Lamborghini Countach

In the annals of Lamborghini’s long and storied history, no car stirred the imaginations of children quite like the Countach. From its outlandish design (at that time) to its incredible 4.0-liter V-12 engine, the Countach was, and still is, the supercar of our dreams. Throughout the course of its life, the Countach spawned numerous versions, none more special than the 82-unit Series III LP400 S.

One of the 82 Series III LP 400 S models is now in the headlines because it’s set to be auctioned off by RM Sotheby’s at its auction in Paris on February 3, 2016. It’s expected to sell for at least $490,000 and it’s history is as unique as the model itself. According to RM Sotheby’s, this yellow Countach Series III LP 400 S was originally built with a red paint finish for a customer in Switzerland. The car somehow found itself in the U.S. after that, before once again crossing the Atlantic, finding itself in the U.K. It’s had quite a globe-trotting experience, and yet, the mere sight of it is enough for bidders to feverishly make attempts at scoring the car in the upcoming auction.

But, before it finds a new owner, Evo Magazine found itself in possession of the car and, not one to let an opportunity like this pass, it went about and took it for a spin. By the standards of modern supercars, the Countach falls woefully short in a number of aspects. It’s a little harder to drive, the brakes aren’t as good, and the cabin design leaves a lot to be desired. But, none of that matters because this is the Lamborghini Countach, and this particular one is a rare example of the iconic model.

It’s the real definition of a legacy car that introduced Lamborghini to a new generation of car aficionados. I should know because I’m one of those who had posters of this breathtaking exotic in the walls of my bedroom back in the 90s.

While seeing Lamborghinis cross the block at auctions across America is far from rare, it’s not too often that the same event gets to sell six of them. This rare display will be hosted by Mecum’s sale in Seattle on June 5th to 6th, where Lamborghini enthusiasts will get to buy — or at least admire — six Italian bulls built from 1989 to 2010.

Yes, there won’t be any Miuras or Espadas to ogle at, but the Lambo lot includes a late-edition Countach and a bundle of Diablos and Murcielagos, some of which are very rare.

The oldest supercar on sale is a 1989 Countach 25th Anniversary. Part of the limited, 658-unit edition that marked the end of the nameplate, this car is also one of only 187 examples produced with fuel injection for the U.S. and Canadian markets. The Bianco White-painted Countach has 28,420 miles on its odo.

Next in line is a black 1992 Diablo. Though it’s only a standard model, it does feature a rear wing, SV wheels, and Pirelli P Zero tires. With only 11,643 miles on the clock, it should attract a few bidders. The second Diablo to go under the hammer is a 1999 model year Roadster. Significantly more powerful than the early coupe, it has 30,188 miles on the odometer and just received a $12,500 major service. It features a front lift system, navigation, polished wheels, and an aftermarket stereo head unit with six-disc CD player and remotes.

Continue reading for the full story.

Even though the movie won’t actually be coming out for a while, Kung Fury has already attracted quite a lot of attention (over 5 million views!) for a Kickstarter-funded Swedish film from a director that few people have heard of. But the sheer force of the film’s ’80s nostalgia is powerful, and instrumental in this is the Lamborghini Countach shown in the music video for True Survivor, which has a tie-in with the movie. The song is performed by David Hasselhoff, perhaps looking even more ’80s than when he did Knight Rider, if that’s possible. The Countach was such an icon of the ’80s that Kung Fury director David Sandberg has decided to tell us a bit about the car in the video.

The bad news first: this is actually a replica car, albeit a painstakingly accurate (in most respects) one. The car was built by two men, simply identified as Daniel and Fredrik, and it took them 10 years to complete. The frame was built to the same specifications as the original, and the body comes from Mirage, a replica kit-car company in the UK that has made some of the better replica bodies you’ll ever see. This one is Mirage’s specialty, the LP 5000 Quattrovalvole.
Continue reading to learn more about the Lamborghini Countach featured in David Hasselhoff’s "True Survivor" video.

There comes a point when using irony, when you have committed yourself so fully to the premise that you actually cross back over into sincerity. This video depicts that exact moment. It is a music video for the song "True Survivor," by David Hasselhoff, which is also a tie in with the upcoming Swedish action comedy film "Kung Fury." The Kickstarter-funded film, which is being being made by a production company called Laser Unicorns, is an attempt at making the most absurdly overblown ’80s cop movie ever.

The movie certainly looks as though it will accomplish its goal, but this video pushes the ’80s theme so much that it actually just starts to make sense. The song is really absurd, but no more absurd than the rest of the pop music from 30 years ago. And David Hasselhoff singing it in front of a Lamborghini Countach with the sleeves of his jacket pushed up and the fog machine going just looks fitting. In fact, without the hilarious footage from the film in the video, featuring people riding dinosaurs and Adolf Hitler (also know in the movie as “Kung Fuhrer”), you might not even realize that any of this is a joke.

RM Auctions is one of the biggest auto auction houses in the world. It’s been home to some of the biggest auction buys in recent memory, including a 1957 Ferrari 625 TRC Scaglietti Spider that sold for $6.4 million back in 2012. For 2014, RM Auctions is set to open shop in London where a number of classic exotics will be up for bid to the highest bidder.

EVO managed to get a guided tour of RM Auctions’ storage facility where Harry Metcalfe joined the team to talk shop about some of the cars that are expected to get a lot of attention at the sale.

As expected, the facility contains some of the rarest and most beautiful metal, carbon fiber and aluminum in the world. EVO and Metcalfe zeroed in on a few of them, including a rare 1986 Ferrari Testarossa and a 1990 Lamborghini Countach. These two cars are widely considered as the "poster exotics" of the 1980s, and seeing them in the same auction is a real blast back to the decade of teased hair and leather pants for myself.

The guided tour also included short discussions about the 1993 Jaguar XJ220, the 1959 Facel Vega HK500 Coupe, and the 1973 Alpine-Renault A110 1300 V85.

There are many more cars that EVO and Metcalfe discuss in this 32-minute episode. I won’t run the risk of spoiling all the models, as having an authority like Metcalfe give you a little history lesson about them trumps my ramblings about them here.

Most of us watched the Goodwood Festival of Speed to see hundreds of awesome road and race cars storm up the Hill. Others, including many past and present racing drivers, travel to Goodwood to hoon the vehicles we drool upon. But there’s a third category of motoring enthusiasts that take trips to England to pay million for the classic cars sold each year by Bonhams, one of the world’s oldest and largest auction house.

This year’s event brought together nearly 100 vehicles and more than 400 automotive-related collectors items, raising a staggering £22.6 million (nearly $39 million as of 06/27/2014). One car alone sold for nearly half that amount, with two more fetching more than $1 million each, rounding up yet another successful event.

Not surprising, the most expensive vehicle sold at Goodwood was a Ferrari. Maranello classics are already a common occurrence at such events, and very few change hands for less than $5 million. On the other hand, how often do you see a 102-year-old vehicle sell for more than $1 million? Head over below to find out more about the most expensive classic cars auctioned at Goodwood.

Click past the jump to read more about Bonhams’ sale at Goodwood

It’s always been a fantasy to lock a brand new supercar away in storage till the day its inevitable popularity started to resurge and its price tag would fetch far more profit than the car was originally worth. That’s exactly what we see here with this nearly flawless example of a 1982 Lamborghini Countach LP5000S.

With only 8,543 miles on the odometer, this Lamborghini has been kept in dry storage while still getting regular maintenance and exercise from its owner and certified Lamborghini dealerships. Just recently the car underwent an $8,000 refurbishing job, getting it ready for auction in June 2014 at the Historics at Brooklands near London.

Not only is the car’s condition something of rarity, the Countach itself is only one of 2,042 ever built. What’s more, this particular model is one of only 321 built with the massive 4.8-liter, V-12 engine in 1982. It’s mated to a five-speed manual transmission that helps launch the car to 62 mph in 5.4 seconds on its way to a 160-mph top speed.

If you happen to be in the market for a nearly brand-new Countach, the bidding happens on Saturday, June 7th with viewing commencing the day before. It’s estimated the car will sell for between $185,000 and $243,000, so be sure to bring your accountant to pay for it.

Click past the jump to read more about the 1982 Lamborghini Countach.

Matt Farrah is at it again, as in the latest episode of "The Smoking Tire," he puts classic and modern Lambos in a head-to-head battle with the ultra-rare Lamborghini Countach LP5000QV taking on the brand-new Lamborghini Aventador Roadster. Oh, Matt, why must you make us so jealous?

This particular 1988 Countach was upgraded with gold magnesium alloys, fender flares and oversized rear wing and a Euro-spec bumper. Under its hood, the Countach retains its factory V-12 engine with an output of 420 horsepower. In the other corner is the new Aventador Roadster, which is powered by a 6.5-liter, V-12 engine with an amazing 700 ponies punishing the asphalt.

Your first impression may be that the Countach has no chance against the Aventador, but everyone knows that classic Lamborghini models were some of the best cars developed and were true drivers’ cars.

Check out the video to see which of the two supercars did the best during the test drive!

The holiday season is here and just to help you out with some gift ideas, here’s one special collector’s model that you might want to get for someone. It is a 1/12-scale Lamborghini Countach model built by the Japanese company Goodsmile. In total, this model is 345 mm (13.6 inches) long, 157.7 mm (6.2 inches) wide and 89 mm (3.5 inches) tall.

There’s no denying the fact that enthusiasts love to collect scale models of classics, as well as modern cars. There are quite a few brands that make detailed works of art and the one from Goodsmile doesn’t come cheap.

This Lamborghini Countach LP400 in 1/12 scale will set you back ¥120,000, which is about $1200 at the current rates. Yes, that’s a lot but if you look closely, the cars are built with utmost attention to detail. Goodsmile actually scanned the full-size car, using modern 3D scanning techniques to achieve this sort of perfection. Each of the 500 parts are meticulously die-cast, or formed in ABS or resin to give it the perfect shape and size. The models are so perfect that not even an inch of deviation is spared.

The classic scissor doors swivel up to reveal the supercar’s uber-cool interior. The engine bay door also opens, so that one can glance at the glorious V-12 engine that resides beneath. The cabin light turns on when the doors are swung open, headlights popup and instrument panel glows much like the real thing. The tires are hollow so that the weight of the car squashes them against the ground surface giving it a more authentic look. Rounding out this realistic model are wheels that you can remove and bolt back with a specially provided tool. Now, that’s really cool!

The unfortunate thing is that the models will not be ready for shipping until October 2014, so you will have to wrap up a picture of the model this Christmas and tell the receiver that it will arrive in about a year’s time. Alternatively, this could be an early idea for next Christmas.

Click past the jump to read more about the classic Lamborghini Countach LP400

They say that you only celebrate a 50th birthday once, so when it happens, you might as well make it as memorable as possible.

Italian automaker Lamborghini is in the middle of its 50th anniversary celebrations and since the start of the year, it’s celebrated it with the kind of extravagance befitting of its stature in the industry.

Recently, things took an interesting turn in the United Kingdom when the UK Lamborghini 50th Anniversary 50th Anniversary Tour officially opening its doors to the public.

Held at the Danesfield House in Buckinghamshire, over 50 Lamborghinis participated in the event with models ranging from the classic Countachs all the way to the current Aventador Roadsters. In between, there were Murcielagos, Diablos, Gallardos, and even the one-off Oakley Design Aventador LP760 Nasser Edition.

Needless to say, it was as close to a Lamborghini overdose as you could possibly get, and not surprisingly, Shmee150 was right in the middle of all the festivities with cameras in tow.

(Click past the jump to read about one of Lamborghini’s anniversary edition models, the Aventador LP720-4 50° Anniversario pride and joy}

Countach was one of the first supercars developed by Lamborghini. It was unveiled in 1974 and remained in production until 1990, during which period a total of 2,042 units were produced. The Countach won many awards and during its era, it was one of the fastest supercars on the market: it could hit a top speed of 207 mph in its LP 500 Turbo S version.

Now the guys over MotorTrend put it head to head against the new Aventador in the latest episode of "World’s Fastest Car Show." The two cars were driven by Justin Bell, who wanted to see if the new Aventador is as good as its predecessor.

According to him, the drive can tell you more than any history book, as driving the two supercars gives Justin insight into the impact the revolutionary Countach had not only on its eventual successor, the Aventador, but the entire supercar industry. It also drives him to use plenty of dirty language, which was carefully bleeped out, of course... Enjoy!

Last time we saw Valentino Balboni behind the wheel of a Lamborghini model, he was driving a Murcielago LP670-4 SV. This time around, he opted for something a little bit more classic – a Countach LP400, which was the first set of Countach models produced between 1974 and 1978.

The LP400 was limited to only 150 units, so seeing one in action is actually a pretty rare occurrence. Despite its rarity, Balboni was lucky enough to find one and took it on an envy-creating ride. Check the video to see what does he thinks about the car.

As a reminder, the LP400 is powered by a 4.0-liter V-12 powerplant that delivers a total of 375 horsepower at an incredibly high 8,000 rpm and 368 pound-feet of torque at 5,500 rpm. The car can sprint from 0 to 60 mph in 5 seconds and can hit a top speed of 179.8 mph. Neither spec is astounding by today’s supercar standards, but for the era, those were about as good as it got.