Feb 24, 2011

A Lamborghini Back in the Day…

LP400 Countach, when photographed in the mid-1970s. Look at that shape compared to the other vehicles.

In the mid-1970s Porsches were still a rare sight on the road, yet the one in front of the Countach seems mundane by comparison.

The Countach is probably about the height of the VW's side mirror. No question it was otherworldly compared to everything else.

I knew I was into cars in high school and college, but forgot how much until I came across these photos.

I was out cruising one day during my senior year of high school (1975-76) when I saw this Lamborghini Countach LP400 parked on the side of the road. This was back when exotics were truly limited production (Lamborghini made around 150 LP400s from 1973-77), you couldn’t go to the internet to figure out what something was, and only those truly into cars knew what a Lamborghini was, let alone an LP400.

So what was the Holy Grail of exotics doing in America when Lambo only sold the V8 powered Urraco here, and it was basically impossible to bring one in? Next to my high school was a college that a number of Middle Eastern princes attended, and one of them had this Countach. I was so blown away by seeing it that I raced home, grabbed a camera, and prayed it would still be there when I returned. It was, so I shot these photos.

It looks like a flying saucer compared to the vehicles around it, and in my next blog entry I’ll relate a story that truly demonstrates how it was indeed “otherworldly” to an unsuspecting farmer in the Italian countryside.

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