Oct 20, 2008 12:00 PM
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Detroit, 3:40 AM
Sat Jul 31
26 posts in the last 24 hours
Seventeen years ago, Ken Imhoff watched Cannonball Run and became so enamored with the Lamborghini Countach in the film, he hand-built his own, in his basement. In what we imagine might be the most Jalopnik build ever undertaken, Ken designed and fabricated his own tig-welded frame, installed a thoroughly massaged 351 cubic inch V8 with a ZF-25 5-speed transmission, hand-formed the aluminum body over a meticulously measured and accurate body form, and finished it all off in a beautiful metallic gray. It took Ken 10 years to complete the project, and the results — as you can see both in the gallery and in the video below the jump — are amazing. There's only one problem, when you build a car in a basement — how do you get it out? Find out below.
Ken went into the project fully aware of the problem of a getting the car out of his basement — it was your classic ship-in-a-bottle project problem. When the faux Lambo was complete, he actually hired a contractor to knock out a part of the basement wall, build an earthen ramp, and then drag the car out of its subterranean workshop.
Firing It Up In The Basement, You Gotta Love It
Mr. Imhoff, our hats are off to you sir. You are an inspiration to us all, we want to be like you when we grow up. Considering the quality of the work here, we're fairly confident your car is actually better than factory, more reliable, better handling and faster, and you have the satisfaction of having built it yourself. Congratulations sir, you are a grease monkey superhero.
A little history on the car.
100% hand crafted Countach out of aluminum and a space tube frame. All aluminum body formed on a wooden buck using an English wheel. My own design space frame with Corvette hubs and custom A-arms. Mated to a ZF-25 5 speed. S.S. 180 degree headers GT40 design "bundle of snakes" Boss 351 bored stroked to 377 515hp 48 IDA Webbers. One off TransAm BBS rim shells to my own center section wheels. Custom brake package to fit 16" wheels. Fuel cell, twin aluminum sprint car (Howe) radiators. All aluminum interior with leather dash, Momo seats and 5 point harness, on board halon fire bottle. quick release steering wheel. Low to the ground at 2700 lbs. 100% body correct by using a real Countach to measure from. Over 10 years in the making.
[Ken Imhoff Engineering, Lamborghini Replica via Motive]
Send an email to Ben, the author of this post, at ben@jalopnik.com.
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
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