To Be OFFERED AT AUCTIONEstimate:
£400,000 - £500,000
- Early Series I LP400 S Countach, one of about 30 cars featuring
the LP400-style dashboard
- Presented in its original colours of Rosso over Bianco
- Delivered new to Switzerland
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Please note that this lot will need to be collected from Milan,
Italy.
It would be fair to say that Lamborghini caused something akin to
an automotive earthquake when it unveiled the production ready
Countach LP400 in 1974. Its impossibly wide wedge shape, cab
forward body re-wrote the rules of supercar aesthetics and began a
dynasty of design at Lamborghini that would go on to produce the
Diablo, Murcielago and Aventador. The man responsible for the feat
was Marcello Gandini of Bertone, who had also masterminded the body
its predecessor, the Miura. However, where the Miura had been
curvaceous and perhaps relatively conservative in its appearance,
the Countach was outrageous, designed without the constraints of
ergonomics or trivial concerns about user friendliness; the finest
example of which was perhaps its scissor doors, themselves borrowed
from Gandini's 1968 Alfa Romeo Carabo concept car.
'LP' or longitudinale posterior was a nod to another design first:
unlike the Miura which had been dynamically compromised by the
arrangement of its tranverse V-12 engine sitting above its gearbox,
the Countach's powertrain was arranged longitudinally and much
lower in the chassis. This not only enabled a far more effective
cooling setup to be utilized to address to the Miura's propensity
to overheat, but also significantly improved the car's center of
gravity. It was made possible because the V-12 was designed with a
front output shaft, meaning the transmission could be located just
aft-and-between the driver and passenger, which massively reduced
gear linkage complexity, improved the gearshift action and improved
weight distribution. Power was then returned via a propshaft that
ran through the engine sump to the rear differential and onto the
rear wheels.
This car is a 1979 Series One LP400 'S', which was the first series
to follow the original 158 examples of the LP400 that had been
built between 1974 and 1977. Only fifty of these Series One LP400 S
Countaches would be built. The most discernable difference for the
'S' was a lower suspension setup and significant changes to the
bodywork, which featured prominent fiberglass wheel arch extensions
to house the 205 section (front) and 345 section (rear) tyres,
wrapped around the beautiful Campagnolo Bravo magnesium wheels.
Being an early Series One example, it also features the
sought-after Stewart Warner 'small gauge' dashboard, like in the
LP400 "Periscopio". Power is rated at 350 bhp and comes from a
3,929 cc variant of the Giotto Bizzarrini V-12, breathing through
six twin-choke 45 mm side draft Weber carburetors, giving the car a
top speed of 160 mph and a 0-60mph benchmark of 5.8 seconds.
It presents in excellent condition having been the subject of a
recent comprehensive restoration, during which the bodywork was
taken back to bare metal and any areas needing attention were duly
rectified, before the car was repainted in factory correct shade of
Rosso. The drivetrain and carburetors were also removed, stripped
down and rebuilt with new components where required; the engine bay
is a sight to behold and is testament to the quality of the
restoration, even down to the quality of the black crackle
paintwork on the intake manifold and the omnipresent zinc plated
fastenings. Photographic documentation of the work is present in
the accompanying history file, alongside period photos and its
certificate of authenticity from Lamborghini, which was issued in
January 2016.
Prior to the restoration, the history file contains a previous
French Certificate d'immatriculation, showing that the car was
owned in France by Thomas Chrsitian of Mertzwiller, France from
2000 to 2015. Prior to that, the car enjoyed two previous owners in
France, a Mr. Antoine Spinella and a Mr. Stork. Photos of the car
in the history file also show that it was previously registered in
Germany and Sweden, but details of its history in those countries
is unknown.
A fantastic example of a sought-after variant of the grandfather of
the modern supercar, in a specification that manages to perfectly
tread the fine line between menace and elegance.
Should you want more information on the condition of this lot and
or discuss the possibility of an in-situ inspection, please contact
our office at
+44 (0) 20 7851 7070 or email Britta Buchmann
at
[email protected]To
view this car and others currently consigned to this auction,
please visit the RM website at
rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/lf20.