360 do you prefer with or without wing?

I wonder how many are now left intact?

 

Good question. The hood is cut to install, so not as easily removed as one might hope. The front wing has always seemed rare.

 

from my research very few left: i counted 3 LP400S left with their original front wings

The black car from cannonball run movie
red one
and mine (white car)

To remove it is not a big deal: had my removed for some time and 2 pieces to cover the holes while i was doing italian reg etc

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Emilio, was your car originally a US car? The front wing was a US only, correct?

 

The suspension joints can be fixed for a modest amount to proper racing Hein joints, requires new suspension tubes and washers but not a big deal, plus then into economical costs for replacement joints.

 

Depends on variant, later models I can appreciate without a wing. Early models with no wing look naked to me. So I'm in favor of wings 60/40

 

Yes, but being a 400S car (as almost all double winged cars) it is a carbed car without any mods to drivetrain
engine was fully disassembled and we could not find any mods to drivetrain

 

big adjustable one with side plate
correct for the model year

 

Correct, very simple to remove.

However, just for the sake of the uninitiated, it is incorrect to describe them as "original" front wings, they are strictly a post-production application affixed by a USA EPA & DOT compliance agent after the cars arrived in the USA, so they are not original to any variant of Countach.

By the way your car looks so much better without the front wing.

I believe the reason it looks larger from the front is that he has adjusted the angle of the wing on the supports so the trailing edge of the wing is higher, Emilio can correct me if I'm wrong.

At the point his car was produced there was no US Countach per se, only Eurpoean Countachs which were brought into compliance post-production after they arrived in the USA. The front wing was an attempt to meet USA EPA & DOT front bumper mandates by certain compliance agents, so yes, they happend only in the USA. FWIW, they were essentially attached by lynch-pins so they would be completely ineffective as any kind of bumper.

Correct, I can confirm that your car which I supplied from California was essentially unmodified European specification LP400S S3, except for the front wing, rear winglet and side-markers, all easily reversible if desired.

Looks like wing appreciation is creeping up, so far 55/45.

 

The front wing was put on by then official importer: lamborghini north America (Rarewala)
with original i mean the original lambo north America appendix

i know you do not like wings, front or rear
is personal preference in the end
personally i like both so to me best solution is to have one countach with and one without

 

Good solution!

To be clear, I don't dislike the rear wing per se, I simply find it's application on a Countach a bit redundant as underscored by the facts about the wing as already spelled out. Although I'm not one to necessarily have a preference for things just because they are popular, I do accept that they became hugely popular, especially in the 1980s. In recent times in the course of my business I have seen many wings taken off Countachs, and the appreciation for wingless cars is more notable.

 

i agree:
lately the trend seems to be to remove them
may be one day we will see same trend on diablos? i think is possible

there are still some that believe a countach "must" have a wing and Same goes for diablos
I have a friend that every time we met tells me "you MUST put a wing on the roadster" and my answer is "no way! i like it as it is"

i must say i never liked the wing on diablos with the exception of SE30, SV, SVR, GT and GTR

 

I like both ways, with a strong preference for the wing. Ideally I would have an extra deck lid & a set of Bravos. Something easily changed in minutes. The poster I had on my wall was this one, which was identical to the first Countach I saw, although I have never been a fan of polished wheels. (I had to find another as my original poster was long gone).


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You just prompted me to search for and buy the poster that inspired my recent purchase.

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nice supersport!

 

Thanks. I owned it back in the mid 90's, sold it in 2000. Then found it again on craigslist a couple years ago. I bought it back & moved it into my office. Mrs EarlyCat was not exactly happy, lol.

 

I agree, the early Diablos look sublime without a wing.

The trend to remove the Countach wing as you've observed is also appreciated by non-owners more universally, although as we have discussed before, you can't just go by what you read on social media, also these views are purely subjective and based on aesthetics, but who knows, perhaps some of these people will be Countach owners in future.

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For me personally, what swayed me was after my first Countach LP500S, I purchased a Downdraft in the late 80s, and Valentino's advice to go wingless and all the reasons why were passed on to me. At that time, I had a huge respect for the men that developed, built & tested the machines, and all the facts supported it, so my preference developed early. I also noted that when the cars were being tested for terminal velocity most of the time the factory Press Cars supplied had no wings (as below), and I thought that the engineers who knew the cars best had good reason for this, it just made sense to me.

Fast forward to many years later, the removal of wings is documented by myself amongst owners & clients in my instance as I am sometimes consulted on it, and I usually recommend getting a replacement deck-lid so you can switch back-and-forth. Of course if I am explicitly asked for guidance, I simply give the same reasons I have given for decades which are fact-based, so for me this isn't a subjective matter based on aesthetics, its more of a thing based on the function of the car as it was intended by it's maker.

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I'd have to look closely, but I don't think I would take the wing off my Diablo (although it's not early - it's the last).

And you might post tweets in support of your no wing view, yet the "wing" vote is still winning - and I could probably find tweets supporting having a wing too.

This is a really personal decision. I can't convince Emilio that front wings are ugly - he likes them. I would have been disappointed if you found me a white/white without wing and I had to install one - to me the wing is the cherry on the top of what makes it the 80s car it is. Much the same as you couldn't convince me to buy a red interior, and a yellow exterior is the horror of all horrors in my view. But to some, they're sublime and they drool over them.

But that's the beauty of it all. We could park our cars next to each other - I'd admire the concours level finish on yours, the beautiful color, stunning interior, and amazing attention to detail, and go "meh - his doesn't have a wing. Mine's better."

 

I think we should have another vote thread - who here actually has the chance to get even close to terminal velocity? I don't. Highest I have ever been on Texas roads is about 100 MPH. Wing has little to no effect on anything at that speed. To go any higher, I would have to hire out COTA (which my company chairman plans to do when his Porsche Taycan gets here) or enter the Texas Mile or something. Fixating on terminal speed stability when only a few ever get there is a bit of a fallacy.

 

Hilarious. So true. I wanted a Rosso Siviglia/Champagne QV downdraft. Not an S. Not a white car or a black one. Not a red car with black interior. Everyone said, you better forget being so damn picky and just focus on finding the best car. HA. Easy for them to say. Like it’s their money or their childhood dream. In the end, I got what I wanted, as it should be.

 

Totally agree. I couldn’t care less about going crazy speeds, though I’m proud of what these cars are capable of. The truth is, it’s about 70% looks, 20% sound and the rest is speed. For me that’s what gets me going about my cars, especially my Countach. As for the wing, like I said, I love them, but purity is more important to me. My car came without, so I’m not adding one.

 

I fully expect that the majority of people identify the Countach with the wing after all these years of seeing images without them, and in fact am a bit surprised that the wingless Countach has gained as much appreciation as it has in recent years, and this poll for example is much closer than I expected it to be.

As I posted today, I don't dislike the rear wing per se, and, I do accept that they became hugely popular, especially in the 1980s, I simply choose to take a functional approach rather than an aesthetic one.

Of course, you are right, this is always a personal decision whatever approach you take.

At this point in my life I also don't care to try and find terminal velocity, but, I take the approach that speed is the essence of the car, why it was created, it's functional purpose, if that helps understand my viewpoint, that's why my focus is more functional than aesthetic regarding the wing.

I agree, just knowing what they are capable of can be enough.

The old adage that find the best car you can find and buy that one is solid advice, tested & true, naturally if you are lucky to find exactly what you wanted that's always the best case scenario and when it happens there is some luck involved.

I have, in 1990 I drove my first Downdraft on a deserted M4 Motorway headed towards Wales past 12 midnight and we got the car in top gear going as fast as it would go, I also got my first 25th somewhere in the USA close to terminal velocity, both of which I've posted on before. More recently a friend in the USA has V Maxed his Downdraft on multiple occasions (his image below), it's possible to do with some planning.

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Here's another gentleman's night flight attempt, no mean feat with pop-up headlights deployed, oil-pressure gauge pegged.

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