Lamborghini Countach LP 500
50 years after its debut, the Lamborghini Countach LP 500 is back. Starting today, the sports car manufacturer from Sant’Agata will be presenting a replica of this concept car made in its classic car department Polo Storico at the Concorso d’Eleganza at Villa d’Este. More than 25,000 working hours went into the construction of this perfect recreation. It was commissioned by a renowned Lamborghini collector. When Lamborghini and Bertone showed the LP 500 for the first time at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1971, it was little more than a design study. The chances of series production hadn’t yet been weighed up; it was only clear that the Miura would need a worthy successor in the foreseeable future. Overnight, the Countach became a trade show star, and photos subsequently appeared on the covers of all the world’s renowned car magazines.
Extensive review of archive documents
Now some readers might ask why such an enthusiastically received car no longer exists in its original form. Lamborghini used the LP 500 extensively in the Countach development. After about three years, it was used for crash tests, which were already obligatory at the time. Afterwards, the remains were scrapped. When, at the end of 2017, the aforementioned collector asked Polo Storico whether a reconstruction would be possible, Lamborghini gladly accepted the challenge. First of all, available material about the original car had to be gathered. This included photos, documents, meeting reports, drawings and also memories of contemporary employees. In this way, the form and function of even the smallest details could be recreated in the best possible way. Thanks to historical documents from the Pirelli factory archives, it was even possible to reconstruct the tires in the dimensions 245/60 R 14 at the front and 265/60 R 14 at the rear with the correct tread.
2,000 hours for perfect shapes
Unlike the later production models of the Countach, the LP 500 was still based on a platform frame. Therefore, an LP 400 couldn’t simply be rebuilt for the reconstruction. Instead, Polo Storico actually started from scratch. Great importance was attached to the correct construction methods, which were also used in 1971. For the shape, they 3D-scanned the factory Countach LP 400 with chassis number 001. It then took a good 2,000 hours of work before a satisfactory 1:1 scale model was produced. All the body parts were then produced by skilled Italian craftsmen who have mastered the art of “battilastra”, sheet metal hammering. Together with PPG, they sifted through the paint archive and identified the correct shade of “Giallo Fly Speciale”. They also reconstructed the interior, including all the diagnostic instruments from the original concept car, and installed a correctly built, five-liter V12 engine.
Images: Lamborghini
