the reality of owning a Countach

As I mentioned in a previous post, a Countach is not a four-door Chevy.

Obviously this isn't the car for you.

Rebuilding a water pump (successfully) is not a simple task but does not require an "engine out".

 

2NA is correct the car might not be for you.

Have you ever heard the term " if I had to explain you wouldn't understand".

 

A starter repair is not "engine out" and certainly not "$10k plus minimum". I certainly can't speak for everyone in "the business" but I don't treat my customers as "victims", ripe for the picking. I only fix what is broken and it is discussed ahead of time with the owner.

You are right to question anyone that claims that a 30 year old Italian car will be problem free. There is no question that a person is better off with the best car they can afford but it will break and need to be fixed. This is even true for Hondas.

It's still early, I expect some knowledgeable owners will join in here.

 

after 4 years of ownership i still love my 400S

the things i do not like are:

-too low for my driveway (not a problem for later cars such as late 400S and all onwards)
-i have little times to drive it
-the less you drive it, the more problems you will have (now i have less time for the car and sometimes when i take it out i find something need to be checked ...alternator, fuel leack..minor issues generally)
-the wat. pump (stock one ) is not the most reliable thing on the earth

 

I have owned a 1984 LP5000S for a little over six years now.
To answer your question based on owning a 2 valve carbureted Countach.

The items that can be aggravating are as follows:

1) Carburetor bog between 1,000 RPM - 2,400 RPM.
You need to know how to adjust your driving around this so as not to have the engine fall flat on you when you NEED TO ACCELERATE. Once you learn how the carburetors respond you can prevent this from being a problem.

2) Blind spots.
It is not so much a problem with the blind spots as you just learn to focus on what is around you when you are driving the car. However it can be trying as other motorists are always trying to get closer to take a look. This Saturday morning I decided to take my car out for a short cruise. While I was sitting in my driveway a guy driving up my street was so caught up in looking at my car he almost ran over my neighbor’s mail box. LOL

3) AC system
My AC system is in top notch condition and is just barely adequate. The AC systems in these cars suck until 1988.5. Lamborghini finally got it functional during the last model year, hey at least they didn’t give up.

4) Interior room.
Leg room sucks. You drive and work the pedals completely offset to the right. Big shoes you drive barefoot. You lace up the narrowest pair of sneakers you have tight and try not to hit the adjacent pedals. If your 6' plus you drive with the head tilted inward. I don't believe I could wear a helmet if I were to try to ever track my car. If I could were a helmet I do not believe I would be comfortable driving the car due to visibility issues.

5) Parts
They are becoming harder to obtain and more expensive. Tires for example you buy them when they are available not wait till you need them and purchase or you may be driving on whatever you have left of yours for a year or more.

Regrets? The only regret I have in ownership was in allowing the wrong individual do repair work to my car which was a nightmare. Lesson here when you do not have the time or the knowledge to do repair work take it to someone with credibility and references.

Advice.

Determine what features are important to you in the car, IE:
Is air conditioning very important? Then you better look at a 1988.5 - 1989 MY

Are you a nostalgic carburetor guy? Then understand your going to smell like gas after a drive and you have all the little idio-syncracies that go along with carbs.

Buy the best example that you can find, if you can afford it. Then YOU CAN'T AFFORD IT.

After you have found the best example have a noted experienced mechanic do a PPI on the car. Base your decision on if you walk away from the deal or negotiate a deal with this information.

Be polite here and in public. There is much information to be learned and offered up on this forum. As far as in public people are going to want to see and ask you about the car. Be nice to them, they are as excited as you were the day when you saw your first Countach.

Best of luck, Sincerely Vic

 

Well stated.

 

Thank you Tim.

A couple more items or misconceptions of the Countach that I thought of.

Steering.
I do not consider the steering to be hard or difficult at all. If you drive a Countach and find the steering to be hard you need to go to the gym.

Clutch.
I do not consider the force to depress the clutch hard. Again if you drive a Countach and find the clutch force to be excessive you need to go to the gym as you do not know what a heavy clutch feels like.

Transmission.
Shifting into second from first can be difficult when the gear box is cold. You can overcome this by blipping the gas pedal or just synchronizing the shift better.

Shifting into first from neutral at a stop can be at times almost impossible. If you can't get into first gear snag second gear to align things then grab first. If this doesn't work rev the engine and try first again.

If this doesn't work give up and wait till the light changes to red and keep repeating the above mentioned steps until you get it into first gear. Then wait for the light to change to green. Note while waiting do not take the car out of first gear as it just took a traffic light cycle to get it into gear.

If you cannot get into first gear DO NOT start off in second gear. Rev the engine, grab second, grab third, four fifth, reverse. Go to the gym, but do not start off in second.

Sincerely Vic

 

I've owned mine for six years.
No complaints.....except not enough time to drive it. Ideally I'd like to drive it once or twice a week.

 

Vic

i agree on both
the steering is little heavy at parking, but nothing impossible
gym is all you need

the clutch: i think is really pretty light on 4 liter cars
i felt some QVs clutch very heavy...and i am honest

they can be modified and made as light as the early cars

 

I have owned my ct for about 6 years now. I only experienced two issues with the vehicle during my ownership. Replace alternator and had a loose wire on ignition... The a/c coughs out cold air but is definitely livable. The blindspot can be easily cured with some wide lense blind spot mirrors. The parts are still very much available if you know who to turn to. Since mine is a fuelie, there are no problems with adjustments on the carbs. Its been a relatively no problems ownership for me and I love driving it because the qv height actually clears many ramps pretty good. The clutch is heavy but not unbearable( I like it more than my diablo) The steering is heavy during parking lot speeds but works great once you get on the road. interior is tight but I like the cocoon feel. Being 5'7 makes in and out easy The transmission you need to get it warmed up to be working right. The gear changes need to be deliberate but feels precise.

 

I have owned my DD anniversary for almost 2 years and had absolutely zero go wrong with it or any complaints. I also owned an 84 2valve carbed car for sometime before it and it also was a very reliable car. Infact I have had less problems with my 3 vintage lambos than I have had with any era of Porsche I have owned.

The Countach is a mans' car and by that I mean, one must realize that with such extreme strength and general presence, there must be some compromise. I hate hearing of the Jeremy Clarksons' of the world that do nothing but complain of the car. They totally miss the point of it.
They are a magnificent experience more than the fact that they are actually a good car.
Owning one is a must for most Exotic car enthusiasts, but go into it knowing that you must compromise for it, because it makes no concession for you.
Taking care of one is no more expensive than any Ferrari of the era, that is for sure.

But buy a good one, or get one with the intention of making it good and know that cutting corners owning one of these is you letting the car down, not the other way around.
Good luck.

If you want to see my goofy, but candid review of my old Countach for my local TV show, check out www.fitstart.net and look on the Enthusiast TV tab. I have over 20 reviews of great cars there for you to watch. Just don't post them elsewhere please.

Jeff

 

There is nothing logical about a Countach.
There is nothing reasonable about a Countach.
There is nothing realistic about a Countach.
There is nothing practical about a Countach.

Oh sure, all the old adages of "buy the best car you can find" etc etc all apply.
So too does the warning of "don't try and run one on a shoestring budget" etc etc.

But, a Countach is a Dream Car, plain & simple. Acknowledgment of that concept and desire of same is the only reason to own one. Attempting to rationalize ownership is a waste of time. You own one because you WANT to have one, not because it makes any sense whatsoever.

The content of your original post suggests that you have serious concerns already. Thats why 2NA suggested this might not be the car for you. The propensity to have utter disregard for popular convention or political correctness is prerequisite number one of Countach ownership. If you are concerned about blind spots, a physically demanding drive, labor costs at $100 per hour etc etc, as you state in your first post, then, with all due respect, this may in fact not be the car for you.

As a renowned scribe once said: "Its hot, noisy, cramped, difficult to drive and you cant see properly. God I want one!" THATS the spirit of the car.

 

As for the blind spot issue....I have no issue with it.
You must be the type of person who uses his/her mirrors if you want to own one of these cars. I know quite a few people that do not use their passanger side mirrors, they can't comprehend.
You have 3 mirrors on this car and you better be able to get by with them.
I do not sit on the sill when I back up either.

 

After owning 5 Countach over the past 10 years I could type a book but I'll leave that to Joe and help where he asks me to more good times than bad, that's for sure. To the question of which model, it all depends on your physical condition / stature for pre S3 cars, patience with things that come with carb vs fuel injection, personal taste regarding the styling changes between LP400 & Anniversary.

So answer these three questions:

1. Can I fit in all models?
2. Do I care about the fuel delivery / horsepower?
3. Which one looks the best in your opinion?

Then you will know which model is right for you

Tony

 

That pretty much sums it up

 

All excellent points here. Another to add: Attention. Constant nonstop often annoying attention. Be prepared to be followed home, followed to work, followed everywhere. People will ask you to sit in it. People will ask you to pay them to wash it, photograph it, paint it, etc. People will cut you off in traffic so they can take pictures and drive like total fools. I had people coming into my workplace to ask if they could see the car, take their kids to see it, give them a ride, etc. It got really old with me. So much I started driving he car less.
Also make sure if you can't fix it yourself that you have someone close by that has the ability and won't soak you. Another big problem I had. Although these factors caused me to eventually get rid of mine, it is still my favorite car and I may eventually get another. Like others said, it just doesn't make sense.

 

They are **** boxes no matter how you slice it. But oh man..what a **** box!

There is nothing quite like driving a Countach. Clunky unrefined, hard to see out of and to steer. But once all that is behind you and its you and the open road..look out. I don't think there is another car on the road that can even come close to the experience of being behind the wheel of a well sorted CT.

 

I have an even easier time with ingress and egress.

You are not alone with your opinion. I say, make them even smaller. Can you say Lancia Stratos !

The Diablo, must feel huge in comparison. The dash feels so far away.


______________


Pete

When you have time, use the search function. You will find different threads on various Countach subjects - from technical to ownership. On another L board, JohnMH wrote several excellent Countach technical threads with good details. Why reinvent the wheel ?

Advice ?

Don't buy a driver.

 

LOL. You remind me of that car and driver article on the black countach 5000s a while back in the 80s... Whips and Chains...LOL. I guess CT lovers are in some twisted way a big fan for punishment. Food for thought though... painful experiences are often the more memorable ones I personally feel that despite the ergonomic quirks the CT has, once you have mastered it, you feel great. Perhaps thats part of the allure of having a CT apart from its looks. As to the diablo, it is huge. I feel a little bit more detached to it then the ct. Now if there was a ct with murcie power or even diablo power, that would be awesome.

 

I agree, I drive my Countach the least of all my cars. The Urraco and Jalpa get thumbs up, the Countach causes problems sometimes. The attention does get old and I always try to be friendly and let people sit in the car ect. That is the one thing I was not prepared for. The biggest suprise was that the car was not as difficult as I had expected.

But dam it is cool!!!!

jfrazar

 

Out of all italian "*****es" I've owned, my 88 (1/2) red Countach gave me probably the worst ownership experience. Bought it new in Feb 89 and had it trucked from Boston to Palos Verdes, CA. Arrived in a rain storm. Driver's wife drove it out of the enclosed trailer and ruined the clutch (she was the only one who could squeeze into the car). Drove it straight into my garage and immediately smelled gasoline. All 12 injector lines were lose at the pump.

One week into ownership, driver door slammed shut on my forearm and splintered the bone.

Lambo/dealer agreed to replace the clutch but no dealer in the LA area could do it. I had to make arrangments for Claudio Zampolli to do the work and get paid. Car was out of commission for 6 weeks.

Had 3 electrical fires, one of them left me stranded on the 405 in Santa Monica which created a good size traffic slowdown, picked up on KTLA on their evening news. Very embarrassing !

Sold the sucker 3 years later to Motorcars International for exactly the same $ I bought it for ($112K). Handed over the car's file with 3 flatbed receipts in it. I was told car went to Kuwait. Took me 12 more years to gather enough guts to buy another Lambo. I am one of few who thank Audi for better cars.

The CT should have stayed on my son's bedroom wall; that's the only way to enjoy it.

 

^ That's pretty much worst case scenario. Opposite that, I have a friend that has owned
his for about 13 years and has paid for oil, filters, tires, and 1 single a/c charge.
Instead of buying the best car you can find, I would say don't buy one finished up on a Friday. Seriously, good car or not, "plan" to put 10-20 grand into it. This is factored into their values already. That's why only the extra rare versions are the ones consistently above 100g.