LP400S #1121004 "Rosso Siviglia - Tabacco" new to Japan in 1978. Right before the Countach would become impossible to import there! The reason only one LP400S went to Japan during the production... and so many LP400 were modified to S spec instead. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
#277, 11.1.1981, Lamborghini SA, Wallace Biturbo, RM Auction Paris 4th Feb. 2015, now Norway Other Information: for sale on ebay.com for US $75,100.00 with 38,087 miles on Sep 14, 2010 This is a very special and well known Countach. In 1980, a man named John Robertson from Kalispell Mt. ordered a new Countach S from the Lamborghini factory. He also owned a Ferrari Daytona and he spared no expense making both cars as fast as possible with existing technology. For the Countach, he choose to send it to it's "Pappa" for the upgrades. The car was immediately delivered to Bob Wallace in Phoenix for a turbo installation and brakes upgrade. There are photos of Bob with this car in the book "The Complete Lamborghini" by Pete Lyons on pgs. 51 and 63. There were 3 cars that came out of Bob's shop with the Turbo upgrade. According to Bill Young at GT Car Parts in Phoenix, Robertson turned up the boost too high on the turbo and the motor was severely damaged and Wallace choose a different path to give John the hot rod Countach he desired. At this stage of the story, the Countach QV motor was in production and while Wallace applauded the upgrade in power, he felt that stroking the engine was the wrong way to get it...SO, he proceeded to rebuild a QV motor from an LM 002. He started by removing the stroker plates to achieve a faster revving engine, bored the engine a bit more (no, I don't know how much), custom crank and cams, triple disk clutch (this is the best shifting and clutch feel on ANY Countach!), cross drilled and uprated brakes, custom exhaust, fire control, custom intake manifold, MSD ignition and PRESTO....John Robertson had his QV equipped Countach in a low body S that weighs 700 lbs less than the car the engine was designed for. Sadly, John Robertson died in a boating accident many years ago and the car sat in estate at GT Car Parts until I purchased it in 2005. The car then went to Gary Bobileff for a check-up and new interior, then up to Calgary where we completely restored the body to GLORIOUS condition. It's simply the most beautiful paint and body work I've ever witnessed. Information on this car was sourced from ebay.com. The data on this specific vehicle was last updated 13-Sep-2010. 2015: RM Auction Paris
interesting idea from Wallace: stroker plates was never the best engineering part of the QV engine and a short stroke engine with 4 valves looks a good idea for a quick countach i would be curious to drive this car
Would be very interesting to know why this car was completed a couple of months after my very own 1121006. 1004 would have been the 1st completed production S I assume? Anything to do with the fact of it going into Japan? Anything special or anything had to be changed, or approved, for import?
Countach were not built matching the order number, though VINs do equal the order sequence. 1121006 was the 3rd LP400S order but was the first completed. Actually, your car was already on the production line on January 13th 1978! At that time, only 1121002 and 1121006 were being taken care of. It had to wait past the Geneva Motor Show for the other ones to follow. Took even more time, between homologation problems in some countries and mostly because of the internal financial crisis, to make cars ready for their customers by April... starting by Sheikh Al Thani of Qatar with his #1121010 and "amico Armin Johl" with his #1121012. Deposit wasn't enough and only those lucky ones who did pay in full or were "friends & VIP" got a Countach in 1978. For example Mr. Boston who had ordered his car during Fall 1977 and was supposed to receive the 7th LP400S, only got it late April 1979 as the 17th car... While Mr. Casti, close to the Lamborghini world and who already had bought a LP400 in 1977 received his LP400S in late 1978.
Great info! Thanks. I wish Lamborghini did not have to go through those "dark days". The cars and employees were too good to have to endure those times.
so close... trying to track down a picture of 1121466. New to Germany in white/black and right hand drive. Anyone know anything...?
New to a car-leasing company... This Countach can be anywhere on the globe now. RHD makes it somehow easier to find since it's the only RHD LP400S ever ordered 'Bianco - Nero'... if it hasn't been repainted...
Absolute perfection are not exactly the two words that spring to mind with this LP400S, although it is undeniably very nice. Checking my archives I can see that I was involved in the sale of this car @ 14 years ago in the spring of 2006 when it was in San Diego, we sold it via Bobileff's with this Ad which I wrote: 121022 1978 - Rosso Siviglia, Pelle Bianco, sold new to Italy, then to the USA. Bob Wallace maintained. Original excellent condition as of March 2006 with Italian (Ravenna) plates still attached! Here is the thread that arose on FChat about the car in 2006 https://www.lamborghinichat.com/forum/threads/countach-at-bobileffs.106815/ with some interesting comments. I inspected this car in California very closely in 2006 when it was red, and it was a nice preservation LP400S in original paint & leather, it's a shame that it has been repainted to a non-original livery, unnecessary IMO as it was a sublime original example and they can only be original once. Currently, I can see in the new white paint has caulking missing in some areas suggesting a lack of finish detail one would expect, and the wing still has incorrect end-plates of a later variant, I recorded the same thing in my notes in 2006.
Is that the car that was big money at an auction and now, post some resotration work, resides in Monaco? R
LP400S #1121090 "Blu Acapulco - Blu" at a Lamborghini Club gathering in Monterey, 1982. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Pierre Le Mounier (Lamborghini Club France) is offering us an incredible collection of period photos! LP400S #1121010 of Sheikh Al Thani, brand new at the factory in 1978 Image Unavailable, Please Login
