A bad tuned carbed car still runs, rough but it runs, a broken relais blocks the entire FI system...
On a carbed Countach you need only the ingnition box and 2 relais running and it drives, on a FI at least 5 and the FI control unit, also it got harder and harder to source the Bosch parts.