Countach LP400

[spitfire4v8]

A very quick google hasn't really produced much on this, but ..

At SPA Classic recently there were some gorgeous and beautifully built kits of early Ford GT40s .. so much prettier than the later cars ..

so this got me to thinking .. are there any kits of the early Countach. I'm not one for the big arch and wing versions .. but the early cars are quite something! Everyone seems to build wide arched, winged and side-skirted versions a-la later cars .. who (if anyone) makes/made an un-adorned early version ?

I can't afford an original , before anyone suggests that ..

[996Type]

Hi,

No one makes an LP400 specifically but there is a specialist UK manufacturer who could possibly adapt a later shell to mimic one. The later copies generally had the added flares etc moulded on so these couldn’t be removed but need lots of work to cut off.

There was a time unbelievably now where the LP400 was lower cost to buy than some of the later copies.

[spitfire4v8]

Thanks for the reply, I suspected as much sadly .. lots of work then so not really going to get my countach-a-like dream going any which way, without a time machine anyway! The later skirted and winged cars don't do it for me at all.

[TRIUMPHBULLET]

I agree with you entirely a bloody good looking car and remember when CAR magazine introduced the Countach S in 1978, it looked ugly then and some of the later versions even looked like nasty kit cars.

[996Type]

I owned a Mirage for a few years (the later replica with side skirts although without the rear wing). The car was a very good replica that had been refurbished and I put a good few miles on it (there’s a few photos in another thread on this part of the forum if your interested).

I was considering this LP400 route myself but the car I had was really too good to cut into to make the changes.

I was in contact with the company I outlined above about the possibility of a new build (navy exterior tan interior!) or adapting a project car having met a very kind original LP400 owner on here who gave up a morning of his time to show me around his amazingly original car.

It is doable but for the money I would probably buy an original 308 Ferrari as you will always be chasing a prototype car to make it ‘100%’, especially a replica, and it will always ultimately be a replica.

If you do proceed, the main points to consider are adapting a later replica body to remove the flares and replace them with the angular edges of the original’s wheel arches, altering the suspension and wheel set up to accept much narrower wheels and tyres (and finding wheels similar to those on the original, BMW in the 70’s had similar patterns I believe), reworking the moulded front end to recreate the look of the narrower bumper and the engine choice (some builders use the BMW V12 in these builds.

It would be a lovely car (I remember one guy was trying to do same on a now closed Lamborghini replica forum) but be aware of what you are potentially entering into.