Official Countach Value Thread

S3 more rare than dd
And older
I think it is worth more or less like a dd. But remember some collecors are most interested in 4000 cars
When i got mine there were few dd for sale but one s3 only

 

This!

 

Yes, it does change things from my vantage point as well. I really don't know what level to insure the car. With the right coverage, I want to drive. Under insured 100k plus and I am not so sure. I simply want to want it covered for replacement, and actual replacement values are changing, or appear to be changing almost daily.

 

Totally agree. Insure it for more and enjoy it or let it age in the garage or sell. Good problems I guess. I love it. I drove it yesterday and enjoyed the bull at my local C&C. Just to stretch her legs and keep the fluids flowing. No worries going, but lots of traffic coming home, most of whom I couldn't see! Multiple people taking pics of the bull while They were driving, which makes me even more anxious.

 

The idea of Countach variants being worth only slightly more than a new Aventador seems about right. Maybe I am in the minority now but the idea of a nice rare and important classic model being worth double a mass produced car that will depreciate 30-40% its first year, seems even more appropriate. I think many of us are stuck with car values of the 80s. A million dollars for an exceptional classic car is not a lot of money compared to new variants that cost 500k or modern rare super cars that are 800-1.7M new.

 

this too. Now I got a real issue. I am driving well under-insured and I know it. My carrier refuse to accept the new price. So what one to do?
I dare anyone here to prove they have their Countach non lp400 insured for $500K or even $300K, which seem now to be an established baseline for these cars.
Are lp400 able to cover them at 1MM ? I mean if you want to have coverage this is gonna be a real problem for a while.

 

seems they doubled in as little as 3 months

 

I have to admit, when values started to take off, I had slight second thoughts about being more careful with the cars use. But once I get in and let the tach rise and the music starts playing, I don't think twice about . Funny as I have increased the insured value twice in the last year and I am currently underinsured. Hopefully this silliness will end soon, so I can make the final adjustment on (not just my Countach) all my cars

 

Harry,

As a Countach owner I expect you (& others) to say exactly this.

Let me clarify my personal thoughts:

DESIRE for the Countach will always be there and continue to increase as people learn more about the model.

VALUES for the Countach will go up, and they will go down, that's just a matter of economic reality. The same harsh economic reality that will cause your home to regress in value at some point. This is not an opinion. It is a fact based on market reality. The steeper and more sudden the trajectory of increases in value, the steeper and more sudden the trajectory of decreases of value is possible.

Desire & values are 2 seperate things that some are confusing.

Absolutely no market goes upward forever, and I illustrated this clearly in the 2 auction sales of 1120204 in 2007 & 2011 respectively.

Lastly, my view comes as an unbiased one. At this rare point in my life I don't even own a Countach (as they have been edged out by terrible F-cars and P-cars). Also, I am benefiting financially from these value increases with people calling me who have lorry-loads of money to spend. Why on earth would I preach caution (which I do to every single client of mine) other than to take a position of prudence & responsibility? After all, what I am really saying is "be careful", and in doing so limiting my income potential. But you know what they say about free advice...

 

Emilio I found a very nice S3 unknown to me and has existed in the USA under the radar for the past 20 years.

 

Are you sure Joe, I deal in cars in the U.K and even through these terrible times we have seen a very strong market and last year had to be one of the best. We have only sold to collectors and enthusiasts not speculators and no financing which we saw as the main crash late 80's early 90's. The Arabs have been in force buying classic cars one of our customers has 3000 cars and does not sell, we are now seeing Russia and China as emerging markets. Now the economy is improving I cannot see a fall more of an increase again.
The only problem I do foresee is that they have become more works of art than cars and will be shut behind closed doors!

 

Joe, thanks for your detailed response, much appreciated.

However, I remain bullish on today's Countach market. Not because I'm an owner (amongst 14 other cars in my collection) but because I can see there's a shift in the type of buyer coming into play here.

I spoke to several dealers recently and asked them the same question; 'Which model potential Countach buyers were asking them for? The unanimous answer was they don't care, they just want to own a Countach.

Now we all know originality is usually regarded as king for what some like to term 'investor cars' but when the choice of potential sales stock is as limited as it is in Countach land (pre-Anniversary in particular) then the excellent observations Emilio made on another thread (which is exactly why I value the knowledge on this forum so highly) regarding the irregularities on the '82 Countach sold yesterday don't really come into play.

You may say this is a perfect pointer to a bubble market but for me, it's not. It's an indication that today's buyers are more focussed on the Countach's iconic design and rarity than its dynamics and, added to that, we all know how flakey Lamborghini's build process was anyway!

What we're seeing today is a shift away from traditional Countach buyers who might use these cars for weekend driving, towards a new set of buyers buying purely for design and historic importance. These guys are also chasing '70s, 80's and '90s icons, like Ferrari 288 GTO, F40, F50 and McLaren F1 because the reality is today's car industry simply can't produce cars as pure as these any more.

This new type of buyer has very deep pockets. You only have to look at Christie's recent modern art sale in New York, which achieved $745m in just one evening compared to RM's sale total of $57m in Monaco last month, to see how much money is sloshing around the globe amongst the super wealthy, pointing to where the iconic classic car market might be heading.

Now I do expect a correction in certain areas of today's market, mainly where the lift in values has been led by driving dynamics, rather than design. For example, I expect certain Porsche 911 RS models to drop back, especially if interest rates start to rise again. But for the quality of Countach you deal in, Joe, I remain convinced there's still plenty of upside to be had. The gap between iconic Ferrari values and Countach values is simply too wide today. People are waking up to the lowly number of Countach built and are now scrabbling to bag one for themselves but there aren't enough Countach to go around.

Of all the cars I own, it's the Countach which seems to give other people the most pleasure. It's iconic status amongst the bulk of today's buyers is almost unmatched, hence why the market for Countach is red-hot right now.

Now, can we continue this conversation in three years time please?!

 

Not sure if it has been mentioned before but I don't think we have heard on this forum from any of the new buyers.

I am heavily involved in the WW2 aircraft market, having watched it closely my entire life. I have seen the ownership change from the guys who worked on them and fly themselves to owners who buy them to park under the wing of their jet and hire pilot's to fly for them. (most are very generous giving rides to veterans etc.)
At airshows the new owners arrive with an entourage for just an hour or so, if at all. They do not associate or even talk to the old owners even though we have decades of experience and by now can guess what their next mistake will be.

I tend to believe we have not seen the top of the market and if it slows down I think the correction will be slight. I also believe the cars being sold at these prices won't be seen out on the roads very often, if at all. Different kind of owner as many have said before.

 

Harry, I hope you are right with your perspective.

Look, I'm selling them like hot-cakes, who am I to complain?

But, the wealthy can be fickle with their spending habits and can quickly turn off the tap when interest rates rise or recessions come, as the latter two surely will. When? That's anybody's guess.

Meanwhile, the band is still playing...

 

This response here shows EXACTLY why there is a bubble.....there is a large group of investors who know nothing about these cars diving in on the deep end jut because they see profit potential.

See the same thing in the Boxer market.

You're right, these are a different kind of buyer....the kind that wrecks markets.

 

B I (freakin') N G O

 

I thought appropriate:

Deutsche Warns Markets Have Left The "Complacency" Phase, Have Entered Full Blown "Mania" | Zero Hedge

 

Hi Joe,

Are you primarily selling to end users who are also enthusiasts or are you selling to buyers who are purchasing on speculation? Feel free to pm me if you prefer.

TIA.

 

My business is typically Private Treaty sales to collector-enthusiasts that are end-users, often people I know quite well that I do repeat business with.

 

I am a 'new owner", buying 1121154 last November.

I bought one to drive, and because it was my poster car. As a side issue, I did have the expectation that they would eventually go up in value. It seemed clear to me that on forums such as this one, and also on Pistonheads and elsewhere, that the Countach had more than it's fair share of attention and discussion. The prices didn't yet reflect that popularity, or reflect that, to many, (me included) it really is "the ultimate supercar". Other cars, less talked about were going up exponentially, so made sense that it would happen to the Countach before long. Having said that, I wasn't convinced that the values even at the time I bought were sustainable in the short term, (as wider market seemed overheated then) but didn't think it would go far wrong, and I could live with some loss of value if it happened.

Strange as it might seem, I would actually prefer that they hadn't become such hot property so quickly. I wouldn't buy at the prices paid recently, but I also don't want to sell either, so all it means to me is that we are all going to have to pay higher maintenance costs, and also that the few specialists that are around will become even more stretched than they are already. People who have paid big numbers for cars will not be bothered (in the short term at least) about high bills to fix them up, and won't want, or have to, wait.

The other negative, personally speaking, is that I bought the car from someone who was also an enthusiast, and the recent price rises do make me hope that he doesn't feel too bad about selling – at the time, there wasn't really any expectation of such a short term rise, and it could have/might still go the other way. I just missed buying a 288 GTO at $700k not that long ago, so I know it doesn't feel great.

I also doubt that current hype can be maintained – not because Countach is unworthy, but because there is a rising tide lifting all manner of cars at the moment, many unwarranted, and when the tide goes out, everything will suffer. Having said that, I'd say that the Countach has recently done enough to remind everyone who was overlooking it, that it is one of few properly iconic, rare cars. So, I don't think it will ever fall back to where it was a year or two ago, especially as age demographics kick in. It's jumped above the crowd.

When I bought in November, the prices were £120-£150k, or c$200-240k, even from dealers (a good 88.5 QV at Simon Furlonger was seen as being pricey at £150k) , and I genuinely don't think that Brooklands car would have sold for 1/3 of the price it just got. In 7 months, a trebling of values is actually hard to give credence to, but it looks like that's possibly happened.

No disrespect to whoever bought it, and it can all be fixed, but the Brookands car was not the best example out there, (nor was the $1.2mLP400) so there's definitely been a concurrent loosening of standard versus value as the market has frothed up. I'm just glad to have got a good one pre-hype (just) as I wouldn't be buying one now.

As I was still building a garage and also needed some minor work done, I only just picked mine up from Mike Pullen last week, 7 months after buying, and drove it 450 miles home, adding about 3% to the total mileage (more than an average year's worth)! I only bought the car to use it, and will stick to that.

Again, I'd prefer not to be driving round in what's soon may be perceived as a very expensive investment, rather than a classic, but I'm not going to change how I'd planned to use it. Life's too short to lock it away, and I can work at my day job rather than trying to preserve such a car purely for future gain.

At the time of buying, I did intend to have it resprayed, but not going to do that now, as I don't want it to be too perfect to the point where I'll not want to use it. (I'd imagine that the days of considering colour changes which I read all about on this thread pre-purchase, are now long gone as everyone will be hung up on "originality").

If I do ever get fed up of it, the rising values do mean that any amount of refurb would probably be financially viable before a sale, but that's not on my radar at all. Maybe I'll sell it into the bubble after this one, if I've had enough fun with it!
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One can argue about the Bohnam's sale price although for super rich 8 digit net worth people, a low 6 digit figure is quite nothing. (think of a $1K purchase if one makes $100K/year)

These pseudo auto-reporter who still cant help themselves but the worst of all are writting smart remark about the countach.
They still dont get the car.

1975 Lamborghini Countach Periscopica Sold for $1.2 Million » Motorward

Lamborghini Countach Sold for $1.2 Million [Photo Gallery]

 

Kind of goes without saying that uber rich people won't find coughing up 1.2m for the car too troubling.
Isn't the point being that this is a new high for the LP400? I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong!

 

Beautiful car! Congrats!.

 

To be fair, the Bonham's Countach sold for $1.2MM; that's not "low 6 figures", but low 7 figures

Everyone's comfort level will vary, but I think someone would probably want to be well (well) into the 8 figure net worth before spending 7 figures on a single car...

 

in Euro and swiss franc it's 6 figures
But still, it's a special occasion to buy a car with so low mileage after almost 30 years which explains the price.