It decorated the walls of a generation car lovers and defined an era of supercar excess. Several decades later the once cutting edge design is certainly dated but is certainly still the stuff of exotic car dreams for many car lovers. Anyone with the means to make their aging supercar dreams a reality would be hard pressed to find a nicer example of a Countach than this 1230 original mile 1987 5000 Quattrovalvole currently listed on Ebay.
Love them or hate them, it is hard to argue with the insanity that is the Lamborghini Countach. Besides the rash of kit car imitators the Countach inspired there is nothing on earth that looks quite like it—for better or worse. When the updated 5000 Quattrovalvole was introduced in 1985—named for the cars 4 valves per cylinder—the cars 5.2 liter V12 produced an almost untouchable 455 horsepower and was similar in price to an average US home.
Like many young car lovers, I had a huge Countach poster hanging on my wall from a very young age that showed a vehicle nearly identical to this one. Perhaps that is why seeing a Countach that looks like it rolled directly out of 1987 was so interesting and compelling. From the US mandated safety bumpers that usually disappeared long before the new car smell to the super 80s gold rims, this Countach looks nearly identical to the ones being driven off the showroom floor 24 years ago.
Amidst the smarmy quotes and service history included in the auction description there is little explanation to be found for this Countach's amazingly low miles. Supposedly the original owner was the number one Lamborghini importer in the country at one time, so perhaps there were plenty of Lambos to drive besides his own. Another explanation could be a knowing fear of the Countach's notorious ability to break itself almost constantly in new and expensive ways that comes with familiarity of the model. Maybe one of the other Countachs pictured in the auction got the bulk of the driving duty.
Regardless of the reason this Lamborghini has remained barely used since the 80s—undoubtedly an exciting and terrifying set of circumstances for the next owner of this car. Currently there is a bid on this car for $130,000 although the reserve has not been met with several days left on the auction.
While the desire to own a Countach never followed me past childhood, the lasting effect of hours spent staring at one on my wall is a lingering and overwhelming desire to drive one. Few things could reawaken this desire quite like staring at pictures of this nearly perfect real world version of the car that decorated my walls as a child. Wherever you fall on the "love it or hate it" Countach debate, we can't imagine many people would turn down the chance of spending an afternoon tearing up asphalt while stuffed behind the wheel of this barely used exotic time capsule.
[Ebay]