"After the groundbreaking Lamborghini Miura stunned crowds at the 1965 Geneva Motor Show with its mid-mounted transverse V-12, it was hard to imagine how designer Marcello Gandini might surpass it. But, in 1971, he did it again with the outrageous LP 400 Countach. It predicated the angular style typical of the 1980s, ten years in advance. The four litre, V-12 generated 375 horsepower, enough to push the car to 180mph. Upwards-hinging ‘scissor doors’ proved a magnetic attraction.
The Countach was the stuff of schoolboy dreams, and it evolved constantly: adding vents to aid engine cooling, fender flares for wider tyres, and safety bumpers for the American market. A total of 110 early ‘periscopo’ models were built between 1974 and 1977, with a novel prismatic mirror arrangement to overcome the paucity of rear vision. (Seventy-seven additional examples of the LP 400 were then produced with more conventional mirrors.) The 400S was introduced in 1978, with bumper flares and an optional rear wing. The LP 500S, also known as the 5000S, of 1982 bumped the engine size to almost five litres.
This fabulous and rare ‘Supercar’ was purchased by the vendor in July 2000 and was last driven in 2008. In 2004, the vendor had the engine stripped and rebuilt, with a new clutch by Lamborghini London to which there are invoices totally over £10,000 that can be seen in the history file. The vehicle had a new exhaust system fitted at the same time and other works were carried out by Lamborghini, the list of which is too long to list here but all receipts are available to be seen in the history file. The car had an extensive underneath renovation to all accessible chassis areas and a suspension overhaul for which photos can be provided (2005/2006). The car was running fine up to 2008 when it was put into a body shop for a full strip and respray along with interior refurbishment. The car was stripped to the current condition but during the works the company was wound up and the car was then put into storage. For various reasons the car has remained in this stripped state ever since and to the best of our client’s knowledge, the car is complete and a comes with a new windscreen and all the parts that were removed. The car comes with the original handbook and owner records from new and lists nine owners. The car is black with black interior and has the rear wing. Interestingly, it is on the front cover of a book called ‘The Spirit of The Bull’, by Paul W Cockerham and it was also used by Vicky Butler-Henderson for Fifth Gear we believe around the Guildford area prior to the year 2000 while in the ownership of Daniel Sefton."