In 1974, Lamborghini brought out the most outrageous car the world had ever seen, and the one which started the bedroom wall poster craze amongst young and even old car enthusiasts. It ran for almost 20 years from 1974 to 1990, and during those years, things got even wilder.
The Countach was full on the definition of a supercar and everybody loved it. However, despite its look, it did have a terrible personality. It was a car that you would rather stare at than drive because it was horrible. This car was essentially built in a shed too. Here are five reasons why the Countach was horrible and five reasons why we still want one.
10 We Want One: Its Looks
Just one look at the Countach, and it takes your breath away. Bertone originally designed the Countach, the designer was Marcello Gandini who also designed the Miura and the Diablo. The Countach also had a few changes with designers Paolo Stanzini and Horacio Pagani over the years.
The Countach was wild and those doors are amazing. The 25th-anniversary model was the wildest with its spoiler that made no downforce whatsoever, flared arches, and its weird-looking rear hood. It looked like a spaceship essentially. This made the Countach one of the sickest supercars of the 1980s.
9 Was Actually Horrible: It is Probably The Least Practical Car Ever
Now a supercar is not meant to be practical by any means. However, it should never be like the Countach were its chalk and cheese with the word practicality. It may have had two small storage trunks but space was lacking everywhere. Getting in and out of the car was a hassle and the interior was too cramped.
It was also stupidly wide and the turning circle was terrible. But the worst thing was rear visibility which was nonexistent. This made the already wide Countach a pain to park. It had a huge ashtray but no cupholders, and the windows were also little flaps that didn't open fully. You definitely don't want to take a Countach to any of these ten heavily congested cities.
8 We Want One: Its Performance
From new, the Countach has always been a fast car. It originally had a 3.9 liter 370hp V12 in the 400 and 400s models, but it was soon upgraded to a 4.8 liter V12 in the 5000 S model. Finally, it got a 5.2 liter V12 in the Quatrovalvole model launched in 1985. That engine had four valves per cylinder, hence the name. The 25th Anniversary model also used the 5.2-liter engine.
This was one of the fastest cars in the 1980s. The Quattrovolve model could easily hit 60 in 4.6 seconds with a flat out speed of 185 mph. The rear wing actually slowed this car down a lot due to drag.
7 Was Actually Horrible: Build Quality
This car should be part of the ten cars with the worst build quality ever. Inside, things broke easily, the engine was unreliable and overheated all the time, and of course, being an Italian car, it suffered from problems with the electronics. The Countach was mainly built by a troubled Lamborghini who was passed around from company to company as it was constantly bankrupt. Lamborghini for a few years was not allowed to export the Countach to the USA due to safety laws.
All Italian cars from the 1980s were terribly built though. So there is no surprise here that the constantly bankrupt manufacturer made a car with terrible build quality.
6 We Want One: It Was a TV and movie Star
The Countach has been featured in so many top films and TV shows. From the Cannon Ball run to Rocky IV, this car is loved throughout the entertainment industry. This is what mainly brought this car to fame, as it left viewers wondering what that car actually was. It was completely different from other film cars, it really did look like a UFO.
It was even seen in more modern films such as The Wolf of Wall Street. It was even in Miami Vice which the Ferrari Testarossa was most famous for. It was so wild and so crazy it just made TV shows and films so much more exciting to watch.
5 Was Actually Horrible: It Wasn't Nice To Drive... At All
Ask anyone about the Countach, and they will tell you that it is horrid to drive. It's too wide, too uncomfortable, and there's no visibility. Sure it may be one of the greatest Lamborghini ever made, but it was a car that you could never drive fast because it was just too uncontrollable.
It was RWD which made grip even worse. The pedals were really off-square too, meaning you sat in a curved position when driving, which was terrible for your back. It could not go over speed bumps and the suspension was way too low and harsh. Driving enthusiasts would truly hate this car.
4 We Want One: Its Rear Spoiler
What's better than a standard Countach? A Countach with a spoiler. This was an optional extra that cost over $5000, and it just made the car slower. It was also illegal to fit it in the factory, so Lamborghini had to fit the spoiler to cars in the parking lot with the extremely precise tool of a handheld drill.
It may have been completely useless and somewhat dangerous, but it was so sexy. Owners absolutely adored it and now a Countach without a spoiler looks weird. The spoiler was the icing on the cake for the design of this beast.
3 Was Actually Horrible: Terrible Air Conditioning
Air conditioning is vital. American cars are known to have great air conditioning as it is one hundred percent needed in places like Arizona, Texas, Nevada, California, etc. The Countach, despite it being made in the hot Mediterranean country of Italy, had terrible air conditioning.
You wouldn't even notice if the air-conditioning was on or not. In fact, if it broke you wouldn't care, as it hardly did anything when it was working. You would be better off having someone blow air on you to get cool, it was that bad.
2 We Want One: The Name
The Countach is the only one out of the flagship Lamborghini V12 models to not be named after a famous Spanish fighting bull. The word Countach came along after Lamborghini struggled to find a name for their car. The name came from a profiler who made locks for the Countach and he spoke a language called Piedmontese which is quite different from Italian. This one worker always used the word Countach which literally means plague, however, it was also used to mean cool and show astonishment.
The name came about after Marcello Gandini and his team started to joke about the name to boost their morale. Gandini asked New Zealand test driver, Bob Wallace about his views on the name. Wallace said the word "Countach" in his accent, and it sparked a flame in Gandini. A young co-worker said that the car should be called the Countach, so that is how it landed on this car. By far one of the coolest car names ever.
1 Was Actually Horrible: US Specification
Unfortunately for the Americans, they got a Countach that was ruined by US crash bumpers. The black bumpers on the front and rear ruined this car, and they first appeared in 1985 on the 5000 Quattrovalvole model. They were mandatory from the factory in order to pass safety tests. Other things did include a fuel injection system to meet emissions.
Most owners ripped off these horrible black bumpers as it really did ruin the lines of these cars. Luckily, the Countach is well over 25 years old, so you can now import an EU spec model with the better bumpers and spec.