Countach, the ultimate supercar

I posted some images of it in the Downdraft thread a while back in it's dark blue livery, I believe it has a Swiss arrangement headlight cluster.

 

Probably because those 2 cars were the first Ferrari & Lamborghini the producers could get their hands on, right there you know the movie is in trouble because the research done is clearly very poor, Lamborghini certainly never drove a medium blue Countach QV, and even if this night-race was obviously being done for dramatic effect, they could have found a white LP400S to give it just a bit of authenticity.

Totally.

In a 2 minute trailer we can already see it'll be replete with inaccuracies, Ferruccio driving a blue QV (never happened), Ferruccio suggesting to Enzo that they start a partnership (really?), Ferruccio sketching the Miura concept (um, no), Ferruccio saying enthusiasts will come to the Geneva Salon looking for the next Ferrari and will instead find the first Lamborghini whilst pointing to a diagram that looks like an Espada (nope), the Lamborghini factory facade looking like something that never existed.

Lamborghini enthusiasts aside, I think the Ferraristi will be similarly disappointed...

 

IMO that's too much for that particular example.

Meanwhile this just happened https://www.classic.com/veh/1984-lamborghini-countach-lp5000-s-za9c00500ela126-4VZ7wE4/

ELA12675 just sold for @ £ 430,000 hammer = £477,500 (@ $540K), a much more rational result than the $1m which the identical liveried ELA12729 sold for at the Pebble Beach auctions a few months ago, I think a correction is afoot.

 

Restorations of Countachs are an important part of preserving the overall value & heritage of the model so it's important to have authentic restorations which are done sympathetically where the cars are not subject to over-restoration, as is so often the tendency in the current era.

Of all the Countach LP400 restorations I have encountered, I cannot recall another car with it's interior more authentically & correctly reproduced than CZ's 1120082. It amazes me how much restorers struggle with getting the restoration of a Countach interior correct-for-period in all details, even the cars restored for Polo Storico and for private parties via Cremonini etc get some details incorrect.

The first thing I notice about 0082's restored interior is the upholsterer knew to finish the transmission tunnel without the circular piping around the shift gate which is for 5 liter cars only. I can count at least 5 different LP400 which have restored interiors with this elementary mistake. Besides this error, the tendency (in all Countach restorations I have seen in recent years) is to use a leather that is thicker, grainier and more matte, than the original. There is also a noticeable tendency to use a more vibrant colored version of the original leather.

0082's interior to my trained eye features a Tabacco leather to the correct hue of the original color, and the overall execution has resulted in upholstery padding, seams, stitching, carpeting & dashboard that is a true representation of when the car was new, all executed with a fastidiousness underscored by the fact that the original Britax belts have been refurbished with authentic logo patches.

Another thing I like about 0082's restoration is the owner's modesty, the car speaks for itself and he doesn't feel the need to try to enhance it's stature by method of self-congratulation, he leaves it for others to judge, so congratulations are in order for bringing this important Countach into the 2nd chapter of it's life in a spectacularly authentic way, rare to see in a restoration nowadays.

Images via Marcel's Countach Register https://www.countach-register.com/

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I'm not sure what you mean by "the extra gate shift disc" and so not sure what you're asking was changed later on?

The images you've used are not very clear or closeup enough to illustrate the differences but let me comment on what I see, hopefully that helps.

The RHD Tobacco interior belongs to 1120026, and my comments would be that this restored interior features piping that is much thicker than original, and the stitching on the transmission tunnel that isn't same as period. Either I cannot see it because it's painted black (it should be silver) or the reverse selector lockout is missing. Also, the snake-eye bolts which secure the shift plate in place were originally black, not silver.

The LHD Bianco interior belongs to 1120248, and my comments here would be that it also features thick piping different from period, the transmission tunnel features the aforementioned erroneous piping around the shift gate which is a 5-liter cars feature.

The significant protrusion of the shift gate of 0026 is common to original specification for the LP400, and this can be accomplished by snugged-down fitment of the transmission tunnel itself as much as an addition of a spacer, I have also seen some cars with a spacer in situ beneath the shift gate plate, some without, in the case of 0248 the flushness of the transmission tunnel with the shift gate may have been personal preference of the restorer although it likely protruded more than that when the car was new.

Here's an interior of an LP400 taken when nearly-new to show original upholstery features, hopefully this helps.

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It's from the factory's new car literature for illustrative purposes, but I'm not sure which car this is.

 

Yes, I get you perfectly now, and you are right, every original unrestored LP400 I have seen has the shift gate sitting significantly higher than the transmission tunnel, then, when they are restored this seems to disappear because it's not replicated as it should be with an authentic restoration, as for example as seen in the image of 0248 which you posted.

I'm not sure the spacer was noise-related as it wouldn't be effective to reduce noise nor would noise have been an issue when the cars were new. It was probably just an aesthetic application that was simply discontinued as unnecessary as production went along, which is why perhaps some later LP400 didn't have the same shift gate protrusion, but because I haven't seen images of all the cars when they were new, I cant be definitive about that.

Here's the original interior of the ex-Silvera LP400 1120056 from the years when when we owned it, granted this was not a standard spec LP400 so you can see some cockpit differences, but still you can see what you are talking about with the shift gate.

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The Shah's Royal Supercar Fleet on display in Teheran, Iran, including Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi's LP400 1120190 which Princess Ashraf gave him for his 17th Birthday, that's her white Miura S also on display.

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