This Car of the Week needs no introduction: the legendary Lamborghini Countach.

It’s often said there’s a natural yardstick of supercar styling in the form of a kid’s bedroom wall. If you were a kid in the 80’s, it’s almost inevitable that there was a Lamborghini Countach somewhere on that wall. The Countach is buried in our heads and grouped with visions of neon, pastel suits and hair metal.

Despite being associated with the 80’s, the car actually started production in 1974. When all the cars were downsizing and becoming more fuel efficient thanks to the oil crisis, the Countach had a 4.0L V12 with 350 hp, and it only went upwards from there, ending with a 5.2L V12 developing 455 hp. What keeps it in our mind is the styling however, in a time when people were driving along in things like the Chevy Chevette. Finding a Countach on the freeway or on your street would be like if you found the Space Shuttle parked beside your car.

Over the 21 year period that the Countach was with us, it became more aggressive until it peaked at the 5000QV with a massive wing. But the best Countach was the 25th Anniversary model pictured above, which ditched the wing and went with more “conservative” styling.

The Countach was never the most comfortable car, the fastest, easiest to drive, practical or best handling, but we forgave all of this for the way it looked, a shape that’s innovative and revolutionary even to this day, since all cars nowadays have to have things like pedestrian impact safety features (Despite the fact that no matter how you cut it, a 2-tonne block of metal hitting you at 40 mph is not going to end well). The Countach reminds us of the time when you could be mad and free, and the only thing keeping you out of trouble was yourself.

For all of this, we believe that the Lamborghini Countach is a worth Car of the Week.

Image Credit (In descending order):

Image One: exfordy / CC BY 2.0

Image Two: Sumlin / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Image Three: Ta7za / CC BC-NC-SA 2.0