Countach, the ultimate supercar | Page 1033 | FerrariChat

Countach, the ultimate supercar

Discussion in 'LamborghiniChat.com' started by joe sackey, Aug 21, 2007.

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  1. wbaeumer

    wbaeumer F1 Veteran
    Consultant

    Mar 4, 2005
    8,987
    Yes, the white accents kills it...! A visual disaster!
     
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  2. joe sackey

    joe sackey Five Time F1 World Champ

    May 23, 2006
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    Joe Sackey
    I don't believe any of the white accents on the bodywork are original, it's likely the car left the factory with all-purple paintwork Countach, exactly as Simon Kidston's car is today.

    Perhaps I'm wrong but I think that's exactly the way it originally was IMO.

    That said, I thought the paint supplier was PPG and the color was Viola Metallizzato, but the sellers state 'Purple Salchi (paint code 106 A 71)' ?

    By the way CZ, your fears proved 100% correct, the restorers of 1120182 did not make it metallic black as it should be https://inventory.symbolicinternational.com/vehicles/182/1976-lamborghini-countach-lp400-periscopio and it is a shame that so many cars are not restored exactly right, considering the expense alone.
     
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  3. joe sackey

    joe sackey Five Time F1 World Champ

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  4. Boomhauer

    Boomhauer Formula Junior

    Aug 18, 2007
    881
    Milano - Italia
    Full Name:
    Cardinal
  5. joe sackey

    joe sackey Five Time F1 World Champ

    May 23, 2006
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    Joe Sackey
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  6. raymondQV

    raymondQV F1 Rookie

    Aug 22, 2007
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    Raymond S.
    Italian delivery, 8.6.1979 to Zane Auto, Treviso
     
  7. raymondQV

    raymondQV F1 Rookie

    Aug 22, 2007
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  8. LC3929

    LC3929 Formula Junior

    Dec 16, 2007
    786
    I basically think the same. See post 406 by Victor in the Vintage LP400 photos thread. But I am not sure if both cars (1120238 and 1120248) left the factory exactly as Simon Kidston's car 1120248 is today. In some old photos, both 1120238 and 1120248 look darker than Simon's car looks now. Simon's car today might wear viola met. 2.443.412, an Italver/PPG colour. I saw a Ferrari 330 GTC in that colour at Padova fair in October 2018. The Salchi code 106A71 seems to be factory information for 1120238. Same colour or not? I don't know. Anyway, I like Simon's choice of colours for 1120248.

    What a pity. See also the interior, double stitching etc.
     
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  9. joe sackey

    joe sackey Five Time F1 World Champ

    May 23, 2006
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    Joe Sackey
    I think they were in a rush to sell it.

    At a glance, my list of things to rectify is as follows:

    Odd front turn signal light, wrong oil tank cap, yellow ignition wires, unfinished exhaust, missing Campagnolo wheel stickers, poorly-done interior upholstery with uneven door-panels, incorrect shift-gate piping and incorrect stitching (as you note), unusual mirrors.

    If I inspect it in person I'll surely find more to add to the list.
     
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  10. joe sackey

    joe sackey Five Time F1 World Champ

    May 23, 2006
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    Joe Sackey
  11. joe sackey

    joe sackey Five Time F1 World Champ

    May 23, 2006
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    Joe Sackey
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  12. wbaeumer

    wbaeumer F1 Veteran
    Consultant

    Mar 4, 2005
    8,987
    I inspected the car when it was on display at Walter Wolf`s "dealership/showroom" in Duesseldorf, Germany, when I wanted to buy an LP400 in 1998/99.
    They did not show me anything that confirmed that WW ever owned the car nor does his wife drove it all the time (also a claim by them)...
     
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  13. joe sackey

    joe sackey Five Time F1 World Champ

    May 23, 2006
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    Thanks for sharing that.
     
  14. LC3929

    LC3929 Formula Junior

    Dec 16, 2007
    786
    All correct (add the wrong rear light covers), and easy to note at a glance. Incredible!
     
  15. raymondQV

    raymondQV F1 Rookie

    Aug 22, 2007
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    I'm not aware that Walter Wolf Düsseldorf had anything to do with WW from the Formula 1 Team.
     
  16. LC3929

    LC3929 Formula Junior

    Dec 16, 2007
    786
    Why didn't you buy the silver car (1120030)? Why the red car (1120118)?
     
  17. joe sackey

    joe sackey Five Time F1 World Champ

    May 23, 2006
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    Correct! How could I have missed that? Anyway, as I said, if we looked at the car in person I'm sure there would be a longer list.

    Probably money ;)
     
  18. GraemeS

    GraemeS Karting

    Jun 6, 2005
    166
    Auckland New Zealand
    Full Name:
    Graeme Stebbing
    I found this interesting article today we'll we'll a read

    https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2019/01/24/walter-wolf-lamborghini-countach?utm_source=SFMC&utm_medium=email&utm_content=19_January_23_HagertyNews_Engaged
     
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  19. Ciro Izzo

    Ciro Izzo Formula Junior
    Silver Subscribed

    Apr 18, 2005
    370
    Beautiful...needs adjustable Moody wing....or none!
     
  20. beemac

    beemac Rookie

    Mar 1, 2014
    22
    I met several Countach owners on that trip, all very enthusiastic about their cars.
    View attachment 2654335

    Also, this is a very clever take on the WW livery on a Motocompo used as a pit bike at Suzuka. The owner was driving one of the F1 cars. View attachment 2654336
     


  21. I copied most of the article for future reference. More pictures are on the link.


    View attachment 2654340


    In Yokohama, a wolf roams free at midnight. It howls along the elevated highways, strobing between the streetlamps, crimson-hued from jaw to flank. It is the first of its kind. It is the rarest of the breed. It is a Lamborghini Countach, one born under the sign of the Wolf.

    Every Countach is special, but only three are this special. Handmade for Austrian-Canadian businessman Walter Wolf, this red 1977 LP400 is now owned by Eiichi “Eddie” Okado, who runs a small Lamborghini specialist shop in Japan. Despite the fact that the first Wolf Countach is extremely valuable, he drives it on the street regularly.

    Raising of the Wolf

    Any telling of how a prototype Countach wearing the Canadian maple leaf flag ended up cruising around Japan's highways must begin with Walter Wolf himself. If Wolf is no longer quite a household name with Canadian gearheads, he should be, since he makes the Dos Equis “Most Interesting Man In The World” look like Charlie Brown. A self-made man who emigrated from post-war Austria with essentially nothing, Wolf worked first as a diver repairing oil rigs, then eventually moved into oil speculation and importing. When the first oil crisis of the 1970s hit, he had sunk his money into a ship that just happened to be between ports. He made $100 million in profit overnight. That figure is not adjusted for inflation.

    Wolf was a deep-sea diver, a helicopter pilot, an experienced motorcyclist, and a former rally car driver. He had his own range of Wolf-branded cigarettes and cologne. He lived in the south of France, and was friends and neighbors with F1 racing driver Gilles Villeneuve. He owned his own Formula 1 team, which won at Monaco in 1977, and the result earned him a Ferrari 512BB via a handshake bet made with Enzo himself. The world was Walter's oyster, and money was no object.

    The perfect car for a life lived at full speed? Why, a Lamborghini, of course. Wolf had dozens of them over the years, including multiple LM002s (which he hated), and several Miuras. For the latter, one of the last-ever Miura P400SVs was specially built for him out of unused parts, after the factory officially ceased production.

    Developing the Countach

    However, it is the Countach that is most closely associated with the name Walter Wolf. All through the 1970s, he kept the company afloat through infusions of cash, made mostly off the books. As a result of this patronage, and as a result of his inner-circle access to the world of Formula 1, several very special pre-Countaches were made, each one a snapshot of the Countach's future.

    The first pre-prototype is not really counted by most Lamborghini historians, but its genesis is typical of the way Wolf went about things. The original 1975 Lamborghini Countach LP400 came equipped with 225-series tires, which weren't up to the task of putting down V-12 power. Wolf's solution was to call legendary Lamborghini engineer Gian Paolo Dallara up one evening, and drive down to bolt the spoiler from one of the Wolf team's F1 cars to the Countach's roof.

    That didn't really work either, and the idea for a properly aerodynamic Countach was hatched. Dallara sketched out flared bodywork and the huge rear wing that would become an iconic feature of the Countach; Wolf called up Pirelli and demanded it produce a world's-first 345-series road tire. It did.

    This first prototype is the car Okado-san pilots around the city of Yokohama today, its quad-carbureted V-12 handbuilt and tuned by Dallara. It looks almost identical to the production LP500S, but at the time everything about this car was a first for Lamborghini. Each of the Wolf prototypes can be seen as the first steps in the evolution of the Countach.


    The second prototype featured an enlarged engine—as Walter noted his first prototype now had grip more than equal to engine power—with the third prototype bored out even further. This final, third prototype was painted a dark blue and fitted with the gold accenting that became a feature of the Wolf Racing livery. It is an incredible machine, with a 7:1 steering ratio, nearly 500 hp on tap from its 5.0-liter V-12, eight-piston cockpit-adjustable front brakes, and a completely reworked suspension.

    The third car can also be found nearby in Tokyo, where it is part of a large collection belonging to Shinjirō Fukuda. Fukuda-san is an enormous Walter Wolf fan and has had his Vector W8 and Maserati MC-12 painted in the Wolf Racing livery. He also campaigns a Wolf-liveried 911 in the Japanese Porsche GT cup series, for which the entire team dons Wolf Racing branded coveralls. There is no copyright infringement here, as Walter gave his blessing to the effort when he visited Japan two years ago.

    Wolf under the rising sun

    Wolf’s Countaches have a long history in Japan, and are woven surprisingly deep into the car culture here. Tribute cars are common, and any Japanese car enthusiast can immediately identify the Wolf insignia. In fact, if you head to any Tomica shop (the Japanese equivalent of Hot Wheels) and purchase a 1/64th-scale toy Countach, it wears the maple-leaf livery of the second prototype.


    wolf racing f1 car
    The reason for the Wolf car’s adopted Japanese home is due to the lasting effects of Japan's bubble economy period. Walter never kept his cars for long, and replaced the third prototype with an incredible street-legal Porsche 935. The first prototype soon ended up in Tokyo as part of a supercar show. Unique to the period in Japan, and very popular, these travelling shows allowed young visitors to get a close-up glimpse of their hero cars.

    Both Fukuda-san and Okado-san remember seeing the Wolf Countaches in their childhood, and both became obsessed with them. Fukuda-san founded a successful engineering firm, and thus has the wherewithal to amass his Wolf collection. Okado-san's passion is what led him to open his Lamborghini specialist shop; when the first Wolf prototype crossed his path, he stretched everything to buy it.

    When he was a boy, Okado-san's father took him to that supercar show, and paid the extra fee so they could both sit in the first Wolf Countach. Now, he owns it. The hour is late. The garage door opens. The Wolf goes free, into the night.
     
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  22. joe sackey

    joe sackey Five Time F1 World Champ

    May 23, 2006
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  23. LC3929

    LC3929 Formula Junior

    Dec 16, 2007
    786
    I don't know for how much money 1120118 was offered / sold back then, when Walter bought it. Only Walter can tell us why he chose this one.
     

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