Only a few hours ago, the official Lamborghini channel on YouTube posted a teaser video called ‘The Wait’ with this rather cryptic caption: ‘We have some news. Something to live. Again. Watch the video to catch the first glimpse.‘ … so let’s watch the 1-minute movie and discuss it below:
So they don’t give out any details, as usual, but don’t you recognize some really interesting bits in what they do unveil, and what they mention at the end? I certainly did, let’s think about what they state at the end first: “50 years ago it paved the road to the future, now it’s back on the road” … they must be talking about the Lamborghini Countach prototype for sure.
Another interesting giveaway are those seats, take a closer look at the design, those are Countach seats, but there was only one Countach that had those massive, square padding on the seat and backrest … the initial 1971 prototype, same with the central console shown, it has a round opening for the gear lever while there are two small rectangular openings in front of that, which were buttons on the Countach prototype, as you can clearly see in this scan from Autokampioen, a Dutch magazine published in April of 1971 (image courtesy of Timpelen.com):
If we take a look at the Automobili Lamborghini SpA website itself, they have a new entry under their News > Lamborghini World that mentions a ‘Limited Series’ model described as ‘Get ready to live the past with Lamborghini’ … so are they planning on building a very limited number of actual 1971 Lamborghini Countach LP500 Prototype replicas?
Another detail is that classic, analog dial that seems to go beyond 300 km/h, now the 1971 prototype came with an innovative digital display array on the left, but if you look closely into the binnacle behind the steering wheel, it does look like there’s an analog speedometer hiding, so with all those individual things put together, I’m pretty sure they are talking about the actual Countach prototype, and not a re-bodied Aventador like the Countach LPI 800-4.
I wonder how many of these 2021 Lamborghini Countach LP500 they are going to build, and what their price tag will be, if they offer it for sale to clients, it might be a one-off to be displayed at the museum to join the green Countach production prototype and the last Countach ever built, the silver metallic 25th Anniversary … whatever the case, I’m looking forward to what they have in store for us to ‘live the past with Lamborghini’.
As far as I know, the history books all mention the original 1971 Countach prototype has a rather harsh life during development, having the engine replaced with a 4-Liter version, and getting various air intakes cut into her aluminum body, the famous NACA duct, and the boxed shaped shoulder intakes to name a few … but my understanding was that this specific car was used as a crash test unit at Mira. So are they rebuilding the wreck, or did they use another chassis for the crash testing, as the prototype didn’t have the tubular space frame from the production model, and has the one and only 1971 Countach prototype been hiding somewhere?