Talk:Lamborghini Countach

Lamborghini and bulls

This article states that the prevalence of car names relating to bulls is due to Lamborghini's enthusiasm for bullfighting. The main article on Lamborghini directly contradicts this, stating, "Ferruccio himself never was a bullfighting supporter but loved Bulls and was a Taurus...".

They can't both be right. Which is correct?

The main article is wrong. Consider: first, the "espada" is named after the spanish bullfighting sword. (So is the Lamborghini show car "Faena") Second, "Miura" is a breed of bull specifically bred to fight (specifically, a sub-type of the Navarro strain created by Don AAntonio Miura). "Jalpa" is also a breed of fighting bull. "Islero" is the name of a bull who gored and killed the matador Manuel Rodrigues in 1947.

Lamborghini naming after Feruccio's death continues the tradition: "Diablo" is thre bull owned by thr Duke of Veragua who fought a well-known battle with the matador Chicarro in Madrid in 1869. "Gallardo" is a breed of fighting bulls. Murciélago is a bull that survived two dozen stab wounds in an 1879 bull fight. Beyond the bulls themselves, why is the "Jarama" named after the Spanish region/roadrace circuit? Becasuse Mr. Lamborghini loved bullfighting! I will be researching my books for Lamborghini info, because all the Lambo-related articles are pretty poor! Reimelt 22:12, 7 June 2006 (UTC

Translation

The lead mentions "Countach" being a profane expletive, then calling it akin to "Holy bleeping cow!" However, "Holy bleeping cow" is generally not considered profane. Being as Wikipedia is not bowdlerized, is there a better translation? Deltabeignet 02:47, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

There seem to be alternative versions of the name origin floating round, for instance this one. The profanity story is unsourced. --Robert Merkel 03:39, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

here's another version. Maybe we should ask on the Italian Wikipedia about this. --Robert Merkel 03:41, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

I've asked a question at the Italian Wikimedia Embassy to see if they can shed any light on this topic. --Robert Merkel 03:53, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

On Top Gear, they said that Countach was roughly equivelant to 'phwoar'. Not exactly profane, but they are on the BBC. Meeper 05:32, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

I dunno about what the word means, but I can point out that Lamborghini is based in Romagna, not in Piemonte, so they wouldn't have picked an expression in the 'local' Piemonteis, because Piemonteis is not the local language. If anything it would be the local Bolognese variant of Emiliano-Romagnol, however I don't know if it is, since I don't speak either Piemonteis, or Bolognese. Seek100 23:06, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

Piedmontese is local to Turin, where Bertone is established, not to Bologna, where Lamborghini is established. According to the article, "Countach" was the expression Nuccio Bertone used when he first saw the car. Respectfully, SamBlob 16:38, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

I'd have thought part of it's derivation was pretty obvious. Think about the French and English swearwords. Yeah, that one. Greglocock 05:56, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

Likely, but not necessarily so. See false friend for the possibilites. Respectfully, SamBlob 22:29, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

No mention of horsepower or price of the sports car?

The article mentions the displacement and configuration of the engines, but makes no mention of the power they produced.

Talking about the price of the car, as this comes from one issue of the 1985 issue of Car (the one with the Countach QV5000 on the cover) which I still have, the price of the Countach in 1985 was somewhere around £85,000. I will need to look up at that magazine again when I got the time. Willirennen 19:29, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

How inexperienced could Gandini have been?

"Gandini was then a young, inexperienced designer—not very experienced in the practical, ergonomic aspects of automobile design, but at the same time unhindered by them."

Considering that he was the Bertone stylist who did the Miura in 1965-66, how inexperienced could he have been when he started styling the Countach?

Respectfully, SamBlob 15:45, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

Pop culture trivia

Okay, are we going to list every single appearance the Countach made in a television program, video game, or film? I hope not, as that could number in the hundreds. Some of these "appearances in pop culture" are beginning to look like fan trivia. Can we clean this section up or move the most notable appearances into the main article? --Vossanova ^o< 19:35, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

To Lee Vonce: thanks for cutting it down, but I think you went a bit too far. I summarized it from the original, and turned it into a paragraph, which will hopefully discourage people from adding indiscriminate items like a list. --Vossanova ^o< 01:39, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

CSZero suggested to remove the Trivia section entirely, and I'm inclined to agree. If we can hold an informal vote here, I'd say delete. --Vossanova ^o< 15:20, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

I also agree on delete as it has become a subject of abuse, the biggest problem is, the fanbois, you know that lot whose only access to European supercars is having a poster of a naked woman draped on one in their bedroom walls, as they spend their day and night playing NFS, PGR, they don't want to see a bit about their dream car mentioned on their beloved game be deleted. More recently the problem I had with numerous pages, particularly the Toyota Supra bit which I had tried to kill off. The problem with popular cars like these are, like Kenny from South Park, once killed off, these articles will always creep back after each episodes. Willirennen 23:53, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

I agree that we should not list each and every appearance of the Countach in popular culture. We should keep some mention of it being the iconic sports car of the 1980's (perhaps in the opening paragraph).SolarWind (talk)

Replicas built by Prova Cars were prominently featured in It Takes Two (1988 film). One of the cars was essentially a character in the film due to the many creative ways its many high-tech features constantly failed to work correctly. Prova appears to still be in business. http://www.premierkitcars.com/prova.php —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bizzybody (talk • contribs) 05:11, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

External Links

Re-added link. Website is not commercial as the manufacterer does not exist anymore. This page is the only page containing most history facts about the UK lamborghini replica scene to be foud on the web. Countachfan 21:03, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

But this is the only external link for the article. We should find a general (preferably official) Countach site before adding one specific to UK Countach replicas. Anyway, I'll wait to hear some other opinions. --Vossanova ^o< 21:17, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

5000QV or LP500 QuattroValvole or LP500S QV?

This article talks about the 5000QV while http://www.lambocars.com calls the same car as the LP500 QuattroValvole. At the end of this article the car is also called LP500S QV. Which name is correct?

ICE77 -- 81.104.129.226 19:33, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Preceding speed record car?

I know that the Ruf CTR held the speed record for production car for a time. It is also the right time frame, being produced in 1986. I noticed there was no preceding speed record car shown, and I was wondering if the CTR was it. If so, it should be added. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.69.60.29 (talk) 06:23, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

Fastest car

This car is apparently faster than than its successor. Am I missing something? Vimescarrot (talk) 09:30, 15 June 2008 (UTC)

Composite Countach

http://www.lamborghiniregistry.com/Countach/CountachEvoluzione/index.html 1987 Countach Evoluzione, a one-off prototype, destroyed in a crash test. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bizzybody (talk • contribs) 05:42, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

Name: spelling and meaning

I am Piedmontese so I need to point out how approximative the "name" section is.

• The original (Piemontese) spelling of the word is cuntacc. The spelling "countach" is original and has probably been chosen to avoid the international misunderstandings that a name containing the word "cunt" would cause.
• The literal meaning of cuntacc is "contagion", but the word is practically never used in its literal meaning, and many Piedmontese speakers don't even know the literal meaning. Instead, it's always used as an interjection which corresponds to the English "Damn!". Thus, its context is much more general than "a wolf-whistle" or "an exclamation used by men on seeing an extremely beautiful woman". A Piedmontese speaker could exclaim "Cuntacc!" on discovering he is late for work, or in response to something that annoys him, or even in response to something astonishing. It's not impossible that Nuccio Bertone exclaimed "Cuntacc!" when he saw the design for the first time, but that does not mean he compared the car to a beautiful woman: try to imagine instead an English speaker seeing an extremely stylish car, going wide-eyed and saying "Daaaamn!" and the analogy still remains. Devil Master (talk) 18:37, 13 May 2009 (UTC)

Devil Master, for being Piedmontese you don't sound very competent. The word Countach comes from the Piedmontese word contacc which is the proper spelling for the exclamation. If you truly knew the rules of grammar, you'd know that the sound U is produced in the majority of cases by an O. The meaning of the exclamation as described by Devil Master is proper. Contacc does not have any correlation with beautiful women. It's just a typical idiotic stereotype. Whoever came up with it just invented it.

ICE77 (talk) 14:51, 29 September 2014 (UTC)

Actually, it comes from the cited source, Legendary Cars by Larry Edsall. However, that book has several mistakes in it, including several inaccuracies (for example, in the "BMW 328" section, it completely mangles BMW's early history), so I will not contest this removal (actually, I didn't contest the one at the Lamborghini article, either).

But if the meaning as described by Devil Master is correct, then why do you contest me describing the word as an expletive? That's what an expletive is! Sincerely, SamBlob (talk) 17:06, 29 September 2014 (UTC)

All I am saying is that contacc means something like wow and there is no correlation with hot women.

ICE77 (talk) 03:58, 8 October 2014 (UTC)

Just exotic

Lamborghini Countach is just exotic. It's very exotic but not luxury because tall drivers (above 5ft10in) cannot drive it. It has lack of legroom and headroom. Nagara373 (talk) 06:59, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

Jeremy Clarkson, who is 6 ft 5 in tall, has been filmed driven driving one. Sincerely, SamBlob (talk) 14:03, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

Lamborghini test driver Bob Wallace was of similar stature, while CAR magazine’s European Editor Georg Kacher (6’7”) has also been photographed driving one. God knows how, though — this 6’3” Mr Larrington sat in one once and decided that I wished I could afford to buy one so then I wouldn’t. Mr Larrington (talk) 00:37, 27 May 2022 (UTC)

296 or 320? And who says so?

There seems to be a minor edit war going on regarding the posted top speed of the Lamborghini Countach. One editor insists that the top speed was 296 km/h while another insists it was 320 km/h. Neither cites a source for his/her statement.

Can anyone shed any light on the subject?

Sincerely, SamBlob (talk) 18:43, 14 December 2009 (UTC)

I don't know that you can make accurate comparisons between different cars as some may be magazine test results, some manufacturers sales talk and both figures may be atypical. For what its worth, Lamborghini's site [1] lists the LP400S with a top speed of 315kmh, the LP500S as 300kmh. Mighty Antar (talk) 19:14, 14 December 2009 (UTC)

If the manufacturer has an official figure, post that. Otherwise, you're dealing with test results, and no figure is the "right" answer, just what the tester came up with. If it were up to me, I'd probably leave top speed and acceleration figures out, but you may consider including a range of results, or the 2-3 most "noteworthy" (up to the masses to decide which are the "best") results. --Vossanova ^o< 19:27, 14 December 2009 (UTC)

Some long-defunct British motoring rag – IIRC it was Fast Lane but my collection has long since gone to the tip – claimed to have seen 190 mph in a factory-supplied wingless version with F1 driver Pierluigi Martini at the wheel. Another mag took Barry Robinson's winged version to Germany, couldn’t get it past 180 and concluded that the only way a Countach would crack 200 mph was if it was hit up the chuff by a Porsche 962. Mr Larrington (talk) 00:48, 27 May 2022 (UTC)

Replicas in movies.

Several Countach replicas were made for It_Takes_Two_(1988 film) The company continued to sell replica kits for a while after the movie was made. Bizzybody (talk) 08:43, 5 November 2010 (UTC)

Name: pronunciation

The prooflink doesn't work anymore. Is it sure that the accent falls onto the second syllable? --Max Shakhray (talk) 08:00, 11 November 2010 (UTC)

Sure, but anyway the recording is wrong: the final is [tʃ] (affricate) not [ʃ], thus [kunˈtɑtʃ] or, in Piedmontese, [kuŋˈtatʃ] with a velar nasal sound typical of Northern Italian dialects.--Carnby (talk) 23:08, 7 March 2011 (UTC)

The recording is indeed incorrect and the ending of the word should be [tʃ] and not [ʃ]. I removed the link since the pronunciation is wrong. The ending would sound like "ch" of Chile. Regarding the "Northern Italian dialects", the expression should be rather "Northern Italian dialects and languages" since many languages there are not dialects of Italian. This is in fact true for Piedmontese. All you have to do is to look at the linguistic classification of most Northern languages which are not related to the Italian language.

ICE77 (talk) 14:56, 29 September 2014 (UTC)

In Italian academic circles "Northern Italian dialects" (dialetti italiani settentrionali) is used instead of "Northern Italian languages". A "dialect" in Italian linguistics is a language which shows some resemblance to standard Italian, even if it is not closely related to it. It may sound awkward, but in Italian linguistic papers Tuscan is considered a vernacolo, Piedmontese and Sicilian are dialetti and Ladin, Friulian and Sardinian lingue.--Carnby (talk) 18:34, 28 June 2015 (UTC)

Disadvantages of Lamborghini Countach

Disadvantages of Lamborghini Countach:

1. too small
2. gas guzzler
3. lack of legroom
4. lack of headroom

121.102.122.122 (talk) 11:08, 21 December 2010 (UTC)

Also too hot and too expensive, but how does any of this help improve the article? Sincerely, SamBlob (talk) 13:32, 21 December 2010 (UTC)

Also appalling rear visibility. Also the name is rude in Italian. Also the build quality of the chassis is terrible. So I think I'll buy a Golf instead. Greglocock (talk) 00:16, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

121.102.122.122, honestly, I don't care what you think about the disadvantages. Your contribution is comparable to trash. It's useless. Sign yourself if you are a man.

ICE77 (talk) 03:11, 25 October 2014 (UTC)

Who cares? U¹ _quattro TALK 02:26, 19 May 2020 (UTC)

Question about the replicas

I was wondering if the replicas are just kits, or fully complete cars that are ready to drive? Portillo (talk) 21:29, 2 February 2013 (UTC)

The replicas wouldn't be legal to sell as brand new cars, so they're all kits. Sincerely, SamBlob (talk) 00:13, 3 February 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for your reply. So you have to build it yourself, or buy a used one? Portillo (talk) 01:19, 3 February 2013 (UTC)

Evoluzione - made up numbers

If you plot top speed vs kw^.33 it is obvious that the claimed top speed is completely unlikely for the evoluzione, even if we believe the other figures in the table. I see no reason why we shouldn't insist on reliable sources (not blogs thanks) for these numbers. Credibility is just as important as fanboi numbers. Greglocock (talk) 09:33, 1 June 2015 (UTC)

In a few weeks I should be able to access my magazines again; I'll try to get some numbers then. Sincerely, SamBlob (talk) 13:07, 1 June 2015 (UTC)

I've updated the tables with data from a period italian magazine test: engine power, 0–100, and empty weight. And guess what: all three were way off. I could not find top speed, hope you can add it SamBlob. —Cloverleaf II (talk) 14:06, 1 June 2015 (UTC)

It is no surprise to me that the three models with citations for top speed are markedly slower than the ones that have no reliable source for the top speed. I'll remove those numbers, if they are replaced then they need sources. reliable sources. That is not my rule, that is a wiki rule.Greglocock (talk) 23:45, 12 January 2016 (UTC)

It means what?

"The word countach (pronounced [kuŋˈtatʃ]) is an exclamation of astonishment in the local dialect (see Piedmontese language),[5] that means "perbacco" or "accidenti" ("Heavens!")." Saying that an Italian word means another Italian word is distinctly unhelpful and none of the words there would seem to mean "heavens". They might (I don't know) be used as interjections in the same sort of situation where an English speaker would say "Heavens!", but they don't mean that. --Khajidha (talk) 16:50, 28 November 2017 (UTC)

If you ever find out more precisely what it means - and maybe even if you don't - please do feel free to edit/improve the para in question. Potentially interesting stuff. On the other hand, I suspect that there are folks in the corporate marketing department in Ingolstadt (or where-ever) who are very happy for ambiguity to prevail. If you're trying to sell cars, than presumably one of the things worse than being talked about is not being talked about. Success Charles01 (talk) 16:56, 28 November 2017 (UTC)

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Lamborghini Countach. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20141227062619/http://www.bozhdynsky.com/cars/lamborghini-countach-prototipo/ to http://www.bozhdynsky.com/cars/lamborghini-countach-prototipo/

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

• If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
• If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 08:12, 16 December 2017 (UTC)

Countach pronunciation?

How is the Countach pronounced as? 70.45.60.101 (talk) 12:56, 28 June 2018 (UTC)

Restructuring Proposal - seeking input

I'm planning on adding a considerable amount of information about the design and development process of the Countach to this article. However, rather than simply adding a new section, I feel the flow of the article might be better served by integrating some of the existing subheads into a new section that will also incorporate added historical information about the development of this car. That would necessitate some other changes (positive ones, I think) throughout the article. So after some thought I ended up with a plan for a restructuring of this article, intended to improve the clarity and flow of the article as a whole, as well as provide a better framework for future expansion. As this is a fairly well-developed article with a Wikiproject Automobiles "High Importance" rating, I wanted to sound out my article reorganization ideas and invite any comments or objections before I implement anything.

This is my tentative plan:

1. Design and development- new section lead text here for historical context, design team, goals of the project
   1. Name- existing section — Preceding unsigned comment added by Prova MO (talk • contribs) 01:06, 28 September 2018 (UTC)
   2. Engine-expanded from existing "Engine" section
   3. Chassis and body construction- expanded from existing "Construction" section
   4. Styling- expanded from existing Styling section
   5. LP500 prototype- expanded from existing "Countach LP500 prototype" subhead. focus on styling elements, introduction to public, and use/modification as a test mule
2. Production models
   1. LP400 - expanded from existing section, more material on the lengthy (1971-1973) period where the LP500 prototype was developed into the production LP500, and all the changes to the design that occurred
   2. LP400 S - existing section
   3. LP500 S- existing section — Preceding unsigned comment added by Prova MO (talk • contribs) 01:01, 28 September 2018 (UTC)
   4. LP5000 Quattrovalvole - existing section
   5. 25th Anniversary edition - existing section
3. Special models
   1. Walter Wolf Countach - existing section
   2. Countach Turbo S - existing section
4. Specifications
   1. Production Figures - existing section
   2. Engine Data - existing section
   3. Performance and weight - existing section
5. Influence - new section, discuss legacy of Countach subsequent Lamborghini models and other auto makers. Possibly move here some of the material from the lead and last paragraph of styling section about the influence of the Countach's design.
6. Collectibility - new section, outline of general price trends and sales activity

Please let me know your thoughts. I'm planning on adding quite a bit of well sourced material but as this article stands, I feel restructuring is required for everything to flow well together. I'm still a relatively inexperienced editor so if there is a Wikiproject Automobiles convention or past discussion that is pertinent to this, please let me know. Prova MO (talk) 00:48, 28 September 2018 (UTC)

Looks good Greglocock (talk) 02:08, 28 September 2018 (UTC)

I think that'd be an improvement over the current structure and would make it easier for a reader to get to specific information. I'm not aware of any guidelines on structure, since the information would be so variable from vehicle to vehicle, but what you propose looks very good to me. --Sable232 (talk) 02:28, 28 September 2018 (UTC)

Agree on the layout change. While there is nothing that is fundamentally wrong with the article as-is, the layout proposal improves on a few things, by grouping several additional sections together under common topics. While Influence and Collectibility are somewhat subjective, this sort of vehicle can be the proper context for this content (if done right....) --SteveCof00 (talk) 04:03, 29 September 2018 (UTC)

Thanks everyone for the input. I will begin slowly incorporating these changes into the article as they seem uncontroversial. Prova MO (talk) 19:31, 29 September 2018 (UTC)

You are setting yourself up for quite a lot of work, but as long as you will finish what you will start (and don't lose information along the way) it sounds as though the entry will be more manageable for readers and more informative after you have done what you will do. Thank you in anticipation! Of course if the entry becomes toooo long, then those of us who receive our internet connection down a copper wire dating from the early 1940s may start agitating for splitting it. However (1) I can't see any very obvious way you could split it and anyway (2) today the English telephone wires seem to be in a relatively benevolent mood. Success Charles01 (talk) 19:53, 29 September 2018 (UTC)

Torsional rigidity peacocking

TR is measured in deg or radians per Nm or lb ft. It is not measured in mm. Possibly they measured TR, or they might have measured one wheel lift stiffness, but from the information given we can't tell and it is meaningless peacockery. Greglocock (talk) 02:11, 14 October 2018 (UTC)

That figure is drawn from the following section of Borel's 1985 book Lamborghini Countach:

After having made the necessary adjustments, torsional resistance tests were carried out. By using a 100kgm torque, approximately [sic] linear deformation between the rear and front axles was found to be 4.5×10^⁻³ mm.

— Borel 1985, pg 29

Perhaps this information could be contextualized in a more useful way, or perhaps it is too specific to Lamborghini's particular test rigs to be meaningful? On page 46 of the same source, Borel states that the full space frame Countach chassis had "greater torsional rigidity" than that of the Miura. Another source for discussion on chassis development, Lyons' 1988 The Complete Book of Lamborghini states "But where the Miura chassis suffered persistent stiffness problems, the final Countach design was enormously strong" (pg 196). So based on these sources, the statement that the Countach chassis has greater torsional rigidity/stiffness than the Miura chassis is well supported and not an unsourced superlative (I think this is what you were trying to say by bringing up "peacocking"?). That said, yes the measurement provided by Borel is a bit strange and seemingly not commensurable with standard measures of torsional rigidity. Perhaps you or someone else familiar with methods of testing can decide whether this data is salvageable with additional contextualization or should be removed altogether. Prova MO (talk) 18:14, 14 October 2018 (UTC)

In my opinion it's unsalvageable unless there are more details available. I said peacocky because it sounds scientific but without details of the test rig and measurement process the number is not comparable to anything else unless it was measured in the same unknown way. If I saw that number alone I'd guess it was the single wheel lift compliance, but is it measured at the wheel, or the spring tower, or the shock absorber mounting point? But then why quote a torque not a force? If it was a full torsional test where was the displacement measured? ie what was the lever arm length? Greglocock (talk) 19:25, 14 October 2018 (UTC)

That seems reasonable. I've removed the sentence in question from the article. If anyone else wants to weigh in, all the info in question is archived in this discussion. Prova MO (talk) 19:44, 14 October 2018 (UTC)

I forgot to say you, are doing a great job on this article. Greglocock (talk) 04:13, 15 October 2018 (UTC)

Built in Cape Town

Dunno if this reproduction of a magazine article is a good enough source, but I'm going for yes it is. https://www.thelotusforums.com/forums/topic/95509-esprit-s1s-that-were-assembled-in-south-africa/

German wiki entry on the assembler https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermotormakers . Here's a google translation " Company History Gerrie Steenkamp founded the company in Cape Town in 1976. He began assembling automobiles from Lamborghini and Lotus. [1] [3] [4] A change of legal regulations led to the end of this activity. [3] Altogether approximately 24 vehicles of both brands were created. [3] In 1990 a self-developed vehicle was presented. [2] [3] The brand name was Intermotormakers. [1] [3] In the same year the production ended. In 2010, the company was dissolved.

vehicles The company assembled Lamborghini Countach, Lamborghini Espada, Lotus Éclat and Lotus Elite. In addition, a Lamborghini Urraco is known from 1976, wearing an emblem of Intermotormakers. In addition, a lotus esprit is known.

" Greglocock (talk) 04:25, 20 November 2018 (UTC)

Good find! I did also find this other supporting article, which mentions Lamborghini assembly by Intermotormakers [2]. This article mentions that IMM left the business when it lost exemption to "Phase Five of the Local Content Programme". This "Phase V" required auto manufacturers to incorporate at least 66% local content into their vehicles, intended in part to reduce importation of knock-down kits (see Dix, K. A. (1995). "The motor car assembly/manufacturing industry in South Africa: Phases I to V. South African Journal of Economic History", 10(1), 21–37. doi:10.1080/10113436.1995.10417239, available on sci-hub which wikipedia does not allow me to link directly). Digging a bit deeper I found two forum threads mentioning Countach production by IMM (here [3] [4]). These threads, with information supposedly from a former IMM staff and journalist investigating this history, mention that IMM made between 1 to 10 Countaches from knock-down kits supplied complete from the Lamborghini factory in Italy. I'd love to find the article about IMM mentioned in the lamborghini-talk thread that was supposed to be published in May 2013, perhaps it would be a good source for definitive information. Based on all this, I'd think that the IMM production of Countaches in Cape Town is definitely part of the Countach story, but perhaps needs a better contextualization than simply adding a line to the infobox. I'd think it would be misleading to assign Cape Town as much importance as Sant'Agata in the infobox without explaining somewhere that Countach production in Cape town was extremely limited numerically and was only the final assembly of knock-down kits that had been manufactured in Italy. Not sure forums threads are sufficiently reliable to source the whole story, but the magazine articles sort of outline things and the threads at least point towards the requirement for some more investigation. Prova MO (talk) 18:45, 20 November 2018 (UTC)

Also FWIW, neither of those magazine articles about IMM mention the Countach by name. So those articles alone do not specifically support production of the Countach in Cape Town, just the production of unspecified Lamborghini models. Prova MO (talk) 18:49, 20 November 2018 (UTC)

A little more searching turned up a very brief mention of Countach production by IMM in an article by a South African auto news site [5]. Prova MO (talk) 19:02, 20 November 2018 (UTC)

I'm happy to go either way on this, depending on other automotive articles. CKD was very widely used 1945-1970, so you could argue it just confuses things.Greglocock (talk) 03:56, 21 November 2018 (UTC)

please see https://wiki.riteme.site/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Automobiles#Place_of_assembly_-CKD Greglocock (talk) 05:03, 21 November 2018 (UTC)

Thanks for starting the discussion on at the wikiproject. After reviewing the discussion there, I think the best course of action for this article is to make a mention of Intermotormakers' assembly of the Countach in the "Production figures" section, clearly stating that these were from CKD kits and an unknown, but small, number were assembled in the mid 70s. I believe Cape Town should not be included in the infobox, as the numerical quantity of IMM cars is unknown but seems to have been extremely small. If more information comes to light regarding actual quantity and models produced, I would think the information on IMM production could be incorporated into one of the model-specific subheads under "Production history." Based on everything I've read, IMM assembled at least one LP400 but there's no reliable source that comes out and states that. Prova MO (talk) 21:13, 2 December 2018 (UTC)

Photo request explanation

I've seen these cars in person a couple of times and the thing that immediately struck me is that they were positively tiny. You could trip over one if you aren't careful. None of the photos give a good sense of that. - Immigrant laborer (talk) 05:27, 28 August 2020 (UTC)

While certainly short (in both length and height) in overall dimensions, many of the images that are uploaded to the article are in line with the image conventions for automobile-related articles (Shortcut: WP:CARPIX). Ideally, cars/vehicles portrayed in articles are photographed by themselves in a well-contrasting background. To emphasize the smaller size, it would have to be photographed in a different context (against people, other vehicles?), which may not make for ideal image quality. However, the Commons does have a decent supply of related images if one is interested in cycling the ones on the article. --SteveCof00 (talk) 09:17, 28 August 2020 (UTC)

Doubts about "cab forward"

Currently, the lead of the article mentions "The Countach also popularized the "cab forward" design concept, which pushes the passenger compartment forward for a more aggressive look." This statement is currently unsourced. I suggest removing it for a couple reasons. I've done a significant amount of reading into the design history of the Countach and have never encountered a reference to cab-forward design, either in the original design intent or as an influence the Countach had on later vehicles. The Countach's design certainly did involve innovative packaging of the drivetrain, however this had to do with the placement of the transmission forward of the longitudinally-mounted engine and between the seats. As stated in the cab forward article, cab forward designs in automobiles are intended to increase passenger compartment volume relative to the overall size of the vehicle. To my understanding, this was simply never a consideration in the design of the Countach- or at least a very minor one, heavily compromised by performance and styling priorities. Any innovation in the Countach's layout/drivetrain packaging was intended to improve performance characteristics by moving the center of mass forward and shortening the wheelbase. What's more, the statement that cab forward design "pushes the passenger compartment forward for a more aggressive look" seems to misunderstand the nature of that design strategy. It's simply a way of optimizing passenger space and has nothing to do with creating an aggressive appearance. Certainly it would be a stretch to call the AMC Pacer and Dodge Intrepid aggressively styled or at all inspired by the Countach's design (they are pictured as examples in the cab forward article). I think this provides pretty solid grounds to remove mention of cab forward from this article, but happy to hear other editors thoughts if there is some reliable source linking the Countach and cab forward. Prova MO (talk) 19:26, 12 November 2020 (UTC)