Monterey Auction Highlight: 1976 Lamborghini Countach LP400

Monterey and its innumerable automotive events are quickly approaching. I’ve been trying to quell the burning envy I have for those of you attending this year’s races and concours by browsing the auction catalogs for cars I can’t afford. No, I don’t know why I do this to myself either.

This might be a bit ‘newer’ than our typical fare, but there’s something about the Lamborghini Countach that still looks like the future. And if you’re visiting here, chances are very strong that you’ve had a poster of this car on your wall.
I did. sadly it was the later 1980’s coke-dealer styled version with weird wheels parked in front of a series of palm trees looking ever so Miami Vice. Now I find that the early LP400 models are where the magic still lives. When you think of the Countach, it is perhaps THE defining symbol of 80s sportscar aesthetic. Looking at this earlier model though, you can see how very 70s the car actually was. This was still reasonably early in the wedge look that would come to define the late-70s automotive styling.

This Countach is marvelous. I love everything about it. I love that it doesn’t have the wings that peppered later models. I love that the front of the wedge is still sharp and not cluttered with the bumperettes of later models. I love that it isn’t red. I love that seeing a Lamborghini Countach today still feels the same way it felt when I was 12 years old. I (still) love that NACA duct behind the door. It is excessive. It is gorgeous.

This example, chassis 1120154, will come available at RM Auctions’ Sports & Classics of Monterey in just a week’s time. I imagine that the hold it still has over me will be the same for a few more well-heeled buyers as well and that it will meet its $350,000 – $400,000 estimate. There have been a lot of tremendous sports cars that have come out in the 33 years since this Countach was assembled, but it would be difficult to think of one that would turn more heads today than this.

More photos are available at this auction lot’s detail page.

Update: Amazingly, this car didn’t meet it’s reserve, bringing in a top bid of $315,000.