With modern classics—cars built in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s—enjoying a popularity boom these days and the car market as a whole having seen prices skyrocketing in the last year or so, even your average 1980s performance machine can cost a pretty penny. So you can imagine the excitement of rescuing a Lamborghini Countach, one of the most iconic vehicles ever to sit under the sun.
This particular example of the Marcelo Gandini-designed madness has spent two decades in a garage over in Chicago, but the time has come for the Lambo to leave Illinois for a better life, one that can see the vehicle returning to road-worthy condition.
To be more precise, this is Lamborghini Countach LP5000 Quattrovalvole. And, as its new owner Dennis Collins aptly mentions in the video below, we’re looking at what traditionalists arguably consider the final pure-appearance iteration of the machine.
After the LP5000 QV of the mid-/late-80s, Sant’Agata Bolognese built the 25th Anniversary Edition Countach under the supervision of a then-young-and-not-yet-ruler-of-his-own-kingdom Horacio Pagani. And this special modded added heavy aero pieces that might’ve upgraded its alien look, but took the overall appearance further for the original uber-clean look of the Gandini design.
Now, you might already be familiar with Collins’ name, since we’re talking about the host of the Discovery Channel’s Fast N’ Loud show.
There’s good news and there’s bad news about this Raging Bull
The positive side of the machine involves its good condition, interior included—would you look at that bright red leather that just screams 80s excess!
The supercar is complete* and even comes with two boxes of documentation and manuals. Then there’s the fact that it’s been stored in proper conditions, inside a garage that appears to fight the tough Chicago winters with controlled temperature.
Nevertheless, there’s *one exception and it’s impossible to gloss over: the 5,167 cc V12, whose four valves per cylinder gave the model its Quattrovalvole nameplate, is out of the car.
There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with the motor, but Bill, the previous owner, removed this to deal with a transmission issue that saw second gear quitting its job.
Even so, Collins seems to think the trouble is not serious and, regardless, he’s understandably excited about his latest acquisition.
The spec is brilliant
This is the later, fuel-injected model that makes 414 hp (420 PS), with only the European carburetted models, which pack no less than six Webber carbs, being more muscular (think: 449 hp/455 PS).
Speaking of Old Continent goodies, the vehicle also comes with the Euro front bumper, that’s not only sexier than the energy-absorbing U.S. equivalent but also considerably lighter, as Collins happily demonstrates in the clip.
For the record, while the enthusiast doesn’t mention the financial side of the deal, such a Countach can even climb past the $500,000 mark when in excellent condition, with the lower end of the pricing spectrum sitting somewhere around $300,000.
For one, Lamborghini’s recent revival of the Countach as a limited edition based on the Aventador has only pushed the value of the original even higher.
