LP PhwoarHundred

How amazing is the Countach? It's got a shape that still takes your breath away when you encounter one, can you imagine what the reaction was when it was shown as a design study at the 1971 Geneva Motor Show?

As the model progressed it was adorned with spoilers, wings and bodykit aero pieces to try and keep things under some modicum of control but they did inevitably take away from the suprising purity of Gandini's original.


The simple beauty of the early cars means that they're starting to command primo prices. Check out this (follow the link for plenty more pics) concours winning '77 LP400. $395,000 is a pretty spicy meatball for a car that, lets face it, is probably damn near undrivable in any realistic modern sense...

...but just look at the fucker!


Loving the vertically stacked odometer.





A small nugget that I wasn't aware of; The word countach is an exclamation of astonishment in the Piedmontese language — generally used by men on seeing an extremely beautiful woman. While the term is often considered untranslatable into English, it is essentially equivalent to the British verbalization "Phwoar". Or, it can also be considered the verbal equivalent of a wolf-whistle. Seems appropriate.