This Lamborghini Countach is Marlboro Red and Has a Lexus Twin-Turbo V-8

Does being extra-outlandish save this replica from general ridicule?

Introduced all the way back in 1974, the Lamborghini Countach shook the sports car establishment at least as much as the Espada had done before it in 1966. At a time when more and more automakers were getting to grips with the midship engine layout and were designing cars around that philosophy, Lamborghini decided that it should re-write the book on supercar design once again in less than a decade. The always resourceful Marcello Gandini (who’d also designed the Lancia Stratos on behalf of Bertone), was given the job of creating the next great, V-12-engined Lambo and he did just that.

By using the Alfa Romeo Carabo as his main source of inspiration, Gandini created a supercar that lacked all of the curvy brilliance of the Miura and, instead, used pointy angles and straight lines to wow the crowds. A windshield that was positioned at such an angle that it was only marginally usable coupled with a haphazardly arranged cabin completed the charm of the original Countach that, with 370 horsepower and 266 pound-feet of torque, would probably be incapable of staying in touch with a Ford Focus RS no matter the road.

But people back in the ’70s, 80s, and even the ’90s knew full well that owning a supercar was more about what sort of statement the car made about you than the driving experience itself. If you wanted a fun car, you would not take the Countach out for a spin, skipping it in favor of a BMW M3 E30, for instance. But the E30, for all of its racing pedigree and its prowess on a twisty road, was still a boxy, two-door sports car. The Countach also had two doors but they went up mimicking the movement of a pair of scissors and that too came straight from the Carabo’s book of tricks.

The Countach you see in the video below wasn't put together over in Italy at Lamborghini's factory in Sant'Agata Bolognese and that's because it's not actually a Countach.

It’s a replica, which is why its Thai owner Beam decided to go all-out on it and adorn the thing with a variety of crazy features such as a body kit and a Marlboro livery reminiscent of that sported by the McLaren F1 cars that one Ayrton Senna drove between ’88 and ’93.

The guys over at CB Media caught up with Beam and his make-believe Countach in Bangkok to find out more about its story and let’s just say there’s a lot to unpack when it comes to that car. For starters, underneath the widebody, the big wheels, and all of that you’ll find the underpinnings of a nondescript FWD Hyundai. The rear half of the car, however, features a custom-made sub-structure extending past the length of the original Hyundai platform.

That was needed because the car was converted to a RWD/rear-mid-engine layout with the engine being a twin-turbocharged V-8, namely the Lexus/Toyota 1UZ-FE 4.0-liter. The job of dispatching the V-8’s power to the rear wheels is catered by a Subaru gearbox while the rear suspension bits came off a BNR32-generation Nissan Skyline GT-R.

But the incredible specs aren’t even the main reason why we’re talking about this car. Sure, the wild combination of parts is very, well, original but what makes the video worthwhile is that it reveals how it all comes together or rather how it doesn’t really come together and we get to see yet another ludicrous replica.

Source: Carscoops