1986 Lamborghini Countach - Jay Leno's Garage

[Music] we're here once again in the lamborghini section of my garage this is my 1986 Lamborghini Countach I've had this car and almost 22 years and for a while it's my everyday car you know you wouldn't think you could use something like this every day but actually it's pretty dependable pretty straightforward not as complicated a car as it looks like you know this is the classic car of the 80s I think every guy that sin is early 40s or late 30s probably had a poster this hang out on his bedroom wall I have almost every magazine cover that had the Lamborghini Countach on it there it is supercar classic the car that beats time I mean these are all magazines I bought in the period Countach races helicopter motor trend rodent tractor super Countach but the reality is no Countach ever hit 200 miles an hour although the car may look incredibly aerodynamic it's really not in fact you know what's really funny you know it's a car it's almost twice as aerodynamic as this car this car because although it looks kind of swoopy it's really like a brick you know when you get up over a hundred miles now you can feel the wind against this and it's funny how aerodynamics really has nothing to do with what we think you're done that makes it looks like but that being said pretty amazing car this is a car that replaced the Lamborghini Miura many people still feel the Lamborghini Miura is a much prettier car than the Countach I certainly do but they're just so different they're both designed by the same man Marcello Gandini here he is right here in fact it was a privilege to have him at the garage and there's the probably the most famous test driver in the world Valentino Balboni right there he was at my garage too he actually drove my car when it was new that's kind of cool the Countach was first unveiled in 1971 at the Geneva Auto Show and it caused a huge sensation because nothing looked like it before or since at that time it did have the flares it had a little periscope rearview mirror up here a few things and this car got more powerful this is my favorite version of the car this is the very last carbureted car I know everybody likes fuel-injection now and fuel injection obviously the way to go but in the mid-80s fuel injection a lot of guys like me not really sold on it a little suspicious Weber's you can always tune that has six to borrow Weber's it's a five point two liter engine it's what they call the Quatro valve which means it has four valves per cylinder it's really an upgraded version of the same engine in the mirror and unlike the Miura which the engine and the transmission shared the same oil this has a unique the fact no one's ever done it since the engine is mounted here the transmission is in front of the engine and then you have a drive shaft that literally goes through the sump of the v12 engine to the rear wheels but let's take a look at that motor across these famous doors caused a huge sensation at the time and still do to this day well it's as clean as I could get it I use this car a lot this cars got about 70,000 miles on it haven't had many problems with it at all hardly anything really because it's fairly straightforward it's not a light car this car is just about 4,000 pounds this car weighs almost well a little less than double what the f1 McLaren weighs don't forget the 80s were the last days of the old technology so cars have changed as much from 1986 to now as they did almost from 19 to 22 1986 everything is different there's no electronics on this car at all there's no ABS there's no traction control there's none of that it's just a big beefy agricultural motor sort of a manly gearshift I mean it shifts okay it's not particularly light you really have to kind of manhandle a little bit but that's okay I like that you get used to it as you can see it's all tube frame it's extremely strong it's like crazy money to fix if you crack one of these up you don't want to do that this had the big wing on it too I took the wing off I thought it was stupid I was never proven to me the wing did anything for aerodynamics I wasn't slow the car down the top speed on this car is probably about 170 175 but you know that's fast enough let's take a look around the rest of the car it's a time this these were the widest tires ever available on a production automobile as big Pirelli p7s I didn't see the interior it's pretty Spartan by modern based standards you've just got everything you need speedometer tachometer oil pressure gauge oil temperature gauge fuel gauge voltmeter five speed here with a lockout air-conditioning and a cos your Alpine tape player who didn't have that poster of the Alpine Lamborghini that was one of the most famous thing that across ashtray and the usual stuff but other than air-conditioning that's about the only option on this thing but you know something it's all you need it's not as pretty of some of the other cars because just it's just a well used car you might find some McDonald wrappers under the seat and a few other things and from being left in the Sun as you can see my leather has stretched I've got to redo that but you know it's patina it's character it's a car I used an awful lot I like this one it isn't the big stupid rubber bumper car I never like some of the later ones the Diablos this is about as big as I got from this point on they seemed to get bigger and wider and it's just a nice drivin car it's probably about a little faster than a than a c6 Corvette but not as fast as they're six I think that's a fair way to put it but in 1986 and this came out 455 horsepower there was nothing like it everything else was in the 200 250 horsepower 455 oh my god that was the end of the world remember the Viper was the first modern American caught a break 400 horsepower and that didn't happen until 92 so in the mid 80s this was the king let me show you the front you open your hood this way and your battery and everything is in here as you can see your spare tire a little spacesaver spare believe me nothing looks stupider than a little space saver spare on the back of a Lamborghini Countach it looks ridiculous but hey beats walking occasionally I have to upgrade these struts as I did these all wear out you got to replace those but otherwise it's been a pretty dependable car runs fine always starts you know it's spark its carburation oh I upgraded the ignition that's what I did I put a monitor ignition system in an electronic ignition but other than that it's just about it she left the factory but come on let's go for a ride check it out you know you don't think of a car like a Countach is an everyday car but for about five years when they first got this thing I drove it every day we all the real trick to Italian cars from being an Alfa Romeo Fiat or even a Lamborghini let the fluids warm up before you get on it you know an all-boy told me years ago he was an old Italian mechanic work mostly on Alfa Romeo but he said because of those warm in Italy the oil passages were fairly small for the car because it was always warm the oil was then he says in America especially the colder climates guys you get in and out but they the oil just couldn't move through the passageways quickly enough and they wind up just doing damage from lack of lubrication it makes sense could be one of those old wives tales I don't know but it makes sense to me so whenever I get in a car like the Lambo or the Miura the future any of these I turn and I let it idle few minutes I'd like to wait until the temperature gauges are off the pegs whittle needles off the take and then pull away and I never had any problem this car really doesn't get the best mileage in the world in fact they think the lamb breeches chick - brought about the worst mileage car you modern car you could buy at least back in the eighties eight to twelve on a really good day the nice thing about this car is it's in some ways fairly primitive just a big old gear box big motor for Italy 5.2 liter 455 horsepower no electronics no traction control no power steering assist none of that and you can see it was almost no visibility out the rear window the idea behind this car were you supposed to step on the gas and just take off the season anybody behind you can be less would you vote a Countach under the - there's a hammer so if you roll the car over and you can't get the door open cuz you're on the roof it's supposed to smash out the windshield with the hammer see that's a safety feature oh here's a hammer in case you roll it you get pinned in the car oh thank you mister car dealer and then you're trapped in the guy you don't want to break the wind chill because that's like five grand so I burned it down so spring for the five grand depending how hot it gets probably spring to the final grand alright now we roll up windows back back in the 80s the reason the windows only go down this far is if this means the car is capable of didn't have a window that wouldn't get although the car is quite futuristic and outlandish looking it's fairly contemporary trellis type frame ladder frame there's no other car that grabs people's attention like this one I mean it's just this car was the 80s you know when he watched Cannonball Run or any of those movies I always remember one day I was going down Sunset Boulevard I just got into town I didn't have any money and I saw these parked on the side of the street it was Rod Stewart's I thought well how cool was that you know one day I got a letter from the kid he had got into trouble with his friend he told this big live and I was his uncle and then he and I would drive around in the Countach and he said to me as only a like a twelve-year-old boy can do come any chance you could pick me up and drop me off at school one day so the kids will think I'm a liar and I thought you notice now who would such an outrageous request is that okay the kid lived it on most of beach and I drove down one morning I picked him up he pulled up in front of school I said okay okay I'm cool good touch that was my good evening and I've kept this car pretty much the same as it was when I got at the 80s took that Duran Duran and tape player and look a genuine escort radar detector look at that let me tell you somethin you're driving a car like this don't even show this to the cop maybe my radar detectors an app that you're buying this car your speed okay that's that's just the way it works you can put this stupid thing on there maybe it'll give you a warning but red car Lamborghini and radar detector smell is I stayed a little longer but I've got a flock of seagulls concert to get all right see you later

Channel: Jay Leno's Garage

Views: 3,472,972

Keywords: Jay Leno, Automotive, Cars, Garage, horsepower, Jay, Leno, mods, custom car, Speed, Fast, modded cars, mechanic, fastest car, Jay Leno's Garage, cars, exotic cars, interview, custom, Leno car, funny, Leno funny, car show, Rare, Motorcycles, racing, jay leno interview, auto, drive, power, fast, amazing, cool, the cars, vehicle, 1986 Lamborghini Countach

Id: a2vcT1bq2XA

Length: 12min 22sec (742 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 15 2013