Here's Why the Lamborghini Countach is Worth $300,000

this is a 1989 Lamborghini Countach 25th anniversary edition it is bar none the most iconic ridiculous insane exotic sports car to come out of the 1980s and today I'm gonna show you why before I get started I should mention that I borrowed this Countach from performance auto wholesalers an exotic car dealership with an amazing inventory of really cool cars including this one which is currently listed for sale here in Miami Florida Miami Florida of course I'm in Miami because this car with it's ridiculous styling and it's giant rear wing and it's crazy red interior it just wouldn't make sense anywhere else today I'm gonna show you around the Lamborghini Countach and I'm gonna show you all of its weird quirks and strange features there are many then I'm gonna get it out on the road and find out something I've always wanted to know how does the Lamborghini Countach Drive and then finally I'm gonna give it a dug score for more of my thoughts on the entire Countach experience click the link below to go to autotrader.com slash oversteer where I've also compiled a list of all the other most unique and exciting in weird 1980s cars that are currently listed for sale on auto trader but before I get started a little Countach history lesson the Countach came out in 1974 and it was sold all the way through 1990 which means you could buy this car in three decades not many exotic supercars can lay claim to that one now the original design of this car was a very simple look designed by Marcello Gandini of Bertoni but the way that Lamborghini kept this thing fresh over all those years was they just kept changing it constantly updating it with new wheels or with fender flares with a giant rear wing they added power the Countach of later years barely looks anything like the Countach of earlier years and this one was the craziest Countach of them all the 25th anniversary edition which came out in 1989 it had these giant hood strikes on the side that had this huge body kit in this giant wing it was absolutely ludicrous interestingly this version was styled by Horacio Pagani you may have heard of him anyway while collectors fawn over the early Countach models for their simple look and clean design i've always liked this one best because to me it was the most ridiculous example of the most ridiculous Carr the 25th anniversary model was also the most powerful Countach it had a 450 horsepower 5.2 liter v12 compared to just a 370 horsepower 3.9 liter v12 in the earliest models I've also always loved it for all of its weirdness which I'm going to show you right now I'll start on the outside with one of the most interesting things about the Countach that would be these side windows now if you look at it you have a lot of side windows window one two three and four the only problem is that this window this window and this window if they don't open and this window only opens half way I'm serious allow me to demonstrate yeah that's right that's as far down as that window will go because then it hits the door and it just can't go any further needless to say there's no visiting a drive-thru in your Lamborghini Countach unless of course you open the door and so since I know you're wondering let's talk about opening the door yes there's scissor doors which means they're hinged down here and they open upwards and opening them it's pretty easy you walk up to it there's this silver thing protruding from the door you push it and then you just guide the door up the rest of the way that's not that hard although it does create mass hysteria every time you park this car and get out the hard part is if you've locked the door and then you need to open it with a key now Lamborghini placed the key hole for this car underneath the little silver thing here so in order to unlock or lock the doors you walk up to your Countach and look at all cool and then you have to stick the key underneath the solar thing which doesn't look very cool and then you twist it and untwist it in order to lock or unlock and then you can get inside another one of the Countach is most ridiculous characteristics is its dinky little horn take a listen [Music] now a lot of Italian cars at this time had horns like this but I think this one is the most disparate the most aggressive being angry styling and the most pathetic little pipsqueaks stupid horn I can't believe it actually sounds like that next up we got to talk about adjusting the mirrors now interesting that this car has power mirrors you adjust them from a little control inside the driver's door but that's just the mirror glass if you want to adjust the mirrors themselves well have at it there on the car with this little rubber thing and you can just kind of bend them every which way it's hilarious it looks like a cartoon in a $300,000 supercar another interesting feature in the front of the Countach that would be the pop-up headlights because of course this 1980s supercar has pop-up headlights now if you look at the front the Countach you'll see a set of exposed lights well those are the turn signals in the parking lights push the headlight button inside the car and the true headlights the pop-up headlights popped right up just as you'd expect them to if you want to have the most excessive 1980s experience now back to the glass in this car one of the most interesting styling details about the Countach to me is that every single piece of glass in this car is dead flat everybody else was using curved glass at the time at least around the edges of the windshield but Lamborghini it's almost like they couldn't afford a curved glass so every piece of glass in this car completely flat it's really unique even at this time period and it contributes to the cars crazy wedge shape next up with the Countach we got to talk windshield wiper now a quick glance of this windshield wiper you already realize it's gigantic it has two huge wiper arms in fact if you look closely you'll see that it has two windshield wipers but the problem with this giant windshield wiper is of course like everything else in this car it was designed ridiculously and so when it wipes the windshield it stops directly in front of your face take a look at it from the inside and now take a look at it from the outside [Music] yes that's right everything to the left of your left eye isn't wiped and to the right of your right eye is wipe so when you're driving down the street your field of vision is only half clear if you're driving this car in the rain now one of the Countach is most unique design details are these two triangular ducts on either side of the car I always assume these were air intakes for the engine but the duct on the passenger side is actually where you putting the fuel take a look at that there's no fuel door in this car instead you just walk right up you unscrew the little fuel cap and you stick the fuel into what I thought was the air intake oh no now moving along to the back of the Countach something I'm sure you already knew is that the Countach this engine is back here in the back under this hood obviously everybody knows that this is a mid-engine car what you may not have known is the Countach is trunk is not up front instead the trunk is back here and it's actually surprisingly spacious this car looks pretty crazy with both of these things open it doesn't now in Lamborghini wisdom the engine cover cannot be closed when the trunk is open due to this giant rear wing they stuck on it it could have been in the earlier models but not in the ones with the big rear wing so if you want to close the hood with the trunk open first the Edit II of this and then you do this and then you can open the trunk right back up and by the way if you want to open the engine cover or the trunk it's easy to do there are two little releases located in the door frame on the driver's side of course they're unlabeled so there's no way to know which one you're opening when you pull which release but that's Lamborghini so now that you know what's back there you might be wondering well then what is in front well it's a little storage compartment where you could put Stephanie there's a spare tire in there and some other things like the horn and some fluids but the interesting thing about this particular compartment is that it's completely open to the elements you'll notice that there's a bunch of stuff that's wet in here from the car being driven before there's no insulation in here now the weird thing about that is this is where Lamborghini chose to put the battery that's a smart decision put the battery in a compartment where water can easily get in but that ladies and gentlemen is part of the 1980s Lamborghini charm another interesting Lamborghini decision relates to the license plate lights now when this car first came out license plate lights weren't mandatory by the government but eventually they became mandatory and so Lamborghini had to adjust the car and most automakers put him here on a shroud over the license plate but the Countach didn't have such a thing so instead they stuck holes in the bumper and they stuck the license plate lights in the bumper take a look around at any car you can find I suspect you won't find very mini with bumper mounted license plate lights also around back we have to discuss this cars crazy tires we're gonna tires this might not mean much to you but this car has 345 with rear tires which is as wine is it any modern supercars tires except they only fit 15-inch wheels these are three 45:59 tires needless to say you cannot simply purchase tires for this car at your local pet voice the final exterior quark you're looking at it from that angle you can see it best the back window in this car is minuscule and rear visibility in general is absolutely terrible it's ridiculous and it's impossible to see behind you when you're backing up that leads to a rather unorthodox reversing method which a lot of Countach owners use and which I will demonstrate for you now you're supposed to push the clutch in put the car in reverse as it is then get up here turn around now I can see everything see yeah I'm serious they recommend this but of course the quirks aren't only on the outside of this car and once you're inside you will notice all sorts of crazy things starting with the first thing you notice we climb inside the right angles this car does not have any curves in this interior nothing is designed stylish ly everything is it's like Lamborghini built this car using only a ruler it is absolutely crazy how 90 degrees everything is inside this car and I didn't really realize that until I got in this one my favorite bizarre feature in this car is the reverse lockout now this car has a dogleg transmission meaning first is down into the left which is where ii usually is and up and to the left is reverse gear instead of first gear now you don't want to screw that up you want to accidentally shift into reverse when you try to shift it into first and driving this car down the street so Lamborghini has thought of that there is this little silver switch and it will lock you out of reverse gear except there's only one problem you have to manually put it there so every time you get out of reverse you back out of your driving in the morning you're supposed to flip the switch back so you don't accidentally shift in to reverse while you're driving down the street it's the jenkees reverse lockout I've ever seen on any car in history mounted here in the middle of the cabin are the power window switches yes this car has power windows it also has power mirrors and power locks but the power window switches are the strangest because they operate the wrong direction you push them up and the window goes down interestingly they show that on the window display themselves if you push it up and goes down it does what it says but why is it mounted that way moving on to the Sun Visor this car has Sun visors and they are actually pretty big so big that if you're sitting the driver's seat you put the Sun Visor down you can't see anything hidden here in the passenger Sun Visor is a mirror and it's not mounted in the Sun Visor instead you can pull it out and use it for whatever purposes you might need a mirror for in Miami in the 80s also when you're inside the car you can get a better look at this rear window it is absolutely insane and when the Countach first came out it had more visibility back here but as they added bodywork and crazy stuff on top of the hood that rear window got more blocked and more blocked to the point where it is now which is it's more than half block you really can't see anything behind you when you're driving this car another interesting detail the car let's talk about the seat controls yes it has power seats but where are the controls for them oh that's right they're hidden under this little cover interestingly this cover not only contains the power seat controls which naturally for a Lamborghini are divided into three different switches instead of just a simple one but it also contains a little storage area that's nice especially because this car has no real glovebox in the glove box area you will actually find the fuses for the car another interesting storage area inside this car is in the middle of the two rear seats Lamborghini knew you were gonna put stuff in your Countach don't worry I got you covered next up we have to talk about the climate control box this is obviously added later as this car went through the years and it needed something a little bit better than what they had back in the 70s the thing I like most about the climate control box is the font that says climate control it looks like that 1980s radio font they could have done anything else but they really wanted this car to stick into its time period the other cool thing about the climate control is you can instantly change between Celsius and Fahrenheit with the push of a button in case you're driving this car up to Canada and back and you want to have the correct temperature display when you cross the border now interestingly and you'll notice we're in a new location due to rain Lamborghini didn't do the same thing for the odometer in this speedometer the speedometer in this car is in kilometers per hour even though this is a u.s. car delivered to a u.s. customer and made for us and regulations in kilometers per hour with a little tiny miles per hour speedometer inside it's the same thing for the odometer it's in kilometers they did this through the Diablo which made no sense they couldn't just convert it for this country you know the problem with this comes when this car gets records on its Carfax important like when it goes in for an emissions test or in a dealer for service the kilometer reading on the odometer will get written down as miles sometimes in kilometers when someone actually knows what they're doing and the result is that the mileage and the CARFAX reports for these cars always jumps around making it look like the odometer has been rolled back even when it has it the next up you can't talk about this car without talking about the driving position and specifically the ridiculously thin petal box take a look at this the seat is a normal size and then the floor not right in front of the seat starts at a normal size and then it all kind of comes to a point underneath the steering wheel and the gauge cluster so when you sit in the car you have to kind of angle your feet to the right in order to get them in there it's really narrow and it makes it kind of hard to drive this thing now the other interesting thing you'll find with this car that would be the owners manual this is a simple car and it's not designed to have all sorts of ridiculous complexities or to keep you reading this thing for hours when you could be driving this owners manual is only 98 pages long and that is in three different languages it's 98 pages the most interesting thing I found in this owners manual relates to the break-in period according to Lamborghini you're supposed to keep this car under 6,000 rpm until you hit four thousand four hundred miles now these cars aren't driven all that much a thousand miles a year maybe and so four thousand four hundred miles my car like this you might have to keep it under 6,000 rpm for like five years after you buy this thing that's crazy Countach is bizarre and unusual and crazy and insane and that's before I even drive the thing so now I'm gonna do something I've wanted to do since I had a poster of this car on my bedroom wall when I was a kid I'm going to drive the Lamborghini Countach alright I'm in Reverse now okay is anybody going nobody's coming we're good man you just can't see a thing I got to employ that reversing strategy heavy heavy steering alright here we go now we're moving forward which is nice [Music] 50 kilometers according to the speedometer which is doing this I can't believe that this is so crazy we're grabbing a Countach my knees are sort of around the steering wheel so the thing you can't help but notice is that the pedal box is shifting to the right which is just terrible design and hilarious I just can't see behind me I literally can't see anything the sound is great inside but I just filmed the shots of it going by outside it's even better out there how do you make a lane change in a car where you can't see behind you well you go faster than everybody else the steering is tremendously heavy because it's not power assisted and also you just gotta work for it so much isn't actually as heavy as I thought it would be I think the clutch in the Testarossa and the 512 TR is actually heavier than this which is surprising to me because I would have thought Lamborghini would have been like yeah just give him a heavy clutch and don't worry about it it is heavy but it's not let's not pretend it isn't it's not that heavy I can fit my feet in the pedal box but just barely when I'm on the break my foot does my right foot does rub up against my clutch foot I can't biforn I mean Italians the fact that it's hard to drive is almost part of the fun I think it's part of the charm of what this car is and what this car is about and you got to really care it's not one of those oh I'll Drive it to the store whatever this is a car you have to be in the mood to drive I don't want to floor it too much because unfortunately it's wet today I got bad like it's like those top-tier laps with your favorite actor where he finally gets on and then it's too wet he's not gonna set a good time the car isn't as low as I was expecting that it would be I've definitely driven lower cars than this I thought we would be basically sitting on the ground but there's a blast or a more reasonably similar in height on Camrys don't feel like SUVs as they do in some cars like the Lotus Elise which is a lot lower to the ground even even at speed the steering is difficult to turn which is interesting to me most cars with no power steering they really lightened up as you get going in this car is a little lighter when you're going 50 but I mean just making a regular right turn at an intersection it still feels as heavy as some cars do when you're trying to parallel park it's quick it's actually fast there's no question about that it's not just old car quick it's it's quick the other benefits of flooring in this car and you hear it and you feel it the shift lever starts taking it's ready for you it's like yeah let's do this you feel the speed so much more than you do in virtually any other car surprisingly I at 6 foot 4 I have reasonable Headroom I mean my head is bumping up against it when I when I sit absolutely upright but if I just sit this is how I normally kind of sit in a car if I just sit like this you know I got a quarter of an inch or something on it's not a lot but it's a lot of people said to me oh you'll never fit in a Countach well I do fit if you're looking for comfort ability in a car like this you should have bought a 911 or something else [Music] the car feels reasonably stable not like that f40 though this car was clearly more of a quickness charitably a hand-built vehicle it feels that steering feels a lot heavier around the corner the car doesn't quite feel I mean it bumps and shakes and rattles a lot more this car is definitely not built for 200 mile an hour consistent Autobahn and cruising one of the incredible things about this car is the a/c blows like tremendously cold it like feels great I can't explain it it feels like I'm sitting in my Mercedes everybody is taking pictures everybody is noticing everybody is tremendously excited I mean heads turning even in South Florida which is home to Lambos and Ferraris for days even here this car makes a scene the thing about this car is at no point when you're driving the Countach will you escape the Countach experience you're either head is hitting the thing or you're accelerating it's loud or the it's raining and the wipers blocking your face there is no point where you're just like oh I forgot I was in a crazy ridiculous car you will always remember what you're driving when you're driving this car and so that was it that was the Lamborghini Countach experience the history the weird quirks and features the crazy styling the ridiculous driving experience I'm so glad this took place in Miami also which I consider to be the kou Tasha's spiritual home anyway I've always wondered just how crazy this car is and today after having spent the whole day with it I can answer that question just as crazy as I always thought anyway time to give it a dug score starting with the weekend categories and styling the Countach may not be gorgeous but it's striking thrilling exhilarating its design is an icon and it gets a nine out of ten acceleration does zero to 60 and a highly respectable 4.7 seconds and it earns a six out of ten handling is good but not exactly sharp the steering wheel is difficult to turn and the car is heavy its sporty but it's certainly not on the level of today's most possible or graceful cars and it earns a 6 out of 10 next up is cool factor I mean come on people this category was made for this car it easily earns a 10 out of 10 and if this category went up to 11 the Countach would be the car to take it there as for importance however it's not the most important Countach the market has spoken and collectors prefer the earlier ones regardless of what I think still these things are approaching $300,000 in value so it's hardly unimportant and it earns an 8 out of 10 that brings the total weekend scored a 39 out of 50 placing the Countach and some good company but not a quite as high as it's more modern sibling the Diablo 6.0 as for the daily categories while I suspect it won't fare quite so well starting with features the Countach is weak it has good climate control power seats but not much else entered earns a 3 out of 10 Comfort 2 is pretty bad it's not oppressive but this isn't a car you get in if you want to be coddled or even if you want to slightly relax it earns a 3 out of 10 next up is quality which measures reliability and materials and both are pretty bad these are notoriously maintenance heavy and this is a company that can't even convert the odometer to miles so who knows what else they skipped where we can't see it it earns a 4 out of 10 practicality is normally based on cargo volume and the Countach has a shockingly big trunk easily enough for it to earn a 3 but poor visibility and horrible entry and exit drops it down to a 2 out of 10 finally value $300,000 may seem like a lot of money but this car is an icon and I've watched its prices rise my entire adult life they'll keep rising and that's enough to earn it a 7 out of 10 bringing the total daily score to a miserable 19 out of 50 not far above Yugo territory add it all up and the Countach is Doug score is 58 it's not good enough at everything to score much higher than that but it's really really good at being cool [Music] [Music] ah second

Channel: Doug DeMuro

Views: 7,098,495

Rating: 4.7517867 out of 5

Keywords: lamborghini countach, countach, lamborghini, lambo countach, lambo, countach 25th, countach 25th anniversary, countach review, doug demuro, demuro

Id: WVp5a38WT_0

Length: 23min 21sec (1401 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 19 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/demeteloaf]

for whatever purposes you might need a mirror for in Miami... in the '80s

ROFL. That mirror thing is hilarious.

[u/[deleted]]

Forget stance, only the Countach is worthy of the 'form over function' title

[u/MythresThePally]

HOLD ON HOLD ON HOLD ON

The Countach has a rear trunk? I have three diecast Countachs of different eras and I have never ever noticed even the slightest clue of a trunk back there.

Hat tip to you Mr. DeMuro, you have blown my mind to bits.

[u/Yaaaayyy]

Man, some of these quirks are insane.

Like, that windshield wiper or the exposed front compartment - those are things I'd expect on a car like the Yugo. To find them on a Lamborghini is really mind-blowing. It just seems like everything was an afterthought.

That being said, great video, Doug!

[u/buckmonaco]

The lamborghini coke mirror is my favorite car feature of all time, and I don't even do cocaine...anymore.

[u/againstliam]

Doug, major respect for doing this video entirely in the rain. That looked like it was miserable for you!

[u/_Seditious_]

u/Doug-demuro THANK YOU for doing a 22 minute video on this car!! Your longer videos are always my favorite, no matter which car they are about. Just yesterday I was watching some of your videos from years ago, and I was always unsatisfied with lengths of only 5-7 minutes. The longer videos really are a lot of fun. Keep up the great work!

[u/yousay0906]

I would stand in rain if I could go in a countach

[u/Xarvas]

Were the anniversary models available in colors other than Cocaine White?

Doug, did you consider taking quaaludes for this review?