I remember reading about this car when it was introduced in 1974

Lamborghini Countach auction record ratchets up to $1.87 million


For the third time this summer, the public auction record for the Lamborghini Countach has fallen, after a 1974 Countach LP400 Periscopica sold for $1.87 million over the weekend.

While the first of the record-setting sales – in early June at the Bonhams auction in Greenwich, Connecticut – made headlines when another Periscopica (chassis number 1120066) sold for $1.21 million, including commission, thus marking the supercar’s transition from bedroom poster fodder to seven-figure blue chip collector car, the two more recent sales have garnered a little less attention. Less than a month later – in late June at the Bonhams auction at the Goodwood Festival of Speed – another Periscopica (chassis number 1120070) sold for £953,500, or about $1.624 million.

1974LamborghiniCountach_02_2500
Photo by Kurt Ernst.

The most recent sale amounted to a fraction of some of the more sensational record-breakers around the Monterey peninsula over the last week. The Countach in question (chassis number 1120010) hammered for $1.7 million Saturday evening before commissions brought the final sale price up to $1.87 million. Believed to be the sixth Countach built, the Periscopica originally sold in late July 1974 to the carmaker Innocenti, according to Gooding’s auction description. Though originally painted light metallic green, the Lamborghini factory apparently repainted it light red for Innocenti.

By the early 1980s, it made its way from Italy to the United States and has remained largely untouched since then, with less than 12,000 miles on its odometer. Gooding’s writeup noted a recent service and detailing for the Countach, but described it as largely unrestored. The pre-auction estimate for the car ranged from $600,000 to $800,000.

Despite the record, the Countach didn’t break into the top 10 sales of the auction. That list includes a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider, which sold for $15,180,000; a 1959 Ferrari 250 GT Series I Cabriolet, which sold for $5,610,000; a 1955 Aston Martin DB3S, which sold for $5,500,000; a 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB Long Nose Alloy, which sold for $4,620,000; a 1956 Maserati 250F, which sold for $4,620,000; a 1939 Alfa Romeo Tipo 256 Cabriolet Sportivo, which sold for $4,000,000; a 1967 Ford GT40 Mk 1, which sold for $3,520,000; a 1927 Bugatti Type 35 Grand Prix, which sold for $2,970,000; a 2001 Ferrari 333 SP, which sold for $2,365,000; and a 1964 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso, which sold for $2,365,000.

On the other end of the scale, a number of cars sold for less than $100,000, among them a 1959 Volvo PV544, which sold for $29,700; a 1924 Renault 6CV, which sold for $41,800; a 1953 MG TD and a 1968 Morris Mini Cooper S, which sold for $46,200; a 1958 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider, which sold for $59,400; a 1971 Mercedes-Benz 280 SL and a 1959 Fiat 600 Jolly, which sold for $82,500; a 1968 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT Veloce, which sold for $93,500; and a 1936 Ford Deluxe Station Wagon, a 1968 Mercedes-Benz 280 SL, a 1967 Volkswagen Type 2 Camper, and a 1953 Jaguar XK120 M Fixed Head Coupe, which sold for $99,000.

 

Interesting stuff Mark