When the Lamborghini Countach set its fat rollers on the topsoil five decades ago, the automotive world held its breath for more than a few seconds. You can feel that to this day. A ride through the Alps leaves black lines on the asphalt, amazed cattle and confused villagers. In Munich, it is not only the disturbed Leopoldstrasse that goggles.
This is how Buck Rogers’ spaceship was imagined in the 70s and the Cylons would have fled from the Lamborghini Countach, whimpering electronically. Nice is different, because the Countach is an insult to the eye yesterday as it is today. A flying saucer has amused itself behind some dingy star cruiser with a middle-class vehicle, successfully copulated: the result is terrible, spectacular, unique and a great moment in automotive engineering. As ugly as the night to most; but without a doubt one of the most spectacular cars that has ever existed. As in heaven – so on earth. No Lambo is more Lambo than the Countach. Amen. The gloomy retro Countach, which today roars through the usual overcrowded Munich streets, differs unspectacularly from the Gallardo or Huracan successors, who turn their prototype laps around the world with gloomy and martial glue.
History would be misunderstood if one were to cheer just thinking about the Countach. When the successor to the famous Lamborghini Miura saw the automotive light of day, the sports car world trembled to its foundations. Ferrari shook the unspectacular 512 BB out of its sleeve, Porsche shone with the first 911 Turbo. Other opponents such as Aston Martin and Maserati were indisposed at the start of the flower power grenade. The fact that its angular missile design polarized would simply be a splendid understatement. But if you beat your opponents with a Countach at the quartet game in the schoolyard, you no longer had to ask about your homework for the next two days. More cylinders and more displacement were hard to find at the time. The 4.14 meter long super sports car was one of the fastest anyway.
In the circle of your childish companions you could gain recognition by playing cards, but you were not loved with the Italian thunderbird. It was hardly any different in reality. Whoever drove the Countach, at 1.07 meters hardly higher than a chic stiletto, was different. Fast – certainly, but more extravagant than allowed, simply different. Driving a Countach for whom an Aston, a Monteverdi, a Porsche or a Ferrari was too boring. You can literally smell it when the roaring V12 disappears briefly past the Bavarian State Chancellery into the Munich underground in the direction of the museum quarter. A hooked stick is used to switch down to the top left into corridor number two. This sharp sling roars and has problems even in dry conditions to banish its potency over the 345 rear tires into the asphalt. The employees of the municipal transport company look up and pay tribute to the black UFO only in secret applause. If you knew how uncomfortable it is to sit at 1.90 meters and over 100 kilograms in the wild Italoboliden – you would clap. Loud and clear.
No comparison to today, when Lamborghini, with Audi’s grace, has dedicated itself to sensible all-wheel drive. Valentino Balboni, who has been the brand’s chief test driver for decades, still shakes his head about this today. “I haven’t driven a car better than the Miura. That was a car – no one can match it. Not even the current models,” remembers Valentino Balboni. The current models from Lamborghini boast as wild bulls. But all-wheel drive, automated racing gearboxes and electronic lifeguards make emotional racers like the Aventador or Huracan just as fast as they are predictable. Wild was yesterday – and the Countach was probably the last of its kind.
On the motorway towards Garmisch, the Lambo shows what it can do. The clutch requires a strong left thigh and the lack of power steering makes the ride with the Unknown Flying Object a spectacular workout. The enemy image of every ecological movement is loosely plowing south through the cheap Fiat speedometer scale. Back on the road, bodybuilding goes into the professional phase. Zumba dance was yesterday – long live the curve Lambo! There were easier racers in tight corners or in the border area. The wild stern, the small steering wheel and a lot of steam in the rear. The Cylons would have fled with good reason because the Countach would have pulverized them. Taming a Lambo? Almost impossible – then as now. Football professionals loved it, stars and starlets liked to park it in the courtyard entrance just as much as the red-light district, which happily chauffeured the Countach in a colorful way.
It is often forgotten what an excellent sports car the mega Lamborghini actually was. This is most evident in the years from 1988 to early 1990. The special edition for the 25th birthday sold an incredible 658 times and has long been more popular than ever. Anyone looking for one today will not find one anytime soon. Changed front and side spoilers as well as modified air inlets distinguish the special models from the outside of the Countach Quattrovalvole, introduced in 1985, in which four-valve technology was used for the first time. The last Countach was finally produced on July 4, 1990 and rolled straight to the adjoining museum while the first Diablo rolled off the assembly line. Even non-25 editions of the Countach from the late 1980s quickly cost 200,000 to 250,000 euros. The visually and technically disparaged versions of the late seventies and early eighties are no longer available for 60,000 or 80,000 euros.
Anyone who has the opportunity to move one of the last specimens can consider themselves lucky. It’s tight, it’s hell to get in and backwards parking is best with the door open and sitting back left on the door sill. The limits of driving dynamics are determined solely by the driver, who should be more of a pilot than a driver’s license holder. 0 to 100 km / h in under five seconds is possible – if you have your senses and motor skills in check. In the back, one of the 5.2 liter twelve-pens roars at one, probably to cheer you on to finally give you more gas. More, more and more, until it is no longer possible – the 455 hp make everything possible. The maximum torque of over 500 Nm somehow rushed past barely noticeably on 5,200 tours. With the deafening noise and increasing monkey heat, one has to do other things than deal with numbers. It goes back to the Bavarian capital. They have long since come to terms with the escaped flying object from Area 51, no, they made friends. Is disgusted and enthusiastic at the same time – drives like a tarantula. The end of the spectacle is only reached at 290 km / h on the motorway. The hands are damp, no wet and it’s just awesome. More, more – want to have.
Back at the Victory Gate, the demon from Santa Agata is parked. Parking is horror even forward. The steering is as heavy as a medicine ball, and you can’t see anything. Fortunately, you are taken care of, because the Munich audience quickly gathers around the spaceship that is returning to its star fleet. The ignition key turned and off. The door swings upwards and only now can you feel that only a tired breeze had entered the built-in interior through the three-part window. This car takes your breath away – one way or another. By the way: Congratulations on your 50th birthday, dear Countach. If you look at you – luckily. Probably the best-known Countach is not one of the 658 models of the 25 edition, but an earlier work from 1979. The Lamborghini Countach LP 400 S with the chassis number 1121112 was one of the main automotive actors in the action comedy “Hell is going on on the highway” by 1981. 40 years after the appearance of the legendary film, the black bolide is included by the National Historic Vehicle Register of the US Library of Congress in the list of just 30 vehicles to date that are of national importance for the United States of America.
I am a 24-year-old writer and journalist who has been working in the news industry for the past two years. I write primarily about market news, so if you’re looking for insights into what’s going on in the stock market or economic indicators, you’ve come to the right place. I also dabble in writing articles on lifestyle trends and pop culture news.
