Countach (Countach (LP400 to 25th Anniversary))

The Show Car and the Production Car

Lamborghini's own heritage account places the Countach's first public appearance as a concept in 1971 and the start of series production in 1974, with a sixteen-year run to follow. The prototype and the production car shared a silhouette and very little else. Wikipedia's technical summary gives the LP500 prototype 2,491 lb on a partial spaceframe of sheet steel and square-section tubing, 401 cm long; the production car went to 414 cm on a full spaceframe of welded round-section steel tubing in 1.18 in (30 mm), 0.98 in (25 mm) and 0.59 in (15 mm) diameters, every tube of 0.04 in (1 mm) wall thickness, the bare frame weighing about 198 lb. The engine was not new either: Lamborghini credits the 60-degree V12 to Giotto Bizzarrini in 1963, adapted for this installation by Paolo Stanzani, with the gearbox placed longitudinally between the seats and drive taken back through the sump.

The LP400 and the Periscopio Roof

The first production cars used a recessed channel in the roof to give a periscopic view rearwards, a direct admission that the car had almost no three-quarter vision. The Countach Register, which documents cars individually, records deliveries of periscope-roof cars from December 1974 to February 1978. Motor Sport tested one in July 1977 at three weeks and 1,056 miles old, listing 375 hp DIN at 8,000 rpm, 10.5:1 compression, 267 lb-ft at 5,500 rpm and 43/57 weight distribution; Sports Car Market gives the LP400's original US list price as $52,000. Clive Richardson found the steering 'kart-like in its directness and precision' and the trunk genuinely usable, and was blunt about the rest: brake fade on road and circuit, a spongy pedal, tail break-away at modest speeds, first and reverse hard to select from rest, carpets already curling at the edges on a new car.

Wider Every Time

The LP400 S arrived at Geneva in March 1978 on Pirelli P7 tires and Campagnolo wheels widened to 8.5 inches front and 12 inches rear, with thicker anti-roll bars and reversed lower wishbones at the rear. It came in three series: 50 cars from chassis 1121001, then 105 from 1121102, then 82 from June 1981, and brought the riveted arch extensions and the optional rear wing that most people now picture when they picture a Countach. The Walter Wolf cars, engineered through Dallara, sat behind much of that development. In 1982 the V12 went to 4,754 cc for the LP500 S, badged 5000 S in some markets and a lasting source of confusion with what came next.

Quattrovalvole and the Downdraft

The 5000 QV of 1985 took the engine to 5,167 cc with four valves per cylinder. European cars moved from sidedraft to downdraft Weber carburetors, which required the power dome on the engine cover and, by RM Sotheby's account, lifted output to 455 hp, roughly 87 more than the European 5000 S. That change is the origin of the 'Downdraft' shorthand. US cars ran Bosch injection at a quoted 420 hp. The QV is the variant most often described as the one to drive rather than the one to look at.

Pagani, the Anniversary and the End

For the marque's silver jubilee Lamborghini set Horacio Pagani, then working in-house, to restyling the car. The 25th Anniversary of 1988 raised the nose, added strakes to the front bumper, reworked the tail and set vertical slats over the radiator intakes, while 1977 World Rally champion Sandro Munari developed the chassis. Electric windows, sound deadening and power-reclining seats made it the only Countach that could be called accommodating. It ran roughly twenty months to 657 cars and was replaced by the Diablo in 1990. Lamborghini notes that the car was entered in the Library of Congress as historically significant to American culture, which is a fair measure of how far the shape traveled beyond the people who could buy one.

The V12 is durable when serviced and ruinous when not. A rebuild is the largest bill the car can present, and no US price for one was fetched here. Magneto notes that a full oil change takes sixteen liters, which is also why the car takes so long to warm through. Faulty Magneti Marelli electronic ignition is described as a common fault, as are oil leaks from the feed pipes running between the front-mounted radiator and the engine; on four-liter cars the oil cooler pipes perish along their run down the chassis and have to be replaced in length. Valve clearance adjustment falls due every 15,000 miles. The gearbox is noisy by design and awkward into second when cold; genuine bearing wear announces itself as noise beyond that. Clutch replacement requires the engine out. Rose joints throughout the suspension wear quickly and produce wayward handling, and the rear brakes and handbrake are prone to seizing. The brakes need a firm pedal even in health, and Motor Sport recorded fade and a spongy, feel-less pedal on a new car in 1977. Air conditioning was temperamental when new and is frequently inoperative now. Steel roof and headlight pods rust, aluminum panels corrode where glassfiber meets them, and trim is the one area where specialist support runs out, and Classic & Sports Car states plainly that trim parts remain unavailable.

The spaceframe is the car. Floors, bulkheads and the spare-wheel well are bonded to it, so corrosion in the steel tubes and evidence of past accident damage are the first things an inspection should settle, and the hardest to put right afterwards. Body materials vary across one car: aluminum panels, a steel roof and headlight pods, glassfiber engine cover and, from LP400 S, glassfiber arch extensions, and the aluminum corrodes readily where it meets the glassfiber. Original paint shows the weave of the glassfiber through it, which is a useful check on whether a car has been resprayed. Establish the variant precisely and check it against the paperwork: periscope roof and narrow body on an LP400, arch extensions and P7-era wheels on an S, the power dome on a European downdraft QV against Bosch injection on a US car. That last distinction moves real money as of September 2026. Rose joints wear quickly and take the handling with them, so listen for noise from the rear and have them assessed rather than assumed. Front tie-rods are easily bent by jacking in the wrong place and stub axles have been known to fracture, though replacements exist. Ask when the clutch was last changed, because the answer sets the size of the next bill, and when the valve clearances were last set; the interval is quoted at 15,000 miles and the job is labor-heavy. Check that the air conditioning works, since it rarely does. Match chassis and engine numbers against the Countach Register, which documents cars individually and is the closest thing to an independent census.

As of September 2026, classic.com records an average sale price of $665,963 across the Countach model line, a lowest recorded sale of $257,600 for a 1982 5000 S in September 2021 and a highest recorded sale of $2,370,000 for a 1979 LP400 S Series I in August 2026. Per-variant benchmarks as of the same date read LP400 $891,662, LP400 S $1,032,715, LP500 S / 5000 S $655,913, LP5000 QV $696,927 and 25th Anniversary $602,837, with variant averages below every benchmark: $878,007, $792,628, $616,228, $624,863 and $578,889 respectively. The LP400 is the only one of the five on a falling trend. Auction and sale evidence fetched as of September 2026: at RM Sotheby's Monterey in August 2026 a 1,120 miles original-paint LP400 S Series I, chassis 1121086, made $2,370,000, a restored 1985 QV Downdraft made $1,325,000 and a 952 miles 25th Anniversary made $797,000; classic.com also records a 25th Anniversary at $593,500 through Broad Arrow in August 2026 and an LP400 S Series II at $1,249,979 in July 2026. Earlier results still frame the early cars: RM Sotheby's failed to sell LP400 Periscopio chassis 1120172 against a $1,100,000 to $1,400,000 estimate at Miami 2024. Those are published sold prices, not hammer; buyer's premium is added on top of hammer.