Approximately 658 examples of the Lamborghini Countach 25th Anniversary Edition were built and this one was completed in 1988, shortly thereafter it was bought by rock ‘n roll icon and feathery hair fan Rod Stewart, a lifelong Lamborghini aficionado.
Somewhat unsurprisingly the 25th Anniversary Edition was developed to celebrate the automaker’s 25th anniversary in 1988. The car was mechanically close to the 5000QV Countach but the styling was reworked by Horacio Pagani – the same Pagani who would later establish his own successful supercar marque.
Fast Facts – The Lamborghini Countach 25th Anniversary Edition
- The story of the Countach begins in the late 1960s when Lamborghini was looking to replace its successful Miura model. The company turned to its chief engineer, Paolo Stanzani, as well as Bob Wallace, Massimo Parenti, and designer, Marcello Gandini, to create a new car that would push the boundaries of automotive design.
- The result was the Lamborghini Countach, which made its debut at the Geneva Motor Show in 1971. Its avant-garde wedge-shaped body, scissor doors, and razor sharp styling were unlike anything that had come before it, and it immediately captured the attention of the automotive world.
- The Lamborghini Countach has a tubular steel spaceframe chassis with a high center tunnel and high sills for optimal rigidity. The V12 engine is placed in the rear in a longitudinal orientation, and it drives the rear wheels through a 5-speed manual transmission.
- The Lamborghini Countach 25th Anniversary Edition was unveiled in 1988 to celebrate the Italian automaker’s 25th anniversary, it featured updated styling by Horacio Pagani, and it remained in production until 1990 when it was replaced with the new Lamborghini Diablo.
Where Did The Word “Countach” Come From?
The name of the Lamborghini Countach broke with the long Lamborghini tradition of naming their cars after famous bulls from the bullfighting arena. The name Countach isn’t even Italian, it’s from the Piedmontese language spoken in the Piedmont region of Northwest Italy and it’s an exclamation used to show surprise or amazement.
The scissor doors of the Countach were one of its most famous features, they’ve been used on a number of Lamborghinis that followed and they’ve become a popular mod in the custom car community.
The Countach name came from on of the men who helped around at Lamborghini, he was from Piedmont and spoke only Piedmontese. When he saw the Countach for the first time, then codenamed the LP112, he exclaimed “Countach!”
The designer Marcello Gandini of Bertone liked the word and he asked Lamborghini test driver Bob Wallace if it sounded good in English also. Wallace said he liked it, and after some internal discussions the name was officially used – becoming one of the most famous words in supercar history.
The Lamborghini Countach
There can be no argument that the Countach is one of the most important supercars ever made, and its outlandish sharp-edged styling is still influencing supercar makers today 52 years after it was first unveiled to the public at the 1971 Geneva Motor Show.
Here you see a Lamborghini Countach space frame chassis, as you can see the high sills meant that regular doors weren’t an option.
There must have been some trepidation at Lamborghini about the new design, it had been tasked with replacing the much-loved Lamborghini Miura, a car which many people point to as being the first true supercar ever made.
Fortunately, rather than playing it safe and going with a derivative design, it was decided that the new car should be even more outlandish, and that it should incorporate state-of-the-art technology and styling.
The Lancia Stratos Zero concept car that was shown to the world at the 1970 Turin Motor Show was also designed by Gandini and it acted as a test bed of sorts to gauge the reaction to what Lamborghini would show the world a year later.
After displaying the concept car for the Countach in 1971 it would take Lamborghini another three years to finish finalizing the design and engineering, with the car not being available for sale until 1974.
That padding you see on the sill was often used by drivers as a seat – as they found the rearward visibility so bad they would sit on the sill and look back to reverse the car.
The final design of the car would be centered around a tubular steel spaceframe chassis that had been carefully designed for optimal rigidity and for compact packaging.
The V12 engine was installed longitudinally but interestingly the transmission was installed in front of the engine between the driver and passenger – it sent power back via a driveshaft that ran right through the middle of the engine’s oil sump to a rear differential.
The engine itself was an evolution of the existing Lamborghini V12 that had originally been designed by Giotto Bizzarrini back in the early 1960s specifically to challenge Ferrari. The engine design was advanced for the time – a 60º V12 with double overhead cams per bank and a displacement of 3.5 liters that was said to be capable of 400 bhp at 11,000 rpm in the highest state of tune.
Of course the car was fitted with independent suspension front and back as well as disc brakes on all four corners. The handling of the car was praised in period reviews and was deemed superior to both the earlier Miura and more than a challenge for the mid-engined Ferrari Berlinetta Boxer that was released in 1973.
The V12 used in the 25th Anniversary Edition was essentially the same as the engine in the earlier LP5000 Quattrovalvole, with a displacement of 5.2 liters – it also had four-valves per cylinder.
The Countach would remain in production from 1974 until 1990 with consistent updates to keep the car competitive, it was a remarkable 16 year production run that would dwarf the seven year production run of the Miura. 1,983 examples of the Countach were made and the model today remains a major milestone in supercar history.
The Ex-Rod Stewart Lamborghini Countach Shown Here
Every Countach ever made is special, but this far may be a little more special than most as it formerly belonged to Rod Stewart, who owned the car from 1990 to 1995.
Stewart has owned a number of Lamborghinis over the years including multiple Miuras and at least one other Countach – an earlier example than this 1989 model year car.
There are few profiles more iconic in the world of motoring than that of the Countach.
Lamborghini produced a total of 657 Countach 25th Anniversary models between 1988 and 1990. Of those, 205 were built with a US-specification, and the remaining 452 were intended for sale in other markets around the world.
The 25th Anniversary edition was the last version of the Countach to be produced before it was ultimately replaced by the Lamborghini Diablo.
Given its famous former owner and the fact that it has just 12,000 kilometers on the clock (~7,000 miles) this car is likely attract quite a bit of attention – it’s now being offered for sale on Bring a Trailer out of Miami Beach, Florida with with factory books, tools, a copy of the previous California title in Rod Stewart’s name, service records, a clean Carfax report, and a clean Montana title.
If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer.
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Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
