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comment by kleinbl00
kleinbl00  ·  4044 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What is something you'd like to own, but would never buy?

Much as I love me an original LP400, there are serious issues with any countach:

1) Marcello Gandini had never designed a car when he designed the Countach. Some wags have observed he'd never been in one either. The visibility is abysmal. The creature comforts are completely lacking. That line in the side window? That delineates "that which opens" from "that which doesn't."

2) Ferrucio Lamborghini switched from making tractors to making mid-engined sports cars because he couldn't talk his buddy Enzo Ferrari into doing said-same. Enzo, for his part, said that mid-engined cars were great for racing but entirely too dangerous to let loose onto the streets. True to form, mid-engined Lamborghinis are renowned for doing their absolute best to kill you. They've gotten substantially better (it's rumored that the Aventador is actually drivable) but the Countach is just one generation away from the Miura.

3) In order to save weight in an era before carbon fiber, Countaches are made of a tubular steel frame wrapped in aicraft aluminum so thin that if you lean against it it will crinkle.

4) The engine and transmission have a common sump - so instead of 80w gear oil like anything civilized, the tranny is running 30weight Agip. And the engine, unlike anything civilized, has to share its oil with an italian 5-speed custom-built transmission.

5) Italy was, at the time, a socialist country. Luxury goods from socialist countries are... iffy. My uncle's family owned a couple Ferraris for a while. How do you know your Ferrari is in original condition? Well, if the paint is spidering, the leather is cracking and the clutch is frozen, it's an original...

I do love the silly beasts, I do. I've just learned that they're far better as an unrequited love. I had an outside chance at my dream machine at a dealer in Vegas and discovered that on the inside, they're not much distinguishable from my dad's old Saab.

Cars took a real turn for me two years ago. My dad bought a Mooney. From that point forth, I valued everything in "Mooney Units": "Yeah, a Boxster would be nice, but that's 1.1 Mooney Units. I'd totally dig that new Scion but it's fully half a Mooney Unit. Jesus! The McLaren is sick but it's five full Mooney Units!" etc. Once you start thinking in fractional aircraft, you find yourself quite frugal.