Is this legal in the states? What is the status w/ euro version bumpers in the future or lack thereof. Meaning if the car enters "antique" status does it then become optional? Is it legal to run w/out U.S. bumpers? I simply believe the best of the best when it comes to Countach means a la carte - no bumpers and no wing. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I think an officer would be more likely to write you up for lack of the wing before the lack of the bumper. I mean. . . the car's so rare no officer/dmv worker/kgb operative is gonna know what it's supposed to look like with or without the bumper to be able to do anything about it. But a Countach that came with a wing that's had it removed just seems like cruel and unusual punishment. Just my opinion though.
Officially and unofficially, NO ONE CARES. In fact, it is perfectly legal for the owner of any vehicle to remove any safety device you want - you just cannot AS A MANUFACTURER sell it that way. The bumpers were for DoT releases ONLY, and once the car had the proper commercial permission, the private owner may do whatever the heck they want. It is (in terms relative to the purchase price) inexpensive to remove the Horrible US bumpers and make it all euro, and reasonable easy as well. The reason you see so many variations is that prior to the 1986 QV, the factory didn't build an official US version, so all the ones that came in were "gray market" imports that had to be individually cutomized to pass US DoT and EPA regulations. Many different shops came up with slightly different variations, all more or less achieving the same end result. If you studied them all carefully, you'd find that the inspectors were more strict on some than others.
