Countach, the ultimate supercar

105

 

LP400S S1: 50, ending with VIN 1121100
LP400S S2: 105, ending with VIN 1121310
LP400S S3: 82, ending with VIN 1121468

 

...had to do some reading, but this story matches that of the winning Dino in '79

 

F925 OYR still with it's original owner
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Met Green 25th
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Oh, go on then:

Portman Lamborghini was the UK importer for many years, run by people including Mike Perry and Del Hopkins.

Portman had a "showroom" at 108 George Street in Central London, which was a small dark shop with up to 4 cars in it, and that was a tight squeeze. Round the back of the shop there were often cars parked as well.

Photos below:

1. From outside Portman Lamborghini 108 George Street, London 5th May 1990.
2. From inside with LP400 1120026, which is now yellow.
3. From inside with the yellow Anniversary 12879.
4. Standing next to the car in the window, this is the view to the back of the shop. It was cramped.
5. From standing in the doorway at the back of the shop - only three cars fit in there, four at a push. HLA12083 is the QV.
6. Many photos like this in such a small space. Can anyone help me by identifying the 5000s STK180 (red/black interior) and the
QV 326DEL (white/blue interior?), which are in this photo? Photo is from 18th March 1989.

More to follow in a minute from Portman in Ealing including an old friend of Joe's
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7. Again crammed in the corner by the car in the window taking a photo. Can anyone ID this QV? It appeared in many Portman pulicity shots with their red LM002.
8. Out the back moving cars around - "KM8" appeared on several cars, and again no idea which this QV is.
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Portman also had a service centre in Ealing in London.

9. 12th August 1991: LP400 1120168, Miura SV RHD 4828, a 288GTO, a red QV 12878 then owned at the time by Vic Sawyer,
plus an Anniversary, an 88.5 and a 5000S - nearly a complete set.
10. An old friend of Joe's 12515, which was very well looked after.
11. A couple of Anniversaries.

I'd love to see that pic of Mike Perry with the 88.5s Joe!
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It was supplied with red leather, and he had it changed to tan upon delivery.

 

Awesome Robert, thanks for sharing. 326 DEL was Del's from the band Five Star.

 

KM 8 was Khaled Mahmoud's, he also had a metallic red Anniversario.

 

More great images courtesy of Paul S.
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Last one of Peter Hay in the silver/blue Annivesario
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Boy does that Daytona ever look like a truck compared to the Anniversario!

 

correct Joe, prefer the tan personally JMO. He does like to change and upgrade things.

 

LOL... but very true.

 

I enjoy seeing Daytonas because they are rare, but I don't agree with people who say they are one of the most beautiful cars made.

Chris

 

I agree. The interesting thing is that the Maserati Ghibli SS was a more expensive car, much nicer to look at and just as fast yet today... 1/3 the price.

 

Absolutely, I agree that the Ghibli is much better looking!

Chris

 

My personal observation is how much better & better the Annivesario is looking with the passage of time and how well it is aging. The original genius Gandini design finished with a swan song flourish by contemporary genius Pagani.

 

I sure agree with that and looking at the Anniversario from the front angle I think it is the most aggressive, elegant of the line. The ears pinned back, monochromatic smoothness of it from some angles is awesome.
I had ours at a Show and Shine on Sunday with 600 vehicles and was promoting our Collector Car Auction. Nothing draws a crowd like a Countach!
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saw this link

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-6818i2_ZE[/ame]

Luckily seemed minor damage

 

I was at the bottom of the hill watching that. It suffered some front end bodywork damage, not sure about suspension and steering though.

 

Ouch!!!

Chris

 

The red QV Robert W mentions in point '7' is my car now.

I only know this thanks to Mike Perry and Del Hopkins, who kindly did some research for me when I bought it back in August 2010 and while its current registration is E57 JAR, it turned out my QV was first registered E811 LHV (on the 5/11/87).

They also discovered it was the London Motorshow car and the original owner (Mr. Cramer) had to wait until the show had finished before he could take delivery.

I've attached the original invoice and the letter confirming it was the Motorshow car Del sent me from his extensive records.

Many thanks for posting such an early shot of 'E811 LHV' at Portman's showroom, greatly appreciated. I'd love to know if a picture of it on the '87 London Motorshow stand exists anywhere...
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