The outrageously styled Lamborghini Countach was the original “poster car” of the   Seventies and Eighties, adorning the bedrooms of small boys (and a good many grown-ups) the world over. After the svelte Miura, arguably the first supercar, it was an   in-your-face statement that the company has made its trademark – at a time when supercars are ten a penny, nothing else looks quite like a Lamborghini.

It’s also finding favour with car collectors. Now that Ferraris are achieving stratospheric values, the Countach has become the best way to grab a slice of Italian exotica. And there’s no time like the present, as no fewer than three examples of the Countach are being sold at RM Auctions’ Paris sale on February 4.

Heading the trio is an extremely rare, right-hand drive LP400 “Periscopo” from 1977, the original production model, before Marcello Gandini’s svelte bodywork became adorned with addenda such as wings, massive air scoops and bulging wheelarches.

Arguably one of the finest surviving examples of the early Countach, this matching numbers car (chassis and engine 1120260) is finished in striking red, with a black leather interior. According to RM, its original owner collected the Countach from the Lamborghini factory in Sant’Agata on June 2 1977, returning just 14 days and 3,449km later for the car’s first service. Having enjoyed the car on European roads for many months, he shipped the car home to Australia in 1978.

Apart from a respray and engine rebuild, this LP400 is in original condition, having covered only 57,000km (35,500 miles). It is estimated at £901,000 to £1,125,000.

SOURCE: By Paul Hudson, The Telegraph
11:59AM GMT 25 Jan 2015