Go Mifune

Tossable, lighter, more nimble. Same great 4 liter sound that nothing can match. See Cannon Ball Run opening scene.....GRAAAA, WOO, GRAAAA!!! Unfortunately for us Lambo buffs, that audio track is actually a recording of a Ferrari Boxer. Other scenes have the actual Countach recorded, but the engine soundtrack in that opening scene has been used in other movies as well (for example, the chase scene in "Against all Odds", even though it's a 308 !! LOL). Does sound fabulous, but if you listen carefully throughout that whole opening sequence, you can tell which moments are audio tracks from the car being filmed and which ones are dubbed.

Well, the LP400 I know weighs in around 2700 and change, because I have direct experience with one that a friend and I weighed. Careful examination all around the car (while sitting next to my QV) does reveal a lot of difference in the "heft" of the structure, and it is eveident in a lot of ways. You can feel it when you're driving it too..... it's very evident. My Lotus X180R weighs in at 2940 with full tanks of fuel, and it's amazing how even a couple hundred lbs (as compared to the QV) can make a big difference in feel.

Wow..... 2840 lbs..... I'm drooling again. I think it's more than just the items you mentioned, because I have no EPA stuff, and I have similar AC equip (weight wise) as the LP400 on my QV. Mine weighed at 3360 lbs with 3/4 full tanks, and around 100lbs of stuff that has since been removed. WHat else it might be I don't know, though the LP400's did have lighter weight chassis (thinner metal for tubes, etc) and thiner sheet metal. The magnesium engine parts wouldn't be it given your QV engine......

CountachQV's car is a downdraft........ even with cats and an air pump you got a lotta work to clean up that car. Good Luck .... In the state I live in now we have exempltions for low production volume and historic cars.

I think you guys are missing the point. Find an address in another state to register the car in!! Now, I of course have never done this, but someone who looks a little bit like me has almost never had this type of car registered in the same state where it actually resided in for this exact reason. Either butcher the car and strangle it with cats, air pumps, and laborious and expensive resettings of cams, ignition, etc, or just set it up the way it should be and register the damn thing elsewhere. Not that this doesn't have some risks and pitfalls, but in my experience they were minor relative to the alternatives. Back when it seemed I had no choice but comply, once every year the cams, ignition, and fuel delivery were set up for clean running (poor thing ran like crap of course). As soon as the test was passed, I limped it home and went to work getting her back to normal. This was on a carbed Lotus, but the principles are the same.

I drove that car years ago when it was for sale with a dealer in Florida. It was pretty rough, was going to need some pretty serious mechanical going-through. When it most recently sold (year or two ago) it went to Japan. I have the VIN in the notes I took when I looked at it.

Having a fair amount of experience with the LP400, and having owned my downdraft for quite a while now, I can offer these two cents: They are such different cars that my brain short circuits and starts to smoke when I consider which one I actually like better. I don't think I can give you a preference. The LP400 is MUCH lighter (thinner metal on the chassis tubing, loits of magnesium, thinner aluminum on the body work), and feels much more lithe and nimble. It's hard to describe just how much this improves the feel of a car. Astoundingly stable at high speed (I have video at an extremely high speed and you can see just how rock solid it is). The Downdraft has a whole different feel. Much more lateral grip afforded by those steamrollers of tires, more developed chassis afforded by additional years of design development and able to use later tire technology, torque that is dramatically higher. Those who love the LP400 for its looks only don't realize what a potent car it really is (again, as always, when properly set up and tuned). Those who haven't experience a well set up downdraft don't realize how much difference and development there had been by that time. By 1986-1987, the development curve stopped, then went backwards IMHO, such that all additional work was done to make the car more comfortable and appealing to a broader market rather than for performance. That's when things really started appearing for no other reason than to differentiate model years and provide a reason to buy the new model (again, just MHO, and this is NOT to say those later cars weren't just as good). Okay, maybe that was 3 cents.

Yes.... they are worlds apart if the QV is in proper tune and set up.

Finally gettin' around to it - can you please change mine too? Also can you make the photo my avatar? Thanks!

Unfortunately, I think both of these cars sold some time ago.

This is what makes the downdraft engine so fabulous..... higher compression pistons, different cams, and exhaust headers instead of manifolds. The induction manifolds and the path the air takes through the carbs are a big part of it as well. SuperX's Countach is a bad ass SOB...... you'd have to do a lot of work to match that thing.

Very.....Obvious.......Fake. Too many cues to mention, but not even noticable time trying to figure it out.

Well, we don't know what he paid because he would have bought it from Heritage Classics (who won the Christies' auction). They in turn had it for sale when this guy would have bought it. I have no idea what he paid, but they had it listed for $89,000. I saw the car in LA the day it was loaded up and sent to him.

I think what you have to remember (and BTW this will be the case will all early Diablos now as well ) is that you are talking about a 20 year old car, and unless someone has gone back through it, you're gonna have to. You can do it yourself, or pay someone else, but it wil have to be done. My experience has been just like Peter's. Having said that, every time I drive it I forget about every penny and realize just how worth it it is !!!

I think you might have it backward - I thought they produced a special shorter gear (actually a few for the higher gears) to help high speed acceleration at the expense of the (sorta uneccesary) top speed.... I seem to remember that anyway...... current martini hangover may mean that I'm thinking of the later model Yugo GT or something like that......

Normal gearing for the QV should have you around 185 at the top of 5th (which, by the way - is attainable for a car with a good strong engine even with a wing, although I have only witnessed the theory in a strong downdraft ). More was there - we were hitting the rev limiter. I don't know if the US QV had different gearing, but given the power difference, maybe it won't pull redline in 5th.

Lamborghini had done a little experimenting itself with this on the past, I think maybe when Alfieri was developing the QV. I don't remember much of what I read about it, but the marine engines were quite different and I think thermal management was a big issue (as was weight). It must be Robert Ball doing that project, no?

Hi Joe - The sunroof I have never seen, but that tailight reatment I have seen a couple of times - supposedly custom factory jobs for special customers. There was an LP400S that use to show up at Monterey that had it, and the story was that the car was originally built for some Saudi prince who wanted the red material all the way across the back like that, and others saw it and wanted it too. Steve PS - How have you and your awesome red machine been?

I think that's generally adjustment related, but it IS known to be a sign of a worn clutch in a Countach (I've heard it from several shops). Countach clutches are "pull" type instead of "push" stype, which have some mechanical advantage attributes when engaged with respect to the clamping force of the two surfaces. FWIW, my last clutch didn't slip one iota before it came out (and I drive the car hard, so I would know) but it was so fried the flywheel wasn't reusable. Remember, the wrong chimp driving your car can fry one of those clutches in a few hundred miles. Maybe one of the more technically experienced among us can weigh in ?

THat's the first time I have EVER been faked out from a real one that thought was a kit !!!!!! The amateur built nose clip and the headlight installation make it look immediately like a fake !! I had to look closely at some of the details (door sill, some panel lines) to convince myself thatit was a real one !! Poor car.

This is about to start being a big problem for everyone. The original castings were not very well designed, and the gears have no bushings for reverse loading, so they wear a lot in reverse (don't drive in revers down the highway I guess.....). I have had to replace a couple now, and the supply is gone. Next option is for enough of them to fail that we can get some custom made for less than an arm and a leg (the casting probably isn't so terrible but having the gears made is very expensive I understand)..... volume would of course bring down the unit cost. From what I hear, I think we'd have to have a 100 or so before it came even close to reasonable. Another eventual option is that I know you can build a fully electronic replacement with magnetic pick-ups off an output shaft or something, but you'd have to put the original speedo head on a shelf and it would be expensive (wlthough might finally be accurate).

I think it was around $750 for the mod..... Evans Auto 614-471-7535 (ask for George).... That's in the US (I forget the country code). I'll dig up their email for your you if you have problems with the phone.

Yes Terry - George Evans' shop built a new "squirrel cage" and larger fan assembly and fit it to my existing system. Worlds of difference. Ralph - sorry about the thread divergence ! I reckon you're absolutely right -I think teh LP400 will become the next Miura in value terms, with the downdraft close behind it. Right now I'd plan on shelling out a good $125 for a strong driver with good cosmetics, but I haven't been following closely. PS - All of you need to remember that 21 years is the EPA limit and 25 years is the DoT limit - anything over 25 years old you can import at will with no restrictions or changes. Now if only the Euro would drop again !

The mod is a larger fan fit into the system to imcrease airflow across the AC coils, and a basic overhaul of the lines and fittings. I don't think the original lines were very good, and consequently leak pretty badly on most Countaches. Mine were shot. So, there are two things - one is to simply refresh the system and make it right, the second is the improvement of the fan. If the system is solid and fresh but stock, it will put out plenty of cold temp but not a lot of airflow. The Evans mod makes all the difference in the world with the aditional airflow. Later CT's addressed this a bit with more vents and a larger fan I think (mine is an '85, with only the two vents in the middle). Ironically on really hot humid days I can't run the fan on the highest speed because the coils are too wet (working very well) and I get a little spray - middle speed results in cold air, adequate cooling, and no spray. Overall, starting with a completely shot system (but a good compressor), it wasn't that terribly expensive... a couple thou for the whole shot. You gotta remember how badly buried the lines are, and to replace them is a b*tch. The fan mod alone was around $750. It makes an absolute world of difference in driving the car through the summer (and the engine is so powerful, you never even notice the drag of the compressor).