When the struggling Lamborghini business went bankrupt in 1980, the French Mimran brothers – Jean-Claude and Patrick – purchased the ailing car company and renamed it Nuova Automobili Ferruccio Lamborghini SpA.
Patrick, a dyed-in-the-wool enthusiast back in those days, installed himself at the head of the company and over five years brought it back to life.
There were perks, of course, such as treating himself to a brand-new Countach right off the assembly line every few years.
The most renowned of these cars was a unique quattrovalvole, chassis GLA12997.
Driving a unique Lamborghini Countach 5000 quattrovalvole that was built for CEO Patrick Mimran
Patrick had the car commissioned in a one-off colour scheme, a sublime metallic hue dubbed ‘Bordeaux Speciale’, specially created by PPG Italver, Lamborghini’s Milan-based paint supplier.
Cream leather upholstery – named ‘Panna’ – plus ‘Oro’ Ozzetta wheels complemented the striking livery.
The boss’ new car couldn’t run a stock Tipo L507 V4/73 carburatori engine, so unit 1202 was breathed upon, being fitted with special camshafts and an additional oil cooler.
The net result was basically one of the blueprinted engines, rated at 470bhp, that the factory afforded its more sporting clients – with the extra 15bhp confirmed by then Lamborghini chief technical director ingegnere Luigi Marmiroli.
Gearbox 1013 and differential 909 completed the mechanical package.
Inside, a state-of-the-art Alpine hi-fi was installed discreetly to satisfy Patrick’s love of music.
Will the Lamborghini Countach’s scissor doors ever not be cool?
Completed at Sant’Agata on 13 May 1986, for delivery to Switzerland after being signed off by legendary tester Valentino Balboni, the Countach 5000 quattrovalvole was driven out of the factory gates by Patrick on EE (escursionisti esteri) plates for foreign visitors and subsequently registered VD.256925 in his Swiss hometown of Vaude.
He even kept GLA12997 after he sold his car company to American auto giant Chrysler.
The Lamborghini Countach was featured in the December 1986 edition of Road & Track, showing it coming down the factory assembly line prior to final finishing.
Patrick used the car on many trips, including memorable journeys from Geneva to Sant’Agata, and from Geneva to St Tropez.
It has been subjected to a full restoration at the hands of US Lamborghini specialist Joe Sackey, who says: “In 2015 I had the opportunity to acquire the car from its second long-term owner in Switzerland.
“Having owned a dozen examples over the past 25 years, I can say with no hesitation that this is the most powerful Countach I’ve tried. Just one drive before the rebuild was all it took to make me a believer.”
The Lamborghini Countach 5000 quattrovalvole’s typically opulent – and dazzling – cabin, with reclined driving position
“While the early 4-litre versions feel a little bit underpowered, and stifled by their carburettors, the 5-litre ‘Downdraft’ displays prodigious power from standstill all the way to its terminal velocity,” he adds.
“You simply open the throttle as wide as you dare, and you’re rewarded with smooth delivery of impressive power all the way through the rev range, unlike the earlier cars that tend to hesitate between 2000 and 3000rpm.”
Joe was initially reluctant to completely disassemble what he had deemed to be a fundamentally solid Lamborghini Countach, but with the goal of restoring the car to exactly as it left the factory, albeit with improved quality where possible, he took a committed approach.
The rebuild went down to every last copper rivet. The interior, bodywork, all mechanicals and everything in between were restored to authentic original and as-new specification, using correct components.
Despite it being relatively straight, the body was mounted on a rotisserie-type jig for the long process of stripping, priming and sanding.
The Lamborghini Countach 5000 qv’s five-speed gearbox, operated via an open gate
The biggest challenge was achieving a precise match for the beautiful but unique Bordeaux Speciale paint; it took two attempts, but the end result looks perfect.
The second try proved successful thanks to a perfectly preserved panel that yielded an ideal sample for replication.
The restoration revealed just how much glassfibre the Countach Downdraft has attached to its tubular frame, while the front bonnet and engine cover are made of Kevlar, making it the first incarnation of the model to use composite materials there.
The entire interior was reupholstered, entrusted to a specialist with almost 20 Lamborghini Countach projects behind him and so capable of replicating the leather finish, stitching and seams to the original pattern. All mechanical components were refinished or rebuilt.
It was more than a year before the finished car returned to the main workshop, but Joe was delighted with the results.
It was then time to recreate a little bit of history.
Are the Lamborghini Countach 5000 qv’s rear 345/35 VR-15s wide enough for you?
Some 30 years almost to the day after Lamborghini’s factory tester Valentino Balboni wheeled this very car out of the factory gates and gunned it down Via Modena, he was in California to be reunited with his former flame and do the honours once again.
After a day of enjoying the canyon and country roads of the Golden State, he returned with a broad smile: “Perfect.”
Carburetted 5000 qvs have earned the moniker ‘Downdraft’ and in recent years have gained a fervent following, being the most powerful production version of the Lamborghini Countach.
For insiders, these cars are becoming the model to have for other reasons, too.
For a start, it wasn’t the early, dainty models that adorned countless bedroom walls as much as the wilder, often bewinged versions that so reflected the decade that would follow.
Similarly, it was the Downdraft that featured in the 1986 CBS 60 Minutes programme that, in reporting on Lamborghini’s revival, played such a crucial role in the company’s continued success.
It served the dual purpose of firstly reminding everyone that the marque still existed, and then firmly placing it back in the hearts and minds of American enthusiasts.
This Lamborghini Countach 5000 qv’s four-valve carburetted V12 is unique among supercars
The fact that the Downdraft remains the only variant that was FIA homologated by the works speaks volumes and is simply the icing on the cake.
To the elements of the Countach-hunting community not turned weak at the knees by the word periscopica, this could very well be the Holy Grail of later incarnations.
“It’s the only carburetted V12 four-valve engine in a supercar,” confirms Joe, “which makes it a true one-of-a-kind, the ultimate Countach.”
There are encouraging noises over the unit’s durability, too, with owners reporting that more than 100,000km on an engine is quite commonplace and 180,000km possible.
It would make a great story to end here, writing a pay-off that, having achieved his ambition of creating the ultimate supercar and knowing that he could not surpass it, Patrick Mimran retired on a high and wandered away, still young, to a life of contentment.
Sadly, that wouldn’t be true because, having restored the company, he actively sought suitors and snared one, multiplying his investment tenfold in the process.
The Lamborghini Countach’s 1980s shape and adornments are more aggressive than the LP400’s
There is no question, however, that both then and now he was very proud of the car today referred to as the Downdraft – as if it is a part of him. And that may very well be true, in its inspiration if not the execution.
It seems churlish to suggest that any Countach slavishly follows convention, but everything is relative.
When you look at this car, there is a brazenness to it, a wildness and a confidence that normally stem from youth and inexperience, from those who dare to bend the rules because to them that remains a virtue rather than a sin.
The overall appearance is one of outright aggression, with its ultra-low lines and wicked stance.
Although the bodywork appears to be a series of trapezoidal lines edged by sharp creases, a closer look reveals a surprising number of curves.
Valentino Balboni’s 30-year reunion with the one-off ‘Downdraft’ Lamborghini Countach
Whereas the LP400 variant of the Lamborghini Countach is generally considered the purest version, as time moves on and another generation starts to drive the classic car market, there is an increasing group of enthusiasts who find the older cars to be a touch anaemic and effete.
For these youngsters, the more wide-wheeled the better, and the carburetted quattrovalvole hits the mark.
And appearances do not deceive: to pilot the Downdraft is like a bare-knuckle fighter compared to Ferrari’s Gentleman Jim 288GTO, a healthy dose of bad-assed guitar noise next to the Ferrari’s edgy but ultimately benign power pop.
Yet this is so unmistakably Countach, so unmistakably Lamborghini in every sinew and every nuance, from the heavy ‘thunk’ as you drop the scissor door to the firm inputs and bullying demeanour the driver has to adopt to get the best from the car.
As soon as you begin to operate the steering, the pedals and the gearchange, you know that this is a car that demands muscle.
That said, the payback is performance relative to the input, and a strong but smooth equilibrium is easily divined.
This Lamborghini Countach 5000 quattrovalvole’s Downdraft engine offers a more raw experience
The joy of driving this Lamborghini Countach 5000 quattrovalvole properly, as you listen to the bass-bellow V12 from your reclined position, only underscores that so many people who criticised it in period simply didn’t ‘get’ it.
What makes the Downdraft truly special is that it offers the raw power to go with its looks, and a suitably obnoxious cacophophy on the overrun.
Perhaps it just confounds people, or maybe they are yet to warm to the over-the-top charms of the 1980s.
Most of all, however, to get anything out of this car at speed, you need to put a lot in.
You must invest, emotionally as well as physically. And that is when it has got you.
Images: Webb Bland
This was first in our July 2017 magazine; all information was correct at the date of original publication
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