![]() The car entering the register is one of only 105 Series 2 cars produced between 19, according to the Journal. ![]() There are 30 cars on the National Historic Vehicle Register. The three drove a souped-up Mercedes and averaged more than 110mph. Three men reportedly completed the 3,000-mile trek from the Red Ball Garage on Manhattan’s East 31st Street to the Portofino Hotel in Redondo Beach near Los Angeles in 25 hours and 39 minutes, according to CNN. ![]() The hit film spawned two sequels, and reignited a frenzy for coast-to-coast illegal high-speed racing. In 2009, Florida-based collector and fan Jeff Ippoliti bought it from Rice. Hawaiian Tropic founder Ron Rice, a friend of Reynolds’ who hung around the set, bought the car from Bernius after the movie wrapped. The Countach was loaned to the movie by original owner Terry Bernius, according to Fox. The movie featured a who’s who of Hollywood stars: Reynolds, Roger Moore, Farrah Fawcett, Dom DeLuise, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. In the Burt Reynolds movie, racers Jill (played by Tara Buckman) and Marie (Adrienne Barbeau) drove the car and won the race – though the Lambo didn’t technically cross the finish line because one of the racers crashed his pickup truck and blocked the road, resulting in Marie racing to the finish line on foot. ‘One of his most frequent exclamations was “countach,” which literally means plague, contagion, and is actually used more to express amazement or even admiration, like “goodness.” When we were working at night, to keep our morale up, there was a jousting spirit, so I said we could call it Countach, just as a joke.’ To celebrate its entry, the car will be displayed on the National Mall in Washington, DC, in September.īertone designer Marcello Gandini told Hagerty that the model’s name came from a word often uttered by one of the profilers working at the company. ‘The radically styled mid-engine exotic was a landmark car in an era when economy and practicality had eclipsed performance and passion,’ Hagerty says. The list is maintained in partnership with the US Department of the Interior and the Library of Congress. The model was first unveiled in 1971, according to Hagerty, an insurance provider for classic vehicles that runs the historic register through its nonprofit arm. ‘The Countach is a car that has excited and intrigued car enthusiasts since its radical style shocked the world on its debut in the early ’70s,’ said Hagerty Drivers Foundation executive director Jonathan Klinger, according to Fox News. Transmission: Five-speed manual transmission that extends forward into the passenger compartmentįeaturing a liquid-cooled, mid-mounted, 353-horsepower engine with six Weber carburetors, the Countach can go zero-to60 in 5.4 seconds and topds out the speedometer at nearly 200 miles per hour.Brakes: Power assist – disc brakes front and rear/ 10.5″ vented rotors.Wheels and tires: Front 15×8.5” Campagnolo wheels, 205/50VR15 Pirelli P7 tires, rear 15×12” Campagnolo wheels, 345/35VR15 Pirelli P7 tires.Engine: Original engine Liquid-cooled, mid-mounted, DOHC V-12 3929ccd/240cid 353hp with six Weber carburetors.Interior: Fully re-upholstered in the tan color featured in the movie.Paint and exterior: The car still features its front wing that served as a “bumper” to skirt laws that prevented the Countach from being sold in the U.S.At some point, the interior was changed to burgundy but was put back to its original tan shade of Senape during a restoration. Ron Rice of Hawaiian Tropic later owned the car, Hagerty said, and sold it at an RM auction in 2009 (it later was sold in a private transaction). The original owner (not identified in the Register announcement) allowed the car to be used in the movie, though with an added front spoiler and twin spotlights. “Second-series cars can be identified by their smooth, concave wheels and ‘lowbody’ suspension ride height,” Hagerty notes. The car entering the Register is chassis 1121112 and is one of only 105 Series 2 cars produced between 19. The radically styled mid-engine exotic was a landmark car in an era when economy and practicality had eclipsed performance and passion.” Lamborghini launched the Countach 50 years ago, in 1971, and the event, Hagerty notes, “set in motion 50 years of competition among manufacturers to build the ultimate supercar.
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