This week’s Throwback Thursday post comes from the early 70’s, a time when most things were beige as a result of the colourful and psychedelic free-love 1960’s hangover. In 1971 the swinging 60’s had come to an end and the curvaceous E-Type had just begun its second iteration with the new MkII. The curves that everyone idolised and adored with Jaguar’s flagship motor were typical of the era and car designers the world over were keen to emulate the look and styling of the popular British marque. The company had revolutionised the automotive world in not only design but also affordability of high quality engineering and advanced technology for the age. If you wanted to stand out from the crowd in order to steal adoring glances from the E-type you would have to come up with something very wild and outlandish.
Looking up wild and outlandish in a car design dictionary (if there was such a thing) and it should simply say ‘See: Lamborghini’. The Italian firm from Sant’Agata don’t do things by halves and tend to cause quite a stir when they release a new car. They had already shaken up the automotive design world with the Miura, producing the mid-engined recipe for supercars borrowed from racing engineering that is still being used today. Sure it might have been tricky to drive and had a number of flaws in the design but when it looked as good as it did these factors didn’t seem to matter as much and became part of the cars character. Keen to produce something that would once again cause a stir in the automotive industry Lamborghini went back to the drawing board, incidentally picking up a ruler on their way. The Countach LP 500 (for 5.0 litres) concept was born for the Geneva Motor Show and displayed in the way only Lamborghini knows how, painted in bright sunflower yellow.
The chief designer, Marcello Gandini who also designed the Miura, was a young inexperienced designer who obviously thought that everyone would be as young and supple as he was when it came to ergonomics, practicality or passenger comfort. The low and wide wedge shape he had created wowed the crowds on its display stand and created the very buzz that Lamborghini hoped it would. It’s mostly flat panels in trapezoidal shapes and wedges were a jagged breath of fresh air compared to the curvaceous bulging lines of the competition. Although not originating on the Countach the scissor door entry system, mostly a necessity due to the cars high cill lines and the width of the car itself, became a symbolic trademark of the car and were as subtle as the yellow colour it was painted in. The design was pure fantasy supercar and the very essence of what Lamborghini was all about and the exotic styling ethos that it still maintains to this day.
As with most concept cars, looks and design creations are often toned down and diluted in order to make the vision of the designer a reality. The Countach was no exception when it came to making necessary changes, although dilution and toning down were never the Lamborghini way. The proposed 5.0 litre engine was reduced to a 4.0 litre borrowed from the Miura and even then the design meant that it struggled to stay cool. Vents that were cut into the body work of the prototype to let the heat escape were replaced with huge scoops on each side forcing cooling air into the engine and the now iconic styling detail of huge NACA cooling ducts were incorporated into the doors and rear wings to bring in more much needed air. All these vents and ducts meant that rear visibility became such a non-entity that many owners had to adopt a unique reversing technique involving the iconic scissor doors. Vertical opening of the doors and the high cill line mean that reverse parking, or reversing at all, was much easier to do with the doors open and sitting on the cill half out of the car looking back over the chisel shaped rear of the exterior. Despite the extent to which additional cooling had been incorporated into the design, owners still claimed that the interior was stiflingly hot when driving, and the faint whiff of petrol that often made its way into the cabin was sure to keep you on your toes just as much as the driving experience. Other complaints ranged from the clutch and gear lever feeling like they were set in concrete, a trait similar to the difficult steering thanks to the widest tyres fitted to any road car at the time and possibly since. The sleek design of the car meant that the already narrow window line was hampered by the fact that the split windows could only be wound down half way, leaving barely enough room to let a fly in never mind to reach out for a parking ticket or collecting a drive through lunch.
But did any of this matter? Not one bit. The Countach is as iconic to the 70’s and 80’s as Walkmans and Rubik’s Cubes are. From its very conception the point of the car was purely for aesthetics and the ultimate in exotic supercar design. It didn’t matter if it was awful to drive or completely impractical in every way, the looks were the only thing that mattered. From the delivery of the first customer car in 1974 to the end of production in 1990 it never failed to impress and was the ultimate poster car of the era. Ask the majority of people past their teens what they’re favourite supercars of all time are and chances are the answer will include a Countach. What began as a svelte neat wedge shaped concept in original pre-production guise evolved into a car famed for the extent of its cooling ducts and aerodynamic scoops, ever larger sticking out bumpers and wheel arches and the biggest wing probably ever to grace a mode of transport other than an aeroplane. The wing was an optional extra for the 1978 400 S car, it probably provided no additional aerodynamic properties other than weighing the back of car down, but its excessiveness and outlandish design suited the car perfectly. Incidentally most owners specified it.
The Countach was an iconic car design for exactly the reason that drives truly passionate designers, it was all style over substance. It had many flaws as a driver’s car and would be beaten round a track by most supercars of the era, but that wasn’t the point to a Lamborghini, and shouldn’t be for today’s raging bulls either. It was built to look at and epitomised the very reason that we love exotic cars in the first place. The fact that if you see one in the street you can’t help but thinking how much you’d get if you sold all of your possessions and ate beans for the rest of your life in order to buy one.
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