1988 Lamborghini Countach QV Anniversary

The teenagers who had Farrah Fawcett posters have grown up and (loud groan) have started to collect 1980s cars

by Stephen Serio

The sensation of the 1971 Geneva Salon, the Countach was styled, like its predecessor, by Bertone’s Marcello Gandini. Lamborghini’s four-cam V12 was retained, though this time installed longitudinally. To achieve optimum weight distribution, designer Paolo Stanzani placed the 5-speed gearbox ahead of the engine between the seats. When production began in 1974, the Countach sported an improved chassis and the standard 4-liter—instead of the prototype’s 5-liter—engine. Even with the smaller engine producing “only” 375 hp, the aerodynamically efficient Countach could attain 170 mph and, as one would expect, came with racetrack road holding to match. The car’s potentially largest market—the U.S.—remained closed to it until the arrival of the emissions-friendly LP500S in 1982. The final development saw the engine enlarged to 5,167 cc and new four-valves-per-cylinder heads adopted for the Countach Quattrovalvole in 1985, the latter’s 300 km/h (186 mph) top speed...