I live in a very quiet bedroom suburban community of San Diego. The neighborhood was built in the early 1970s, and a lot of the homes are still owned by the original owners. From an automotive standpoint, there is not a lot of excitement around here. Mostly sedans and SUVs from mainstream brands sprinkled with some luxury makes. The Plum Crazy Hellcat Challenger 4 blocks over and my 12 year old Magnum are what counts for auto excitement in this neighborhood. And yet one day, I was blessed to see the automotive equivalent of Sophia Loren (a famous Italian exotic from another era) just stroll casually by.
Last Saturday afternoon, I was spending some time working on my 2006 Dodge Magnum SRT8 (COAL, Update). Time for more modifications. I had gone into the garage to retrieve a tool when I heard the sound of an engine that seemed very out of place. As I turned to walk out of the garage back to my car, that’s when it came into view. That unmistakable wedge shape, the wide fender flares, the scoops, that wing. It was all there!! This Italian exotic, which had adorned my bedroom walls when I was a schoolboy, was just casually driving down my street. Even at just above idle, cruising no faster than the 25mph speed limit, it sounded amazing. That V12 engine sound is very distinct. I was flabbergasted, frozen in my tracks. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t run out with my phone to snap photos of it as it drove by. I just stood there, in awe, and gasped loudly many times. My roommate was under his Jeep Renegade (next to the Magnum) changing his oil. He asked what was wrong, and I couldn’t speak for a few minutes.
The car had these 1985+ US bumpers on the rear
After regaining my composure, I actually wondered if I saw what I saw. Had my water been spiked with some mind altering substance and hallucinated this. The footage from my security system is proof that it actually did happen. I’m guessing that it was at least a 1985 model, based upon the altered rear bumper/lights. Without any closer inspection, I couldn’t tell if it was a 5000S or a 5000QV. The images I saw online of the QV had rocker panel extensions that bridges the wheel wells, which this car did not have.
Wow! I think I saw one of these on the freeway that encircles Indianapolis (I-465) one evening about 10 years ago. It is possible that it could have been some similarly shaped low, wide Italian exotic (I’m not that good with these) but I think it was one of these. You are right, even though these don’t make my blood race, I was transfixed for a moment.
I think you’ll like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2c2WUlEK0A
The Countach is the equivalent of the SR-71. Beautiful, rare, spotted about as often and oh so deadly serious after all this time. And just as attention getting as when new.
I saw one of these back in the late 80’s. It was on Rt 201 in Maine about 25 miles south of the Canadian border. The area is remote. It was likely seen by more moose than people. Probably a French Canadian headed for Old Orchid Beach. It wore Quebec license plates.
Maybe it was Jacques Villenneuve the uncle. He had one in that time.
Maybe it was Gilles Villeneuve’s brother Jacques. He owned one at that time.
Somewhere in my unscanned archives is a photo of a comely young lass posing for her boyfriend in front of a Countach in the pit area at Road Atlanta, probably in 1985 or so. That’s the only one I’ve ever seen in the wild.
Brian, where in SD are you? The video looks an awful lot like my neighborhood in Poway… If I didn’t know better it could even be my street.
I recall being in the Marina Village area of Mission Bay some time in the late 80s and coming across a very small Italian car show with several of these and a couple of Panteras.
A lot of the neighborhoods built around the same time have that same look. I’m in San Carlos, near the base of Cowles Mountain.
They certainly do look alike.
I’ve probably parked in your neighborhood when I hike Cowles.
I live in one of the more affluent suburbs of Sacramento, so I’ve actually seen a few Lambos and Ferraris on the road over the years. A couple of years ago I had a Countach behind me while I was stopped at a red light. Or at least some sort of wide, low, wedge-shaped Italian exotic; like J P Cavanaugh said in the first comment I’m not that great at identifying these either. But I’m 95% sure it was a Countach.
One Lamborghini I didn‘t think I would ever see on the public street was LM002. I saw one parked on Maximilianstraße (Munich‘s equivalent of Rodeo Drive).
Now that’s something you don’t see every day! I have seen two Countachs in person; one on the High Street in Willesden, London when I was 12, and another flashed past me on the highway in Barbados in 1998.