It all seemed a bit easier, freer and more carefree. Back in the early 1970s, when crash and emission standards didn’t really play a role in development. People were flying to the moon and thoughts were free on earth, too. And it was precisely at this time that Marcello Gandini designed perhaps the most popular poster car of all time: the Lamborghini Countach LP 500.
Front and side lines of the Countach show impressively how one would draw a Lamborghini, as well as side ventilation and flank guidance, the car is full of self-quotes! And it looks good from the back too, which is the trickiest part of most sports cars (as it is for most people) – but not the Countach. What was I going to say? That’s right: the models presented here look muscular and powerful. Specifically, a 1976 Countach LP400 Periscopio in Marrone Metallizzato, a red 1979 Countach LP400 S, a 1984 Countach 5000 S in Acapulco Blue, and a black Countach 25th Anniversary Edition built in 1990. “Try to remember what Lamborghini was at that time – a very small company with a visionary founder and a few but highly talented people, all striving to reinvent the car and create something that didn’t exist before,” said Marcello Gandini.
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“In this context, the Lamborghini Countach was not only a great design for a car of that era, but with its silhouette and scissor doors, it was a high point of 1970s design in general. There was no other object with similar shapes and proportions”.
But marvelling is one thing, driving is another. And a Lamborghini is always a drug for sound fetishists. Sure, under load, the roar of a Countach reaches its peak, but true sound gourmets don’t need full throttle; they fall in love with the orchestra as they lug the throttle and then slide. When coasting with engine brake, the wedge basses, hums and thunders in such a way that one (gladly) remembers back to old times. A brief thought: Who actually came up with the idea of building electric motors?
