All Entries Tagged With: "Lamborghini Countach"
Eye on Design: Lambo/Ferrari Role Reversal?
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: Ferrari v. Lamborghini
RICHARD Wolf and I have been having a discussion lately on Italian car design.
Loyal to his E39 generation frosty blue M5, Richard’s quick to call a spade what it is and even quicker to pounce on what he sees as bad design. When his baby was in the shop for cosmetic touch ups recently, he shared his displeasure in having to bear the weight of driving a retrotastic Dodge Challenger, “the essence of cheap,” he said.
Sorry to confirm, he was right about the Challenger.
And he’s right about what he sees as the trend in Lamborghini and Ferrari design. To Richard’s keen eye, it seems the two car makers have switched roles. Thirty years ago, the Lamborghini Countach was wild and wildly flamboyant to its core. Complicated, over-the-top design that was more provocative than beautiful was Lambo’s raison d’être. NACA ducts met Stealth bomber wings. It’s as though Lambo had an inside guy in the US Airforce.
Ferrari, on the other hand, was the quintessence of restraint. Symphonic, yet subtle curves were the Boxer’s forte. And even the wild Testarossa made certain geometric sense in its iconic horizontal air slats and gently wedged profile. Ferrari was wild, yet paradoxically the more conservative of the two exotics.
Today, German management at Lamborghini has rerouted and trained the raging bull on being both sharp, clean, almost too efficient. Consider the Gallardo, a masterpiece of minimalist edge and clean surfacing. Ditto for the Murcielago and even the wildly imaginative Reventon – whose cleaved angles are all brilliantly purposed.
Ferrari on the other hand has grown fat- as if overly content with its own largesse. No longer lean, contemporary Ferraris seem like heavier GTs that are taking an ungainly focus on creature comforts. Taking their eyes off the prize as it were, the classically beautiful lines are gone for bold but ultimately tone deaf styling cliches.
It’s as though Maranello’s external sheetmetal seems oddly at the mercy of wind tunnel shaping and the whims of auto stylists who’ve abandoned taste.
The “low-cost” California is emblematic of this shaky route to excess at the expense of beauty. It’s high, fussy boot with vertical quad exhausts recalls not so much Ferrari as it does Fiat.
In another thirty years, if we’re still driving exotics, it’ll be interesting to note whether Ferrari and Lamborghini maintain their current trends. For now, we have to marvel at the role reversal.
Si! Si! Si! Thrilling Lambo V12 Music via YouTube
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: YouTube ::: Lamborghini Countach video
GOT ear phones? Good. Now plug them in, crank the volume, and have a listen to strident Lamborghini V12 music as orchestrated through Kriesseig F1 pipes. Spec-tacular!
eBay Watch: 1989 Lamborghini Countach
Avanti!
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG eBay
ESPOUSING the very essence of a supercar – hell, didn’t Lamborghini coin the term? – the Countach’s unchecked exuberance was and is like nothing else on the road.
The 70’s and 80’s Lambos were so edgy that you can almost see Marcello Gandini at the drafting table gazing down at his old Miura design and then in the corner of his eye finding sudden inspiration in a nearby protactor and pair of scissors.
Or, to stir some conspiracy theorists from an August’s slumber, could it have been that Sr. Gandini and the Bertone design team used some back channel NATO connection to get the low down on the US Air Force’s then-secret F-117 Night Hawk?
Considering both vessels’ low profiles, trapezoidal planed surfaces, and rectangular ducts, it’s an easy parallel to draw.
Whatever the case, like the now retired stealth fighter, the Lamborghini Countach seems at once dated and hyper advanced in its visual appeal. Like a some spaceship from Tron, this 25th Anniversary ship comes in villain black powered by the 5.2 liter V12 that put the Ferrari Testarossa on notice.
Having said that, with a buy-it-now price of $114,900, you could nearly buy two Testarossas for the price of this one Countach (or buy one have the rest for the fix-it fund).
But who said edgy futurist flamboyance comes cheap. Even 20 years on.
[Linked: eBay]
A Sense of Style
By Steane Klose
STYLE? In a blogosphere full of old news and the same story re-hashed by countless hundreds I can honestly say that ADL is a breath of fresh air. If you think this is just me being kind to Gunnar you’d be wrong as I count myself in the ‘countless hundreds’ category, so I write with some experience on that one particular topic.
So, fresh air it is and if I had my arm twisted and was forced under threat of injury to identify the one ADL quality that keeps me coming back – it would be Gunnar’s sense of style regarding all things automotive and the no-holds barred way in which he dishes it out and defends it when required.
An example I hear you say?
Okay then, I was until recently a fervent admirer of the Mercedes-Benz CLS. The first time I laid eyes on the original ‘four-door coupe’ I was moved and in a good way. I thought it was a stunner. Brilliant.
Who could possibly buy a normal E-Class when this version of the same car was available?
ADL on the other hand, saw things a little differently…
“When the Germans do deliberate emotional styling, it’s awkward to the point of all out embarrassment. Tight rear quarters and comic book exterior proportions are major negatives,” said Gunnar Heinrich about the Mercedes-Benz CLS
So, I took a closer look at every CLS I saw in my daily travels and admit I stubbornly stuck to my guns for a while, it still looked good…didn’t it? Sure, the rear quarters were a bit tight but comic book exterior proportions?
As it has a tendency to do, time went by and as much as I tried to stay true to the CLS my view of it began to change, if only a little each day but a little each day over lots of days – well you can do the math.
I mean, who could possibly buy a CLS when the normal E-Class was available, have a good close look at the thing!
So, to me ADL has a sense of style that you are unlikely to find on any other auto site and if you hang around long enough, like myself you may find a little of it will rub off.
It is with my new sense of style, ahem…that I have pleasure in taking up a weekly writing role at ADL. For me, it is a welcome change and a chance to escape the furious news treadmill – the ‘countless hundreds’ will always be there beating me to it and I don’t think they will miss me for an hour or two each week.
What am I going to write about? You’ll know about an hour after I do each week. Nothing automotive is off limits – it will be an eclectic mix.
With this being my inaugural ADL article, I think it is appropriate to give you an insight into which cars influenced my ‘formative automotive’ years . Every auto enthusiast has a list of cars that turned their young knees to jelly. It is a teenage experience but it stays with you and influences you for a lifetime and getting a glimpse of another person’s list can be fascinating.
My list – in order of influence back in the day (image gallery below);
1/. Porsche 928 – It was 1979 and my young jaw hit the ground.
2/. Lamborghini Muira – Who wouldn’t like the Muira, even seeing it for the first time now, in 2008.
3/. Lamborghini Countach – The original, before all the wings-n-things.
4/. Porsche 356 Carrera GT – My first ride in a Porsche and it was the ‘rare as hens teeth’ 356 GT.
5/. Bolwell Nagari – Built in Australian backyards. A Nagari with a Ford 302 was a teen dream.
Running a close second to a sense of style, is the active commenting community on ADL, so feel free to share your list with the rest of us. Let us know which cars helped you evolve from just interested to enthusiast and have you here, today, right now on ADL.
Until next week…
