CountachQV

my number ignition off is 0.1 amps. nothing to fret about. i developed the "dead battery" syndrome. My battery is good and tested out the car. for over a year now i have this issue on and off. I have been able to get rid of it for a while but cleaning the ground and improve the connection points. but now its back on both cold start and hot start. Cold start takes 2-3 tries of 15 mn interval. 1st crank gives the impression battery dies after 15s of try and the amp gauge goes in the red. (i leave the trickler connected while doing this). eventually the car will start on the little cranking that goes on. since last week I got a no crank situation on hot start. After several tries, the car would magically start on little cranking. I will get the car in service for this. Will add the ground Chad mentioned in 2010. Just in case i would also need which model of starter of the mercedes diesel is the same as the Countach. I decided not to do the booster fix only if the new grouding does not change things and no issues with the starter is found. but first i wanted to check if i had some sort of short that would draw my battery down at some point. while this is a minor issue, it is a very big inconvenience to drive the car around and not know when it will start. Rather than cleaning the grounds again i want to fix it for good.

Does anyone know what is the approximate current draw in Amp on a countach , qv preferably, in the following conditions: 1. all accessories off, ignition off 2. All accessories off, ignition on motor not started 3. accessories off, engine idling. I am chasing a possible current leak. thks

congratulation. The 25th are the best deal around in the countach world right now. The value cant be beat and there are no fear to drive them since they are not costing an arm and leg. Euro bumper on it is a very smart move.

thanks Chad . you confirm what i suspected. At least from the 85 CTs. The box from the ouside seem to be the same in all aspect. the only thinkg i wasnt sure is the mening of "K". I thought they would have done some changes internally.

I also wanted to know if the Marelli box are intercheangeable between anniversary and QVs The QV seems to have the model AEC 104 B and the anniv the model AEC 104 BK. what would be the differences between those 2 models?

I have a question on carb stacks for the Countach QV DD. I found out that there are 3 types of them as you can see on the pictures. The picture below shows 4 stacks. The 2 in the middle of the picture were mounted on a QV. The others were from unknown vehicles. The only difference resides in the height of the lip going into the carb body. Does this means there are different 44DNC carbs ? From the individual pictures you can see one that has a tall lip, the 2 from a DD with a middel high lip (it even seem there are not quite the same !) and one with no lips. provenance unknown This was mounted on a Countach DD This was mounted on a Countach DD. It seems it is also slightly different from the one above from the same DD provenance unknown Can all these stacks be used for a DD carb regardless of the lip height? Why are these differences there ? All these stacks were munted on 44 DCNF. Clearly some stacks are sitting a bit higher. If someone could bring some lights to this puzzling fact, it would be welcome.

I will reserve my opinion for myself. the guy said he drives his diablo everyday as a his day car. I will respect that. Cant be cheap

that looks great! I would hope the exhaust has been manufactured with pipes straight. Did you noticed it was a bit off before putting in on the car? may be its the mounting that needs a slight adjust Also dont get regrets on missing any carb punch. My take is carbs are great if you have a large budget to buy the car and then you feel guilty as you drive the car because it cost you more in value. Your car Carb or FI is looking great and you rightly have to feel proud of it. Many here have said for the best punch buy a souped up toyota supra... if you want some class buy a countach

I'll be glad. I'll keep you posted. My plans are for sometimes in the 1st 1/2 of july.

From what I got over time, it is less black and white. In short Jas and Thomas got the interest of the factory who basically took their work to base their own FI system for export. So even if the factory did not release that car as an FI and did not put this FI in it, the factory did participate and used that car. Records have it that the car went back to the factory as an FI. In short you may say that the factory outsourced the FI work, establishing a strong link with the will of the factory. In contrast none of the Wallace TT cars got any sort of interest from the factory. Form what I know even Wallace was not eager to do this and Joe may elaborate. He was willing to cash in the money and that is all. Most europeans, especially writters of books dont like the FI because they see it as a"bastardized version" of the carb car for commecial purposes. So there has been little said for a long time about it and what was said has never been very positive. The owner should then focus particularily on the actions with evidences of the factory acting upon this work. This fact cannot just be swept under the rug. that said, appreciating this fact will take a special buyer who goes just beyond liking Countaches and will be more valuable to a US guy than a Eruopean guy who will dislike the FI anyway. May be a Japanese will bite. I realize that the japanese comunity , despite all the strange add-onns on cars, has a core of well informed collectors and have snapped lots of good cars. Of course I am saying this outside of the current price consideration

Albert. dont doubt. What is done is done and in the past. Yes with that money you could have made another choice. but your choice is now simple move forward or move on. It seems you are creating one of the best 500S so since your are 80% moving forward, you may as well finish the stretch. Most o f that money you'll get back in the car and the pleasure of owning it. I may go to Italy for my vacation this year. Some family + vacation on the Adriatic coast (Pesaro - Marina di ravena). If your on the way, I'd love to see that car someday.

Arguments on all sides have been laid out. At this point the best thing it to let the market talk. As far as milestone car, this is a milestone car. It affected the importation of lambos in the US. The wolf cars also affected the countach in its form and that is a milestone too albeit bigger. One could argue that the Wolf first 400S could be considered prototype as the factory actually was involved right there. Another milestone example is the last blue DD 88.5 that got sold. Nothing special really other than it was the last 88.5 DD made. Big milestone? no. But the premium has proven to be there. So denying this car its status is not quite fair. The premium value should just be set according to it. This board is supposed to be helpful to owners / buyers and sellers. it is sometimes difficult because as we said before, nobody wants to see Countach owners being unreasonable in their dealing. But clearly here the owner believe in what he says. He has more of the journey to go. I wish him success despite the overwhelming odds. beating this more wont be helpful to anyone.

Emilio got this right IMO. Joes S1 and this 5000S FI are not close in being in the same class. The S1 has a following crowd and is next in value to the 400. $340K is in the lp 400 range. For that price, I'd rather get a good 400 than a 5000FI no matter how nicely packaged. That being said. This FI is the gentlemen's car and he can set the price that he wants. Unfortunately there is a case to be made that too many adds like these make the Countach crowd look like a bunch of nutty greedies and as Joe puts it and turns the real market with money off from Countach. I guess that is why so many people in the know get frustrated to see that kind of stuff. Cars sit and dont sell and at the end, would be buyer turn to other models. All we can do here is kindly try to present a correct picture of a car's value with of course a good range. The advice can or cannot be taken. That car, being in no need of anything, is worth in the low $95K-150K to be broad in the pessimistic and optimitics way. This is not to insult anybody but that is my honest evaluation. If I were to buy that car I want to point out that lately, there is worries about countach advertised price. look at the $500K euro LP400 that is not original and the italian DD at 260K $ or euro (i lose track) in the market for 3 years. That is not good. Just like the housing maket where people still think their 1MM house is now worth 2MM. The glut builds up. Something will give and if that goes on, it will not give nicely. I could understand pushing the envelope, let say 10-20% and be flexible. But the current going baffles me unless people are fishing for whales. this is not particular to this car. Are we seing the same situation with other famous marques? In addition, this thread has made the mark of what is a prototype car and a milestone car. A milestone is desireable over the same breed in the series but is far from commanding the same premium as a factory prototype. As far as the Wallace TT, this is not even a milestone as the factory had nothing to do with this. this is just about an S1 to be rescued at great costs. the Wallce TT bring nothing of value. The new owner of the lp400 TT actually had it taken out and the engine brought back to factory and that car is in the hands of heavyweight knowledgeable guys.

My take - FI or FI prototype is not a feature that would redefine the price. - - Money + emotion = Sincerity in question. - 2V FI is generally less desirable, but all Countachs are wonderful. - The car could be priced under the influence (PUI) for informed buyers; i.e. Allan will assess someone's smoking habits within two posts if PUI is suspected. I have to say this: Factory prototype = Historical car => big big $$ FI prototpye = Milestone car => Commands a premium It seems from various poost that most everyone think the car is somewhere between $100K and $140K at the very best. But again we are not the one thinking of shelling the money. I personally would by a DD for that price but I can see someone attracted to a milestone car for a small collection.

I feel like having to jump in this for several reasons: 1: Around 2002 or so, I was saying the same thing about how junkies the early FI were. I got litterally chewed up by Treford Thomas then on a now defunct board and I was judged so heretic that some asked that I be booted off that board. Talk about lynching... Because the approach T.T took in addressing a bit of ignorance on my part, I postured and washed it. In retrospect T.Treford was right in many points. Without his work, there would have been no official CT import in the US. He and his associate Jas, allowed history to happend outside the factory. I simply wished he had come nicely trying to correct me in my facts rather tha blasting guns with the mob. 2. It bothers me to see the trend of dealers talking up car on chat forums posting outworldly prices or "asking for offers" when not justified. That smells like fishing for whales.. 3. That particular car has historical value. It is the 1st FI that the factory took as template for the FI to come. So it is worth more than any FIs. The question is is it worth more than a carb? May be. It depends on the condition. IMO, at equal condition, that car should be at the entry point of a decent 5000S carb. Certainly worth more that a QV FI due to historical data. But condition will play a big role in the price Assuming a perfect car (show condition) i'll say $110K-$130K. May be up to $140K for soemone who wants it bad. 4. I dont think anyone is seriously bashing the late FIs. They are great driver car. The difference as outline by 87-countach is that collectors will go to the carb cars. Not all Countach are to spend most time in a garage or in shows. For thoses who want to drive a CT and enjoy the thrill and dont care about value, resale etc, the FIs are the best choices. The most detriment to the FIs are the bumpers not the fuel system. May be that is what turns off many. This can be easily rectified. So in summary, that car is saleproof and what we have here is another guy who claimed he had a great keeper while 2 months later the car is for sale for close to 3 times what its worth. Quite a turn off at least for me. That makes me lose trust in what i read when people are talking bout their car. May be we need to Id the dealers from the just owners and we can sort out the commercials from the true talks.

Hi Tony, Welcome. I completely missed the all saga of the Red 86 DD put on sale in Nov. I wished Peter would have call me as he knew.. Anyway I dont want to rehash the price thing but I would like to hear about that car story from its history. There are a few red DDs in the USA and I am interested in their history (I have one). The one you got has the desirable euro side light and I dont recall having seen a Red DD in the USA with them.

Thanks for this info. So shipping to europe is around $3500 one way give or take based on country and shipper.

It is your choice and tste but my opinion is that a countach really looks good in yellow. There are a lot of white cars, not so many in yellow. Take your time and enjoy it. You 've been looking for quite some times for it. Let us know about your shipping and cost of shipping experience besides customs. PM me if you dont want it public. I am interested to know how much of a pain this is. One day my car is going to my hometown...

+1 DD agains last QV, I prefer the DD

there a good and a bad news abut this. the bad news is that US countach price is dirt cheap for europeans. They are byuing here because there is a better value pick. the good news is by my account 1/2 of the countach population is in the US so there is room to work with. What is concerning in this is that the best and most expensive cars are going away and it seems that "would be buyers" are flocking around the junk cars. (other threads says the $60K dismembered QV gets 10 calls /days!!???). Heck a cheaper nice ferrari gets 2 calls 10 for the junk. It looks like european like feasting on caviar and the taste of sh.t prevails here... May be we need to become a socialist country with more people making good money and more chaps could afford buying nice cars again ( dont mind me, I am frustrated by this). I do agree. losing that car from the NY shows is a significant loss. it was a mint car by all standard, even if I dont go for the color.

Agreed. Would put a 70K price resto. 80K is a strech. But this car is only worth the sum of its used part at a discount if functionality cant be verified. there seems to be quite a few good parts that would command good money (exhaust, interiors, gauges, wheels, engine block, engine parts, doors, hoods etc...) May be the seller could get close to this 60K in parts for other needy owners? But i dont see someone buying the whole car for the sake of parts with a potential restoration that is going to put the car over the price of a finished running one. IMO this is a donor at this point. even restored the car has nothing to make it stand out. A traditional similar good QV inj is around ~100K. consider this: the seller is selling what appears to be a nice F testarossa at $57K ask!!!!: http://www.modexotics.net/1991_Ferrari_Tes...a_146182088.veh and that 88 junk is 60K !!!!???? for 60K the choice is a no brainer

that red car is nice. but the wrong wing look..... i withold judgement

yeah. utlimately that blue does not do it for me at all even if it is a one off. if the vaue is mostly about the blue then I know why I would not go for the top price.

that is really good. but... As a dude living in the US, I would not have paid that. As a european dude, the price is definitely afffordable for someone who dont mind injection. That is the value imbalance that causes all the CT to fly away. I wonder if I am missing something here. Is the fact the car is the last and maqy have factory enhancement really worth about $70K on a model that is not a prized model? I am not sure that even the Andretti car sold for that much. I would love to know the reasoning of the buyer. I am sure the guy has a good reason for going there. Anyway my point is only academic as i am glad to see the Ct market well and alive

Ken, I am struggling for how much I would pay for that car. I concluded that for $215K I would not get an injected, even if the last one and perfect. That car is a sort of milestone but not that kind of milestone. For this price better buy a 400Sx or one of the top DD on the market. It will take a special buyer who is set on the later QV look and is not daunted by the injection engine (at this price one can be demanding). This car has no special history. If I were to spend my own money, having see the car (very nice) I would go a the mid-DD price, that is $150K. May be I just fail to appreciate that car.