Lamborghini Countach LP400

Die Sammlung

Es muss einfach sein, diese Sammlung der Lamborghini Countach LP400. Auch, weil es halt wunderbare Bilder gibt. Und man sich an diesem Wagen nicht sattsehen kann. Dazu kommen die verschiedenen Farben, die das Fahrzeug immer anders wirken lassen. Ja, das ist auch so etwas wie eine Liebeserklärung. Und sie gilt dem LP400:

Chassis-Nummer: 1120018
Motoren-Nummer: 1120018
Produktionsnummer: 9

Auktion: Artcurial, Paris 2023, Schätzpreis 800’000 bis 1’200’000 Euro, angeboten mit folgendem Text: «Delivered new by Thépenier, the importer and dealer for several up-market makes of sports car, it was finished in ‚Marrone‘ with a ‚Senape‘ (mustard) interior. In the late 1970s or early 1980s, it was resprayed a very attractive light grey, with a fine red coachline running along the waistline. On 30 April 1982, it was registered as 8187 QS 47 in the name of an owner from the Lot-et-Garonne. The following year, it was purchased by its current owner, who registered it on 2 May 1983 as 2042 SB 17. Recently qualified as a doctor, he had used an Alfa Romeo 2600 as a student and was captivated by the stunning design of the Countach. He also loved its handling and used it regularly to drive to his surgery, hardly going unnoticed in the small town where he practised. It was for the sake of discretion moreover that he subsequently decided to use the car less frequently, until the start of the 2000s, when he laid up the car in the garage of his property on an island off the Atlantic coast, in the dry close to the boiler room. The last tax sticker on the car dates from 1996. The Countach never ceased to impress its owner, who told us: „When you have owned a car like this, it is hard to find another model that is even more remarkable.“ Since then, the Lamborghini has remained in its original condition, the only change being to its registration on 26 November 2013, after the owner moved house and it received its current registration number. It is therefore a genuine ‚garage find‘ car which has been extremely well preserved. Unrestored, the car is sound, and the paint shows only a few signs of oxidation and very slight corrosion. The interior, with its patinated leather upholstery, appears to be completely original; the driver’s seat is slightly worn but very well preserved, with only a small cigarette burn. The carpets are also original and the car is fitted with an Autovox radio and Pioneer speakers. The windows are etched with the chassis number and the rear boot has what appears to be an original carpet. It contains the window mechanism for the passenger door, which has been dismantled. The spare wheel and tools required are in the front.
In terms of its mechanical specification, the Countach is fitted with its original engine and has certain features specific to some of the very first cars built, such as the magnesium hubs and adjustable shock absorbers, making it closer to a prototype than a production model. We can see from an oil change label from January 1983 that it had then covered 83,500 km. Today, the odometer is reading 87,558 km, and the car was last driven in 2013. The Countach, which has spent most of its life on an island off La Rochelle on the Atlantic coast, will be sold with a copy of the workshop manual.»

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Chassis-Nummer: 1120026

Auktion: RM Sotheby’s, London 2010, verkauft für 196’000 Pfund.

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Chassis-Nummer: 1120030 – hier zu sehen.

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Chassis-Nummer: 1120062

Auktion: RM Sotheby’s, Villa Erba 2017, verkauft für 817’600 Euro, angeboten mit folgendem Text: «This particular example left Sant’Agata Bolognese in March 1975 and was first registered on 1 June of that year to Prince Mansour Bin Mashal of Saudi Arabia. Originally delivered in the distinctive colour scheme of Giallo Fly with a tobacco leather interior, it was discovered by a renowned Italian car collector and restorer there in the 1980s, and was repatriated to Italy shortly thereafter. A comprehensive rebuild was undertaken upon the car’s return, which included a complete overhaul of the engine, gearbox, brakes, running gear, and all ancillaries. In a quest for improved reliability and increased user friendliness, modifications were made to the cooling system, including the fitment of later-type cooling fans, although the originals were retained with the car for originality purposes. At the same time, the air conditioning system was upgraded to the later QV model specification, and both battery and alternator were uprated. The car was also refreshed with new black leather upholstery, although this has recently been superseded by a full re-trim in the correct tobacco leather, as per the original build.»

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Chassis-Nummer: #1120064

Verkauft über Gullwing Motor Cars, angeboten mit folgendem Text: «This particular matching numbers Countach, #1120064 is the 32nd one constructed of the 158 Bertone bodied Periscopica cars. According to Lamborghini factory records this Countach was originally finished in Blu Metallizzato with Tobacco leather interior and shipped on March 2, 1975 to Al Mansour Trading, the official concessionaire to customers in Saudi Arabia. Contained in the factory records, a second Countach, #1120062, just one car earlier, had been delivered to the same Saudi location with that car selling new to Prince Mansour bin Mishal, a member of the House of Saud. Though the first owner is not known by name, it is likely they were of high status given the exorbitant cost of these cars when new. By the 1980s, #1120064 was sold to a resident of Mayen-Koblenz, Germany and painted black. By the early 2000s, the car exited Germany and was sold to an Italian collector who repainted the car to the correct original color. In 2015, an American collector purchased the car from Romagna Motorsport Srl, Ravena, Italy, and imported it to the states».

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Chassis-Nummer: 1120100
Motoren-Nummer: 1120034

Verkauft über Gullwing Motor Cars, angeboten mit folgendem Text: «From the factory it was sold to Milano dealer Achilli Motors on September 24, 1975. From Italy the car traveled to Tokyo, Japan and was purchased by Mr. Urushibara Norimitsu on August 15, 1977. Mr. Norimitsu later traded the car to Hawk Sogyo Co. Ltd., Tokyo. Hawk Sogyo Co. Ltd. sold the car on January 29, 1980 to Mr. Minuro Yasukawa of Los Angles, California. Mr. Yasukawa traded the car in at Royal Classic Motors in Marina Del Rey, California. Mr Yasukawa worked with McLaren and Leyton House F1 teams. His son is Professional racing driver Roger Yasukawa. October 29, 1981 Mr. Thomas Mittler, a well known collector, from Mishawaka, Indiana purchased the car from Royal Classic Motors. The car has been in a private collection since 1984 with very little use. In the summer of 2017 a comprehensive engine rebuild was completed (engine number 1120034). The car is in very original condition with the exception of having a color change to red and the interior changed to black sometime early in its life».

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Chassis-Nummer: 1120110

Auktion: RM Sotheby’s, The Guikas Collection 2021, verkauft für 905’000 Euro, angeboten mit folgendem Text: «This example, finished in black over black leather interior, is understood to have been the 55th Countach made by Lamborghini. It was originally finished in red over black and later repainted to its present dramatic combination. Delivered new to a customer in Milan, the car was sold to its next owner in Bologna in 1977. It was exported to the United States that same year, where it was received by Auto Palace of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Walker Inman Jr. would own the car for 12 years; its next three owners were all based in California. During its time in the U.S., the dashboard of the Countach was autographed by Marcello Gandini, one of the designers of the car, at the California Concours in 2003. Paperwork indicates that over 2006 and 2007, the Lamborghini underwent around $60,000 of recommissioning work at Bobileff Motorcar Company in California, who rebuilt the engine and tidied up parts of the exterior and interior requiring attention. The car returned to Europe when it was bought by its next owner in Germany in 2007.»

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Chassis-Nummer: 1120154

Auktion: RM Sotheby’s, Monterey 2009, Schätzpreis 350’000 bis 400’000 Dollar, nicht verkauft. Später verkauft über Gullwing Motor Cars (angeboten für 1,1 Mio Dollar…)

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Chassis-Nummer: 1120220

Wurde im März 2022 über Bringatrailer.com für 898’000 Dollar verkauft. Angeboten von Bobileff, mit folgendem Text: «This 1975 Lamborghini Countach LP400 is one of approximately 150 Periscopio examples manufactured during the first four years of the Countach model’s production. Chassis 1120220 is said to have been exported to Japan in the late 1970s and was subsequently converted to the style of an LP400S Series II Countach before being imported to the US in the early 1980s. It was then acquired by its current owner, who drove it regularly for about three years before placing it in storage for the ensuing two decades. In 2017, the car was sent to the selling dealer, San Diego’s Bobileff Motorcar Company, who performed a restoration that returned it to its original LP400 configuration. Work during the project included fabrication of a periscope-style roof and flareless fenders, a repaint in Tahiti Blue, reupholstery of the interior in tan leather, and overhauls of mechanical components including the 3.9-liter quad-cam V12. Additional features include six Weber 45 DCOE carburetors, twin-coil ignition, a five-speed manual transmission, a limited-slip differential, four-wheel coil-sprung independent suspension, four-wheel ventilated disc brakes, Campagnolo 14” alloy wheels, Stewart-Warner gauges, and air conditioning. Following completion of the restoration, the car won its class at the 2019 Las Vegas Concours d’Elegance. This LP400 Periscopio is now offered on dealer consignment with photos from the restoration and a clean California title.»

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Chassis-Nummer: 1120262

Auktion: RM Sotheby’s, Paris 2021, verkauft für 775’625 Euro, angeboten mit folgendem Text: «This example left Sant’Agata Bolognese in May of 1977 built to RHD specifications and finished in Rosso paintwork over a Tobacco interior as one of 157 original Countach LP400 ‘Perosicopios’ and it was imported to Australia on behalf of the country’s Lamborghini concessionaire, Tony De Fina. Shortly thereafter it was bought by its first owner, none other than British singer and songwriter Rod Stewart, who was touring Australia at the time. Stewart’s long-term affiliation with Lamborghini was well into its stride, having previously owned three Miuras. Chassis number 1120262 proved to be the first of a several Countach he would buy. Amazingly, the car was kept for two weeks in his studio in Sydney where he recorded the album Blondes Have More Fun, and a photo of this can be found in Stewart’s autobiography. It was subsequently flown out to Stewart’s family home in Los Angeles and re-registered as ‘RIVA 1’ and slowly modified over time, gaining many of the same aesthetic elements that Lamborghini was releasing with their later Countach models. This began with the fitment of wide Gotti wheels and a mini spoiler mounted behind the airboxes and culminated in a full wide body conversion to mimic the Countach LP400 ‘S’, along with the appropriate Campagnolo ‘Teledial’ wheels. This later work was carried out by Albert Mardikian Engineering who, in 1984, went one step further and performed a conversion to their own ‘SS’ specification. This involved the conversion of the car into an open-top targa and the fitment of a Walter Wolf inspired full width rear wing, which Mardikian promoted as being ultimate specification for the Countach. In 1987, the car returned to the U.K., still in the ownership of Stewart and was registered as ‘RMK 651R’, ‘R’ to reflect its 1977 build year. It remained in the U.K. until 2002, at which point it was acquired by its second owner who kept the car in the same Maridikian aesthetic specification whilst choosing to completely overhaul the engine. It was presented in this specification at the Retromobile in 2010, by which time it had been converted to left hand drive. Its current owner acquired the car in 2013 from a Paris-based dealer who had given the car a cosmetic refresh at Carrosserie Lecoq in Paris that included refinishing the wheels in gold, retrimming the cabin in magnolia and breathing life into the Rosso paintwork. At this point it had covered 11,800 miles. Recognising that the true significance of this vehicle was not because of its Hollywood history or indeed its unique configuration but actually its provenance, its current owner decided to embark upon restoring it to the specification in which it first arrived in Australia all those years before (albeit retaining its left hand drive configuration), and in which the engineers at Lamborghini had intended. Only the finest specialists were used and the work they carried out is forensically documented with hundreds of photographs in the cars history file that attest to the ‘no-expense spared’ approach that was taken. Pleasingly, the combination of Battaglia e Bolognesi of Ferrara for the coachwork, Top Motors of Nonatola for the drivetrain and mechanical work, and Bruno Paratelli for the upholstery has resulted in a truly stunning LP400 Periscopio, entirely faithful to the Stanzani and Gandini design that caused such a stir at the Geneva Salon in 1973 and free of any trace of the aforementioned 1980s Hollywood modifications.»

Kam bei RM Sotheby’s in Paris 2023 schon wieder unter den Hammer – nicht verkauft. Und jetzt schon wieder, RM Sotheby’s, Villa Erba 2023, Schätzpreis 950’000 bis 1’050’000 Euro.