Yesterday, pokey and the bandit brought down a 67% Crack Pipe vote, disproving the seller's pricing acumen and setting off a flurry of banjo music in everyone's heads. Today we're going to stay in 1977, but with a car that got its name from the exclamation of shock and awe elicited at its unveiling.

Lamborghini's '71 Geneva Show entrant was intended to out-Miura the Miura, and it wildly succeeded in doing so. Rather than lithe and curvaceous like the sidewinder Miura, the new five litre halo car from the Sant'Agata Bolognese maker was brutally functional in appearance, looking like something out of a science fiction film. The production version, which entered the market three years later, kept most of the show car's styling intact, but had a 3,929cc DOHC V12 nestled behind the two-place cockpit, rather than the show car's 4,992. The drivetrain was unique both then and now, with the engine mounted bass-ackwards, and sending the 375 bhp to a direct-action ZF five speed resting just millimeters below the driver's shifting arm, and then back to the differential via a shaft through the sump. Weight distribution of the car's 3,296 lbs was an ideal 41/59.

The Gandini-designed body is resplendent in it's earliest and purest form, unadorned by the various flares, slats and scoops that befouled later iterations. Called the periscopo cars for the unique secondary window slotted in the roof - which provided rearward visibility between the canyon walls of the engine cover - they also were the first application of what we all now universally know as "Lambo Doors".

Today's candidate LP 400 is representing it from the last year of production, when a mere 33 were examples were built. The succeeding LP 400S gained wider Pirellis and the option of the V-wing to keep the rear end planted, making those top speed runs a little less of a pucker-fest. These '74-'77 cars had (relatively) skinny tires and provide the lowest drag coefficient of the marque making them good for damn-near 200 mph when given given enough straight road and a driver with a heavy right foot. But at an asking price of $395,000, and a described no-cost-spared restoration, spattering the nose with Bee Movie rejects may not be the best idea.

Fantasy Junction is not known for bargain-basement pricing, but recent auction activity indicates that decent Countaches (Countachi?) have been trading in this rarified air for a couple of years at least. And, if you could afford it, you'd buy it, right?

When you were a kid, you very likely had a poster of a Countach on your bedroom wall. Hell, you still might! So, is $395,000 a Nice Price to replace that poster with the real deal? Or, is Fantasy Junction throwing in some Crack Pipe with their Countach?

You decide!

Fantasy Junction, or go here if the ad disappears.

Say what you will about the preposterousness of the Pagani Zonda, the man who builds them has certainly got his material science nailed. The foundation Horacio Pagani has built his eponymous company on is comparable in solidity only to the material he creates his Zondas from: carbon fiber.

For Pagani did not set out at a foolish young age to make his as-close-to-kindergarten-art-as-possible supercars. He paid his dues at Lamborghini, working his way up in the organization until he designed the very Zonda-like 25th Anniversary Countach. Lesser men would then jump headfirst into car construction, but not Pagani: he followed by founding the carbon fiber consultancy Modena Design. By the time he finally got around to building the first Zonda in 1999—the C12—he had been working non-stop with carbon fiber since the first days it cropped up in car design. Allowing the Zonda to become the nimblest yet most rigid supercar of its day.

The last version of the Zonda is the R and its street legal offshoot, the Cinque. On a recent episode of Top Gear, the Cinque was featured in connection with the material it is made out of: an amalgam of carbon fiber and titanium. As quoted from a press release by Richard Hammond, the material is called carbotanium by the Pagani people—only for James May to retort that an equally obvious linguistic move could have resulted in titbon.

The timestamp on this blogpost shall also serve as an anchor for a countdown to the inevitable day when a pair of Oakley sunglasses will be manufactured from the same material. The name itself is so Oakley it hurts. And they certainly don’t shy away from working with titanium.

The artwork above is Natalie Polgar’s “The Incompatibility of Zondas with the Subantarctic Environment,” from The Pagani Zonda Field Guide.

It's a pretty strong statement about our economy lately when a guy who can hand fabricate a car from scratch and do it with such spectacular craftsmanship can't hang onto his job. In any case, the car looks just like the real thing on the road. Though it may not have the satanic whine of a 5.0 liter V12, the Ford 351 V8 rumbling away with a nasty cam makes up for it. We're really looking forward to seeing what the car can do once everything gets tuned in. In the meantime, if someone needs this level of fabricating madness give him a call.

[Ken Imhoff Engineering]

In his last article published by The Atlantic—How to Get a Nuclear Bomb, which later became the first chapter of the book The Atomic Bazaar—William Langewiesche recalls a conversation with an operator in Russia’s nuclear bureaucracy. Their discussion is about the ease with which nuclear weapons can be acquired by any state willing to build them:

“Once a country has made the decision to become a nuclear-weapons power, it will become one regardless of any guarantees. You needn’t be rich. You needn’t be technically developed. You can be Pakistan, Libya, North Korea, Iran. You can be …” He searched for a country even more absurd in his estimation. He said, “You can be Hungary.”

Stinging though it may be for my fellow Hungarians, the Russian’s quick analysis is certainly spot on. While starving North Korea has detonated a Hiroshima-size nuke this Monday, the last glory days of Hungarian military might were way back in the 15th century, when the Black Army of King Matthias Corvinus romped about Central Europe under one hell of a military flag, wreaking havoc every which way. It’s been all downhill from there.

So it is certainly an occasion when a Lamborghini Countach is spotted on the streets of this sad, lonely outpost on the very edge of Western civilization. But then you have to remember that in outposts, appearances can deceive. Which entails that when you start counting a Countach’s cylinders, you come to a sudden halt after six:

And realize that it’s probably not a Countach after all, but a Pontiac Fiero with a body kit.

The only solace for a rueful Hungarian nationalist would be the fact that we would have neither nukes nor the car that put America on wheels without Hungarians (1, 2, 3, 4).

Photo Credit: Balazs Keki

Photo Credit: exfordy/Flickr (Countach), Marcin Zieliński/Wikipedia (Ikarus). Pattern Recognition: Máté Petrány

For someone untrained in the language of vehicular design, it’s not easy to describe what makes a car particularly Pininfarina or Bertone—but suffice to say that once you’ve seen examples of both, you will be able to tell them apart at the blink of an eye. An easy metaphor would make Pininfarina the designer of jet planes with Bertone in the business of sci-fi spaceships.

Think Bertone and you think Marcello Gandini, the man whose forehead the Lamborghini Miura sprang from like Pallas at the incredible age of 27. Gandini joined Bertone in 1965 and—following the Miura and the wonderful Espada—he went on to design cars which crave, simply crave ion drives and proton cannons, first amongst them the Lamborghini Countach.

The news last fall that Pininfarina’s Jason Castriota was to leave his employer of many years to follow in Gandini’s footsteps at Stile Bertone was quite a shocker. Pininfarinas and Bertones just don’t mix. Add to this that the cars Castriota had worked on at Pininfarina—the Maseratis Birdcage 75th and GranTurismo, the Ferraris 599 GTB and P4/5—are very Pininfarina, their aggression expressed not by sharp angles but flowing lines that hit you like an aikido throw.

Yet six months later, Castriota unveiled the Mantide, a car Bertone to its core. And while it has not become easier in the past three paragraphs for someone untrained in the language of product design to describe what that precisely is, there is one design element very easy to pinpoint: the angular rear wheelarches.

Like most things Bertone, this is from Gandini. As far as I know, he first used it on the Lamborghini Countach LP500, the prototype which served as the basis for the first production Countach, the LP400. Over subsequent iterations, the Countach lost the angularity, but the motif cropped up in later Gandini designs like the Maserati Shamal—and this Quattroporte IV that was parked the other day on the very street I live on:

By Gandini’s outrageous standards, this car is a subdued Q-ship, especially in the neutral Germanic silver this example—one of only 1,138—was painted in. The Quattroporte IV was produced at the tail end of Maserati’s doldrums, before the company was acquired by Ferrari, and this is their last car that was built in the old Maserati factory, before the Ferrari people threw out all the old machinery. There was a lull of four Quattroporte-less years at the reborn Maserati until they began building the Pininfarina-designed Quattroporte V—the latest version of which we recently drove in Italy.

It’s comforting to see how quickly Castriota has grokked the essentials of Bertone design, as evidenced by this reference to Gandini’s last car for Bertone. I can’t wait to see how he will manage over the years to balance on the shoulders of the giants he’s standing on—and what he’ll add to the Bertone canon. Based on his work at Pininfarina, one is compelled to think he will do just fine.

Photo Credit: Lamborghini, Cartype, 25ora.ro, Stile Bertone and the author

A few hours after we published our in-depth interview with Stile Bertone’s new design director Jason Castriota, I was standing by Lake Como with him showing me the secrets of his first Bertone design, the Mantide.

The front fenders melt into wings behind the front wheels then draw up into a single taut bunch—reminiscent of a calf muscle—which in turn passes under an archway similar to Castriota’s famous C-pillar for the Ferrari 599 GTB. The confluence of curves and LED’s in the back is, when viewed from a step back, a classic Kamm tail. While retaining the tried-and-true shape of the fastback, the Mantide is boldly futuristic.

But will anyone be able to drive it? There are plans to make two more examples, Castriota says, in white and green, to create an Italian flag with the addition of the first car. Then, in an email to the New York Times, he said: “We would not rule out producing as many as 10.” A price has also been quoted: €1,500,000

That's close to two million US dollars at the current exchange rate—almost two Veyrons worth of cold, hard cash. Not insignificant for a car built on a Corvette ZR1, which retails for 5% of the Mantide’s asking price. Let’s examine what you get for that kind of money, apart from the warm feeling of contributing to a company’s survival which has given us the Miura, the Countach and the Lancia Stratos.

Interior

While Jeremy Clarkson has named the Corvette ZR1 his car of the year for 2008 and our own road test editor Wes Siler called it “the best car ever made,” the fact remains: on the inside, it's all Corvette.

To whit, from our first drive:

In fact, the only thing detracting from the ZR1’s grand touring credentials is the interior. The only options on the $103,300 car are an awful set of chrome wheels and the 3ZR upgraded interior package, which succeeds in moving the interior from cheap and nasty into luxurious bass boat territory with more embroidered ZR1 and Corvette logos than my fragile mind could comprehend. We have a hard time accepting the “value” excuse; for this kind of money we’d no longer like to feel like a Jeff Foxworthy punchline. An automatic transmission is, thankfully, not an option.

Let’s see what the Mantide has to offer:

As you can see, it’s a modern European alcantara-carbon-fiber-leather affair, with the car’s hexagonal theme continuing as cutouts on the racing seats, themselves thin carbon shells. The instrument screen is the one used in the Ferrari FXX, the gearshift is a nice aluminum knob and it’s certainly got a snug racer feel to it. But it’s perhaps not as remarkable as the car’s exterior.

Certainly a major upgrade on the Corvette, though, but then that’s not saying much when you’re considering this is a two million dollar Italian super car.

Exterior

Here in Europe, the current Corvette is not liked much. It’s a big, brash American design, a brute amongst small European cars, but while it’s unarguably alien to these shores, I rather fancy its low, wide, flowing looks. In ZR1 trim, it’s a proper menace, with all the right vents, wings and scoops.

The Mantide gets rid of that all. Aside from the front-engined layout and the fastback silhouette, you would be hard pressed to tell there’s a Corvette underneath. And there is: the Mantide is not like the Italian-American cars from the 60s like the Iso Grifo or the De Tomaso Mangusta which paired an Italian chassis with an American V8. Beneath the red carbon fiber is a Corvette ZR1: LS9 engine, aluminum chassis, the works.

But what carbon fiber! It’s all sharp Bertone creases which turn into subtle arcs as you examine them up close, dihedral Enzo doors, smatterings of hexagons everywhere. The angular rear wheelarches—straight off the M577A armoured personnel carrier which transported the space marines into the doomed reactor core in Aliens—frame black Transformer wheels.

It’s dramatically new, so shockingly new that it’s actively disconcerting to take a few steps back and see its classic berlinetta profile. In person, it creates the sort of time warp the iPhone did when it first went on sale in the summer of 2007. You felt as though you were holding a sliver of 2011 in your hands.

The Mantide? I’d say it’s from 2017. Similar vehicles are on their way to leave the inner Solar System.

But then is it worth the price of 20 ZR1’s? There is, of course, no rational answer to such a question, as even the ZR1 is not an entirely rational purchase, being, as Dan Neil put it in his article The rapture of the hypercar, a big needle to deliver the combustible heroin of petroleum.

If you have space-faring ambitions on the public road, set to the soundtrack of a pushrod V8 with titanium bits, then by all means get in touch with Stile Bertone and put down whatever deposit they ask. The car geeks of the world need you to enable them to carry on the traditions of coachbuilding.

And then I saved the best part for the end. If you open the gigantic hood and peer inside, what you’ll see is exactly what you'll see when you open the hood of the ZR1 — a grinning, black Corvette Racing skull named Jake.

So even though this is not a race car, your Le Mans ass-kicking heritage is right there. And who could ask for more.

Photo Credit: Alex Conley (Corvette ZR1), Natalie Polgar and the author (Stile Bertone Mantide)

Here's the scoop from Shoguns, who posted the photos:

This happened on the 45 north feeder road in between Rankin and Richey. Which is about a mile down the road from Lamborghini of Houston. Turns out this car was street racing an 06 Dodge Viper GTS and they both somehow lost control. What makes it even worse is that the lamborghini was previously owned AND SIGNED by Mario Andretti himself! It was a mint condition 1989 25th Anniversary version with less than 6,000 kilometers on the odometer. The car was just purchased from Lamborghini of Houston earlier today and one of the Lambo techs was driving it. He was on his way to deliver it to the new owner that supposedly paid over $100k for it.

We're not surprised. We grew up driving up-and-down this stretch of I-45 and it's not well designed and full of bad drivers in fast cars. What may be worse is the description of the Lambo from the dealership (our emphasis):

Lamborghini Houston is pleased to offer this Ultra Rare 1989 Lamborghini Anniversary Edition Countach with only 5,919 original kilometers in the extremely rare Rosso Siviglia Red over Tan leather. Yes, this was 'race car driver' Mario Andretti's personal car. He has signed the rear wing and his name is still on the Title. It is as close to brand new as possible. This incredible rare collector's Anniversary Countach will be sold quick.

Don't miss this irreplaceable '89 Countach!

Thankfully, the wreck doesn't look to be too severe. We've put a call into Lambo of Houston for full details and they said they would call us back, though they seemed aware of what happened. Below are the full photos of the car from the dealership. Hat Tip to Sean!

[ToyotaNation]

As purely bullying as they can be in person, Lamborghinis are easy cars to like. Four decades ago, having achieved automotive perfection with the Miura, designer Marcello Gandini decided to leave cars behind and design a proper space vehicle for an age when men were regularly sent to the Moon. Ever since his Countach LP500 concept had its first outing at the 1971 Geneva Motor Show, Lamborghinis have looked exactly the same. Company owners and aerodynamic bits have come and gone but the essential shape is still the unbroken Countach wedge. Show your mom a Countach and the Murciélago LP670-4 SuperVeloce introduced 38 years later at the same show yesterday and she will nod in comfort and recognition.

Ferrari doesn't do that. Which is remarkable when you consider that if there was one company which could actually afford to sink into stylistic complacence and keep rehashing its old models, Ferrari would be it. Would someone complain if you could, akin to a Se7en, buy yourself a brand new retro 250 GT SWB with working brakes?

New Ferraris almost always clearly break with their predecessors. All they retain are subtle touches, like the tiny circular rear lights or the hood scoops. This design language has the effect of making new Ferraris frequently appear particularly alienating. Can you still remember the shock of first seeing the Enzo in 2002? Instead of the curvaceous, understated design of its contemporaries, the car was a dramatic jet fighter of sharp angles. People actively hated it: yet has it not become one of the icons of the decade? The same happened again three years ago when the 599 GTB replaced the aging 575 Maranello.

The 599 is a classic berlinetta in silhouette, yes, but the details were alien, jarring. All it took, of course, was some getting used to, and the car made everything else look dated, and that was even before you heard that front-mid-mounted V12 scream bloody murder and break all your ribs at the slightest blip of the throttle.

But the most graceful detail of the 599 was not up front with the engine but back above the rear haunches. It took quite a while to spot the incredible fact that the C-pillars were not mere pillars but flying buttresses more common on Gothic cathedrals than supercars. This solution created an elegant yet perfectly serviceable way to apply downforce on the rear wheels without tacking a rear wing on the trunk and breaking up the lines. It's hard to appreciate the sheer beauty of the arch on pictures. It's really something you have to see in person, because, although it's concealed on most photographs, Black Francis of the Pixies often makes his home beneath a 599's C-pillar.

So take another look. I think you may be able to spot Mr. Francis singing the chorus of Alec Eiffel, the third song on the band's fourth and final studio album, Trompe le Monde:

Now look again at the 599XX and the 599 GTB Fiorano HGTE and rejoice. The 70s may have had disco science and Daytonas but we also live in interesting times.

Photo Credit: Balázs Fenyő (Ferrari 599 GTB gallery), freschwill (Black Francis)

Peter Orosz, the editor of Hyperleggera, a website he fervently claims is not a car blog (although it really is, we don't care what he says - Ed.), pens Jalopnik's newest feature dubbed "Crazy Euro Car Boy." It's a series all about one Hungarian sometimes-motoring journalist's obsession with the cult of cars.

De Kleine makes coloring books for kids on his site LetMeColor.com and promises to include no concept cars but "only the real stuff that was really produced." In a clever move, he tested his work on his kids Marieke and Jeroen. Marieke seems to have gotten the essence of Lamborghinis: just use a bunch of really weird colors!

You get the full range of Lambos from the 350GT to the Reventón, including a picture of the Countach with the scissors doors up. The book will be available in a few weeks and you can sign up here for an email alert.

The idea of hitting these with a paintball gun from a distance also seems very compelling.

Photo Credit: Frank de Kleine

We're not quite sure why this Lambo had its heart ripped out, but we're guessing it has something to do with a sexy Italian woman. Maybe that's just wishful thinking. In all reality it looks as if the Countach is receiving a full engine restoration and thorough cleaning. Likely because it's been a dirty boy by providing its owner with endless hours of performance and fun. It's certainly no basement Lamborghini, but at least this one's real.
(Hat Tip to Wim!)

Just in case you've never heard the sexy Countach 5.0-liter V12 engine:
(If you've got a Supercar Teardown story that you'd like to share, please email me at autoinsider@jalopnik.com and we'll feature yours in an upcoming installment)

[via klassiekerrally.nl, youtube]

Back in high school and middle school the wedgie (or as we called it, the wedge) was something you most certainly didn't want, under any circumstance and you definitely didn't appreciate it when it came along. But in car design, the wedge is something you can appreciate.

The beautiful and technical shape was used by many of the top design houses of the seventies and was a signal the future had officially arrived. While not the most aerodynamic form in practice, it certainly looked the part and helped usher in a new era of automotive design. Italian design houses ItalDesign, Bertone and Pininfarina were at the forefront of the movement, but the Japanese, Germans and the U.S. jumped on the bandwagon shortly thereafter

10) 1972 Lotus Esprit M70

First displayed at the Turin Motor Show in 1972, the Lotus Esprit M70 was designed by Giugiaro at Ital Design and was built on a widened and lengthened Europa chassis. After positive reviews from the public Colin Chapman decided to put the Esprit into production. The final design was completed in 1973 with many of the concept cues intact and when the then GM owned Lotus decided to build Peter Stevens redesign in 1987, many of those original cues remained.

Fun fact: that you couldn't call yourself a car guy without knowing already: Roger Moore drove a submersible version in the 1977 James Bond movie, The Spy Who Loved Me.

9) 1989 Vector W8

In 1989, after nearly two decades of development, Gerald Wiegert revealed his Vector W8 to the public. Extensive use of aeronautical building techniques were to be W8s selling point, but shoddy quality and a lack of funding eventually brought down the U.S.-built Lamborghini competitor in the mid-nineties. The W8 drew its inspiration from the 1968 Alfa Romeo Carabo and many other wedge cars in our list and is still a beautiful car today and you can pick up one of the few examples for a steal; nearly 20 percent of the original $685,000 asking price.

Fun fact: The Vector W8 was featured briefly in the 1993 movie, Rising Sun.

8) 1972 E25 BMW Turbo

The E25 BMW Turbo was initially built to celebrate the upcoming 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, but was later used as the inspiration for the M1, 8-Series, Z1 and the new M1 Homage concept. BMW built the Turbo concept as a rolling display for new safety and engineering technologies as well as showing that BMW had officially left the difficult 60's behind. Penned by BMW's French head of design, Paul Bracq, the Turbo concept was styled after the most dramatic Italian supercars of the day and featured an advanced radar system that warned the driver of close objects such as curbs and cars.

Fun fact: The Turbo featured two BMW badges on the rear – symbolizing BMW's exceptional quality – a cue that made it onto the production M1 and M1 Homage concept.

7) 1978 Dome Zero

Dome was and still is a race car manufacturer in Japan and in 1978 they gave the world the Dome Zero concept at the Geneva Motor Show. Intended to show Dome's intention of building a homologation special for a new line of sportscars; it was unable to pass Japanese homologation. In 1979, Dome debuted a revised Zero, dubbed the P2, with U.S. market bumpers and safety equipment added to the design. In the same year, a racing effort was launched at Le Mans but the ‘Zero RL' failed to finish the race. Shortly after, investors pulled their funds and the Dome Zero was officially dead.

Fun fact: The Dome Zero was featured in Gran Turismo 4, Auto Modellista on the PS2 and Sega GT on the XBOX.

6) 1970 Lancia Stratos Zero

At the 1970 Turin Motor Show, Bertone showed off a styling exercise called the Lancia Stratos Zero. The Lancia Stratos HF roadcar was based very loosely off of this concept though the similarities are few and far between. The futuristic Zero stood 838mm tall and was so low that conventional doors could not be used and to gain access, drivers would have to raise the windshield and walk into the car.

Fun fact: The Stratos Zero appeared in Michael Jackson's 1988 film, Moonwalker.

5) 1972 Maserati Boomerang

In 1971 the Maserati Boomerang was shown at the Turin Motor Show as a mockup and then in 1972 the Geneva Motor Show saw the debut of the fully realized Maserati Boomerang concept. It sat next to the Lotus Esprit M70 as both were designed by Giugiaro at ItalDesign. At 1070mm high, it's not the shortest wedge in the list, but it did have a 15 degree windshield rake – the steepest rake you could achieve while maintaining visibility, albeit very little. ItalDesign used the Boomerang as inspiration when designing the DMC Delorean (most noticeable in the rear view) in the eighties.

Fun fact: Intended as a showcar, the Boomerang was registered as a roadcar and was actually sold in 1974 to a private collector which brings us to 2005 when it was auctioned at Christie's for a cool $1,000,000.

4) 1969 Holden Hurricane RD001

The Holden Hurricane was an experimental concept built in 1969 and was the first product of the GM Holden Research and Development group. The Hurricane's ultra low 990mm stance would have made ingress and egress difficult with traditional doors, so an electro-mechanical powered canopy was used and swung forward over the front wheels. Also included were power elevated seats that both rose up and out of the way along with the steering column to make exiting the Hurricane easier. When climbing into the car the seats would lower to a semi-reclined position and the roof would close overhead.

Fun fact: A similar canopy design was used on both the Saab Aero X and the Batmobile from the Tim Burton Batman movies.

3) 1970 Ferrari PF Modulo

Painted black for the 1970 Geneva Motor Show and then re-sprayed white for its debut at the 1970 Turin Motor Show; the Paulo Martin penned Pininfarina-Ferrari Modulo concept gained quite a reputation and won numerous international design awards – 22 of them – for a car that almost wasn't produced. The cars release was held for over a year because of an apprehensive Sergio Pininfarina. Developed using the Ferrari 512-S racer as a basis, the 935mm high PF Modulo was built to explore new construction technologies and to show off the raw passion of the Italian design house.

Fun fact: Paulo Martin was sketching a Rolls-Royce Camargue dashboard when the idea struck him to make the first sketch of the Modulo. You could say he was more than a little bored with the Rolls.

2) 1971 Lamborghini Countach

Designed by Gandini for Bertone in 1971, the original Lamborghini Countach concept was the most pure version the public would ever see of this car. The wild scissor doors were first seen on another car in our list (the Alfa Romeo Carabo concept) and were used primarily because of the extremely wide chassis, but we think the real reason is because Gandini knew every rice boy would want them on their econo-hatch some day. The Countach name was derived from the dialect of the Piedmont region in northern Italy, literally meaning astonishment and amazement. The pure design of the concept translated loosely into the production LP400 though it was short lived when splitters, wings and U.S. bumper requirements were added to the mix in the LP400S, LP500 and QV models.

Fun fact: The Countach was featured in the 1981 movie, The Cannonball Run, and is one of the most replicated cars to date.

1) 1968 Alfa Romeo Carabo

The 1968 Alfa Romeo Carabo is the most significant wedge car and paved the way for many of the cars on this list. Designed by Marcello Gandini of Bertone fame, it was revealed at Porte de Versailles in Paris in 1968 to an absolutely stunned crowd. The Lamborghini Countach concept that arrived 3 years later drew inspiration from the Carabo in its wedge form, wheel house openings and its notoriously cool scissor-doors, though the Countach wasn't the only car that took inspiration from the Carabo. You can see inspired cues from many sports cars and supercars like the Diablo, 4th gen Camaro and Vector. Vector took the inspiration quite literally by duplicating many of the shapes of the front and side profile in its W8. Many wealthy individuals tried to purchase the Carabo including an Arab prince or two, but thankfully Bertone decided to hold on to it and now the Carabo spends its days relaxing inside the Alfa Romeo museum in Arese, Italy.

Fun fact: The unique name "Carabo" and its green paint were derived from the small green beetle, Carabus Olympiae.

Honorable Mentions

Narrowing down our search for the top ten wedge cars was difficult and we couldn't let this list pass without mention of a few other notable wedges. The DMC DeLorean was the hardest to leave off the list based on its cult follow from the Back to the Future films. Another difficult car to omit was the popular Triumph TR7/TR8 which was produced from 1974 to 1981. In the gallery below you'll find the rest of the cars that we thought were worth mentioning. Enjoy!

[via Lotus Esprit Turbo]

We heard it through the grapevine a few weeks ago that Ken and his wife Eileen had been interviewed by host Dick Gordon for the popular show which does interesting stories of extraordinary people. The interview is set to air tonight across all NPR stations that carry The Story but even if you don't have a local affiliate, you can listen to the whole thing right now by downloading the mp3 file if you click here (right click for direct download from external site), or head over to The Story and stream the show. If you want to do it the old fashioned way, tune in tonight for the broadcast. (Thank reader Dan for seeing it here and suggesting the story to... uh, The Story) [The Story - A Lamborghini in the Basement]

I have always been fascinated by cars and from an early age used to go with my god father to brands hatch race track. He belonged to the Aston Martin owners club and so would accompany him to the races. We would often go into the paddock and see all the cars being tuned and tweaked- I'm sure this is where I came across for the first time a Lamborghini, and it made a lasting impression.

In 2005 I made my first wireframe car, a Subaru Impreza P1. I called it 'Modern Japanese Classic'. A Subaru was chosen for many reasons; it was at the time a joy-riders favourite, it was my preferred car when playing Gran Turismo on Playstation, but really its charm comes from the fact that despite being very, very fast, underneath the lowered alloys and fat spoilers lurks a family saloon (albeit on steroids!).

With the Lamborghini I made it because I just knew the wireframe technique would suit it and it is the most iconic supercar of all time. I had to make it to get it out of my system.

It was a fun project, I loved doing the little details like the pepper pot wheels and Pirelli P7 tyres, the Koenig side spoilers and air intakes, and of course the rear spoiler- It looks so simple but it took ages because it's all about the economy of line — too much steel and it becomes unsophisticated and not enough and it doesn't represent it sufficiently.

I chose the fluro orange because like the car it is uncompromising! It's aggressive and has attitude. It also looks great when the car is either set in the street or photographed against a white background.

The car is currently on display at the Classic Car Club UK, a genius organization with a collection of cars the members collectively drive. If you're interested the Countach is indeed for sale or, if the right opportunity comes along, a lease. We'd certainly drop this beauty into the corporate entry at Jalopnik HQ over some generic piece of post-modern corporate art.

The Basement Lambo was great, but who's got that kind of time? You might not want a Fiero-based Fieroborghini, but how about something in between? Say, this tube-framed, turbo Buick V6-powered Lamborghini Countach replica (go here if the ad disappears), which is priced at a low, low, super-low $8,000!
Now, part of the reason this car is so cheap might be that the general pall of loserness cast by the sword-sliced Muncie home invaders (see photo, above) has depressed all values in the Indianapolis area, but don't let that stop you! This thing has an '87 Buick Grand National turbo V6 installed, though it "needs the turbo piped," and there's nothing wrong with the body that "a small amount of bondo cant fix."

That Backyard Lambo would be fast, once you solved all the turbo bugs and cranked up the boost, but it's still an imitation of a more expensive machine. Get yourself a Stutz Blackhawk, however, and you'll have a genuine original, a car designed from the outset to knock 'em dead at the casinos of Pahrump Las Vegas! Don't listen to those low-rolling Keno players who moan about the Blackhawk being based on a Pontiac Grand Prix, because that would be a slap in the faces of owners such as Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Evel Knieval, and Lucille Ball! You'd think it would be impossible, totally out of the realm of possibility, to purchase a project Blackhawk at a price even close to that of the Backyard Lambo's, but we've tracked down this 1972 Stutz Blackhawk (go here if the ad disappears). Yes, you're seeing that price correctly: $7,500! There's some roughness throughout the car around the edges, but it's a runner: "car runs but has not been on the road for more than 10 years." We're assuming that means the engine makes noise and/or smoke, but don't fret about that- the good ol' Pontiac drivetrain hardware is cheap and easy to find. The interior stuff might be a little more difficult, but you can just Grand Prix-ize it and the ghost of Lucille Ball might not haunt you as a result. The missing emblems and trim components might be tougher to find, but a real Blackhawk owner can overcome all adversity!

Ken emailed us about his plight last night (see below), telling us he's dropped a Paypal link at the bottom of his website where you can donate a couple bucks that'll go towards paying for the huge overage we all caused by rabidly clicking through his pictures of the build process. Don't think this is us just passing the buck; we kind of helped get Ken into this situation by telling the story then getting the inside scoop later on, so we're going to pony up a couple bucks to help out too. Obviously we don't normally do this kind of thing, but in this situation its the least we can do.

Please don't take this the wrong way. I have given everything free to the world on my story and expected nothing in return, that was my intention. My website service on the other hand doesn't feel that way. I have been charged $957 this month over my normal $8. That would feed my family for a month. I will make this short. If the story pleased you and your readers please go back to www.kiengineering.com and I have placed a PayPal donation to offset the costs. Every little bit will help.

Thanks again
Ken Imhoff
aka Countach Guy

(Keep in mind, once the thing is road tuned, Ken is up for us taking a spin in the car!)

The Story
The time was 1985 and I was watching the movie Cannonball run. Yeah, you know the one with Farrah Fawcett and Adrienne Barbeau? 'That red car was a what?' I asked. A Lamborghini Countach. I was mesmerized. I spent the next five years figuring out how I was going to build one. The idea of buying something was out of the question — I was raised by a German perfectionist of a father who would quote, "I can't understand why anyone would buy something when they could make it" whenever the topic of buying something came up. He would say, "You have the skills, just build one". As things were starting to heat up with the Lamborghini, I got involved with a young lady and things started moving pretty quickly. When the topic of car finally came up, I told her 'I need to build this car and I hope it isn't going to be a problem.' She said 'I can't see how it would. I love you.' I figure I would test the waters and asked her if she had two grand for a ZF transaxle. I had a guy in CA with a Pantera ZF he wants to sell, but I was short on cash at the time.
Long story short, she lent me the money and we got married a year later just before we closed on a house with a 2 1/2 garage.

The idea to build the car in the basement is pretty simple really. I recalled back to my childhood again and remember my Dad's car projects always being put on hold during the winter because we couldn't afford to heat the one car garage. Sure I could heat my garage and do the work in there, but then my cars would have to sit in the driveway. I live in Wisconsin where winters seem to last six months out of the year, so that would be a long time with no place to put the daily drivers. This was going to be a long project and I figured the house had an unfinished basement with plenty of room and was heated anyway, what a perfect scenario. There would be no excuses not to work on the car right? Before I started off on the project, I had a neighborhood contractor take a look at it and he was confident I wasn't losing my mind. I will admit, the one thing I didn't think beforehand was how everything was going to either go down the stairs or go through a small basement window. There were times I wondered how well those 50 year old stairs were built, but thankfully I never did have an incident.

When I started the project, my wife would read in a recliner next to me but soon that faded. Even the dog left as soon as she did. I shouldn't pick on her though, she was very supportive coming down to see the latest part I had completed or asking "Sweetheart does this look right?" She seemed to always say the right thing and I always was always thankful for her outside point of view. Sometimes I would be way out there in la-la land and she would have to reel me back to reality. She had a level way of thinking I don't think I ever acquired.

At the beginning of the welding process I tried my hand at gas welding aluminum. Despite putting hours of practice in In ever quite got it. I tried everything. Cobalt glasses, flux and welding rod, I think I tried for six weeks but could never master it. I talked to an old timer about gas welding aluminum and all he would say was "Practice, practice, practice." His younger son, who was also in the family business pulled me aside and said "Buy a Tig machine and get it over with." The old man meanwhile mumbled something under his breath about "Always looking for the shortcut. Whatever happened to doing it right?" So with that advice in mind, I bought a Miller Syncrowave 250 a week later and never looked back. I did hear much later from the neighbors that they could tell when I was welding as it interfered with their TV antenna and picture.

I built a paint booth in the corner of the basement to prime a panel when needed. It worked really nice with a positive pressure blower forcing the fumes out a basement window. The neighborhood smelled like paint but my neighbors never complained, they would just move their cars to avoid the long distance overspray. I'm not quite sure how my wife put up with the paint smell that lingered in the house despite my best efforts. For those wondering, I choose not to color paint down there, after the mess I made priming and the fact that it wasn't all that clean to start. It was OK for priming but painting is another thing.

The project did end up costing a lot more than I ever thought it would — projects always seem to do that. You buy a 160MPH speedometer because that was the highest made at the time. You don't even get it out of the box and you see that they now make on that tops out at 180. Two units later I got a 200MPH... buying parts goes on like that until you end up with shelves of stuff you don't need and keep in mind, for a lot of this project, E-bay had not been invented yet. Speaking of the internet, if my project had started when the internet was available, I actually think it would have cost me a lot more. There are so many more options now right at your fingertips and I seem to have champagne tastes with beer money. I think I have 40K in my project without the equipment/tools I bought. I used to save every receipt until I started getting depressed at how much I was spending. Besides it could be held against me as spousal blackmail, so I eventually got rid of the evidence!

I remember the first time I started it. I filled the tank with racing gas, set the timing, and hit the start button — the engine exploded with life. Open headers in a basement, no matter how ready you are for it, will catch you off guard. I decided to not run it too long and made sure no one was home at the time. By the way, those carbon monoxide sensors really do work and you have to keep the windows open unless you want the sweet smell of racing gas lingering in your basement.

Actually getting the car out of the basement was pretty straight forward to be honest. I built a skid to put the car on — a trailer without wheels you might say. The rig is basically an angle iron frame designed to make it down into the basement to which I added 4 swivel casters to move the car to the opposite wall. We used an excavator to dig a ramp and then cut the block of the foundation out. We pushed the car to the opening, hooked it up to the excavator and pulled it out. Simple. I was like an expectant father watching it come through the wall. I was literally shaking and running the supposed plan over and over in my head. 'Have I overlooked anything? Is some of the wall going to fall on my work of seventeen years?...' The blankets I covered it with surely wouldn't stop that from happening, but I worried nonetheless, an it was in the end, worry for nothing. It went as smooth as something like this could. The neighbors started gathering around as it emerged, waiting for me to remove the blankets. It was like a artist unwrapping his masterpiece. I had never seen it in the light of day either. As the last blanket and car cover were removed I knew at that moment I had accomplished what I had dreamed about so many years ago and to see it sitting there in front of me was surreal. The whole process took two and a half hours and there it was, my Lamborghini safely in the garage. The next day we filled the hole in the basement with new block in no time it was good as new.

All that said, I couldn't have done this alone. A lot of people have helped me along the way. My wife and family that helped when things got rough. A close friend that would never let me give up even though at times I wanted to. I owe a great deal of gratitude to those people in my life.

The end of this story really wasn't about owning the car of my dreams, but the lessons I have learned, the people I have met, and the inner satisfaction knowing I built something piece by piece, each piece a new and different challenge and having it all come together. Paraphrasing an old cliche here, 'It wasn't the destination that was important, it was the journey along the way.'

Ken Imhoff

Tech info:

• All hand formed aluminum body representing a euro spec 1982 Countach LP5000S
• Real Lambo tailights, parking lights, windshield, badges
• All tube space frame
• Ford Cleveland Boss 351 (514hp@ 6800rpm) with a Probe 377C.I. stroker kit with
• Forged 11.75 comp. pistons H-beam rods
• .630 lift roller cam and Milodon gear drive
• Crower pushrods and S.S. roller rockers with S.S. HiFlow manley valves
• Ported and polished heads and Hall Pantera Weber manifold
• 48 IDA downdraft Webers built by Inglesse
• Canton 10 qt. trap-door road racing pan and oil cooler
• Twin Howe sprintcar aluminum radiators with 2400cfm puller fans
• ZF 5 speed transaxle with 4:10 gear
• 15lb. aluminum flywheel
• MSD box and billet dist.
• Tires rear Hooiser 25.0x13.0x16 front 23.5x12.0x16 slicks
• Wheels custom BBS rim shells with hand made center sections. 12x16 rear 10x16 front
• Brakes Wilwood Suprelite 4 piston calipers and 12"x1.25" rotors.
• Exhaust handmade 180deg. 2" S.S. headers, 3.5" collectors, 12" long x 3.5" racing muffers.
• Wilwood racing pedals/master cylinders/hyd. clutch.
• Pantera shifter and linkage
• Performance untested weight 2700lbs.

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]