[ad_1]
Just as we’ve seen with previous wide-body conversions created by Kato-san for Liberty Walk, their latest revelation at the 2024 Tokyo Auto Salon is sure to get some explicit reactions, after a wider, slammed version of the Lamborghini Miura (granted, that was based on a replica) and a more recent conversion of a genuine Ferrari F40, this year they completely threw away the rulebook and took the cutting disc to a Lamborghini Countach 25th Anniversary, and in case you are wondering, yes, there is a video out there where you actually see them cutting away to original fender extensions on this classic from Sant’Agata.
The traditional style of Liberty Walk has now been imposed onto what many consider to be the ultimate supercar dream from the Eighties, the Miura is a legend, being the first supercar ever, but the Countach is surely the car that put Lamborghini firmly into automotive history forever, introduced back in the late Seventies, this futuristic-looking V12 masterpiece would create it’s own style of doors that would be imitated by many, the ‘Lamborghini Doors’ that go up instead of sideways, something that became a trademark for every single V12 flagship to leave the Lamborghini factory gates in Sant’Agata ever since, even the new Revuelto retains this style of doors into the foreseeable future.
The Lamborghini Countach remained in production for over a decade, the first customer cars of the LP400 version were delivered back in 1974, now 50 years ago at the time of writing, but when the S version came out in 1978 things changed considerably, the car matured into what many now think of when they hear the name Lamborghini Countach: wide fenders, deep wheels, a deep chin spoiler and preferable a large rear wing, the latter actually slowed down the car and did nothing for downforce, but it looked cool, so many customers opted to have it installed. The original four-liter engine was enlarged to 5-liter in 1982, and thanks to Ferrari unveiling the Testarossa, Lamborghini upped the game again with the 455 hp Quattrovalvole version in 1985.
Automobili Lamborghini SpA intended to introduce the Countach successor on their 25th anniversary in 1988, but what would later become the Lamborghini Diablo just wasn’t ready yet, so they asked Horacio Pagani (yes, THE Horatio Pagani) to quickly redesign the Countach Quattrovalvole into a celebration model, which we today know as the Lamborghini Countach 25th Anniversary edition, intended to be a strictly limited edition model to celebrate the factory’s anniversary until the Diablo would be ready for production, but that turned out differently, and with a total production of 667 units, this model is the most built Countach ever (610 units for the Quattrovalvole in case you were wondering).
With those production numbers in mind, it makes more sense for Kato-san to take a Countach 25th Anniversary to cut up into one of his wide, low LB-Works creations, values on an original LP400 can go well into the seven figures range, but the average value of a Countach 25th Anniversary is still a rather reasonable $300,000 at this time, keeping in mind that low mileage, pedigree units can go for as high as $750,000, usually you’ll be able to secure a good running one for anything between $250,000 and $400,000, still a lot of money, but if you take into account Liberty Walk also creates their Silhouette GT based on the Aventador, you’re in the same ballpark in terms of cost anyway.
One of the consequences of using a 25th Anniversary instead of an S or QV version of the Countach is the fact the 25th Anniversary comes with wheel arch extensions that are glued onto the body, unlike the bolted-on one from the S and QV, so on this car, Kato-san and his team had to cut the original arches from the car, but that probably had to happen anyway as from these photos it might look like there is an air ride suspension fitted to get the ride height as low as possible and tuck in the massive wheel into the wider fenders, so even if they took a QV, they had to make larger wheel arches into the original bodywork, also keep in mind the original car still rolled on 15-inch wheels, now I might be wrong here, but I don’t think this white LB-Works Countach still has 15-inch tall wheels fitted, from the photos it looks like 17-inch units are present now.
Now I could be wrong about the air ride suspension upon closer inspection, if you compare this white LB-Works Countach to the original 25th Anniversary edition it looks like that massive Diablo GT-inspired front bumper goes down a lot further than the original unit, the same seems to be the case with the side sills, if you look at the amount of sill underneath the door opening, it does seem a lot more, and Kato-san did put four new fender flares on this car too, so it wouldn’t be much of a problem for him to have them so wide as they would overhang the tires, making it look like a low air ride suspension setup, while it actually doesn’t ride much lower than the original car, only the additional bodywork fitted by Liberty Walk makes it look that way.
At the front, we get a very deep air dam with three gaping air intakes, a flat chin spoiler that runs onto the sides with vertical uprights for stability while additional canards are fitted to the side of the front bumper, to make sure the design flows onto the extremely deep, custom-built side sills, the now bolted-on wheel arch extensions run down to the lower part of those side sills, a flat undertray underneath these sills goes into a vertical fin just in front of the rear wheels, where we see an even wider wheel arch in the typical Countach cut-out that goes down underneath the rear fender of the Countach, they even added an additional segment on the bottom to keep the design flowing.
And then we come to what is arguably the most aggressive and extensive modification of the LB-Works Countach, the rear, which I’m sure took Liberty Walk a lot of bodywork to get this smooth. Keep in mind the Countach 25th Anniversary comes with a rear bumper, and that one has been completely removed on this car, and not only that but take a closer look at the taillights, they now sit flush on top of a black panel, that’s not how the original car came, there is a complete surround screwed onto this rear panel from the factory, so there has been a lot of filling going one to get this clean look on the LB-Works Countach.
Liberty Walk fitted a massive lower diffuser on this LB-Works Countach that looks like they just took it from a race car and installed it here, very impressive, but not as intimidating as that gargantuan rear wing in typical LB Performance style, wide and high with large struts that seem to have been fitted straight onto the original chassis of the Countach, and we’re not even done with modifications yet. If you take a closer look you’ll notice an air intake mounted on top of the engine cover, peeking above the roofline of the Countach, and judging from this style of engine cover we are looking at a carburetor version of the Countach here, not the fuel-injected edition.
So is this air intake functional, is it a forced induction version, or is it for show only? No official information has been published yet about any performance upgrades or engine tuning, so I couldn’t tell for sure, but there may be a power increase over the original 455 hp, even more so as it seems there is a new exhaust system fitted to this LB-Works Countach, still dual tips on either side, but there are not on the original Countach position, they are further out to the sides, so this might mean there is a more free-flowing version, less restricted, which will emit a thundering sound but could also increase power output slightly, we’ll have to wait for an official confirmation about this however.
One final touch on the outside had been the replacement of the original Vitaloni mirrors on the doors with the smaller Vitaloni Sebring style units that we’ve seen on the early Countach S models in the late Seventies, a very nice touch, and one that increases the race-style feeling the LB-Works Countach now oozes from every angle, on the outside, but also on the interior as it seems the original, usually electric power seats of the 25th Anniversary edition have been replaced by lightweight racing seats, complete with four or five-point seat harness.
As far as I can see from these official photos there hasn’t been much weight reduction done on the rest of the interior, the door panels are still original to the factory specs, complete with electric-powered side windows, also the dashboard seems to have been kept in place, but you have to agree that most of these LB-Works creations are not about performance or weight reduction, it is all about looks, being wider and lower than original, keeping the same handling might not even be a priority either, that’s not what the intention is as far as I can tell.
Let’s not forget that the tuning scene in Japan isn’t really the same as in the rest of the world, taste is different, and with the amount of money Japanese supercar owners seemingly can spend, it wouldn’t come as a surprise that we might be seeing subsequent LB-Works Countach in the near future, and as much as it hurts me to state, the Countach 25th Anniversary will remain the least valuable Countach indefinitely, so turning it into an LB-Works creation could make sense for some of the more eccentric owners out there. If you have the money, who are we to deny you doing this to your own car?
For now, the official Liberty Walk website only lists the LB-Works Countach complete body kit in FRP, Fiber Reïnforced Plastic, so it isn’t available in clear carbon fiber … yet I guess, and it does include the LB Roof Air intake, but no pressure tray or anything else is mentioned, so it might just be for looks in the end, and the price is ‘on demand’, so no idea how expensive these parts might be right now, but I also note they don’t list anything about the custom exhaust you’ll need, nor the bespoke wheels for this kit as I’m sure you’ll need a special ET on these to fit as flush as on these photos.
I wonder what the reactions to this latest LB-Works creation are going to be, I expect another ‘love it or hate it’ scenario unfolding over the next couple of days, but I did find a post from Liberty Walk on Instagram that sums up their opinion very clearly: “We are doing whatever we want”, so I’ll leave it at that for now …
[ad_2]