The Lamborghini Countach LP 500 prototype has been reconstructed for a collector.
On the 50th anniversary of the Lamborghini Countach, the company has been doing everything it can to milk as many dollars as it can from the legendary supercar. Not only have they created a new Countach, which was all sold out before launch, but they’ve also gone out of their way to recreate the original LP 500 Countach “idea car”. They’ve been teasing this recreation for over a week now and the car itself was finally displayed at the Consorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este.
It was reconstructed by Polo Storico, the division of Lamborghini responsible for classic Lamborghini restoration. The original vehicle, the Countach LP 500, was first shown at the 1971 Geneva Motor Show. It went on to grace many magazine covers throughout the 1970s. However, that first model was eventually sacrificed as a crash test vehicle in 1974 and subsequently disappeared, probably disposed of, but perhaps its wreckage is being preserved to cash in on the 100th anniversary of the Countach.
Lamborghini said that in 2017 a classic car aficionado approached Lamborghini Polo Storico to create the reconstruction. It took the company 25,000 hours to complete, and the team relied on their Centro Stile design studio to supervise the bodywork reconstruction.
Many months were spend acquiring as many materials as as possible to get an accurate picture of the original model. This includes photographs, documents, meeting reports, original drawings and even interviews with people who were a part of the original production team. They also used a 3D scan of the LP 400 chassis 001 to get the exact same internal volume as the LP 500.
As for the vehicle’s mechanical parts, the Lamborghini Countach uses original Lamborghini parts, either spare, refurbished or completely remanufactured parts. Pirelli was also approached in order to reconstruct the tyres that were mounted on the LP 500 prototype. They actually were able to recreate the Cinturato CN12 tyres in 245/60R14 in front and 265/60R14 at the rear with the same tread pattern and aesthetics, but with a modernised compound and structure.
Polo Storico used the same historical production methods that were used in the late ’60s and early ’70s but incorporated the latest instruments for analysis and definition. Traditional Italian sheet metal beating was employed by a “battilastra”.
