Polistil Lamborghini Countach
To many people, this is THE Lamborghini. Forget the earlier Miura, the one that made Lamborghini a true rival to Ferrari. Forget the Diablo in its many variations: Roadster, VT, SV, Jota. Forget the Silhouette, the Urracco, the Jalpa, the Espada, and the others you may have heard of. When the name Lamborghini comes up, it's usually this wicked-looking winged apparition that comes to mind.
And maybe it should be. After Ferruccio Lamborghini sold the automobile business to save his first industries -- farm equipment and refrigeration systems -- the factory at Sant'Agata struggled by for some years, but was never really robust. They produced a number of cars that were forgotten by all but a few enthusiasts (such as the Jarama and Islero), but there were lean years, and Ferrari always managed to draw the lion's share of the supercar market. Several times production slowed or stopped as the money ran out, but there was always just enough demand to get them going again.
In 1971 they pulled the wraps off the Countach at the Paris Auto Show. It caused an instant sensation, and it looks sensational even today. It teased the crowds again in 1972 and 1973, and in 1974 it replaced the aging Miura SV. But it still wasn't enough to secure Lamborghini's future. The Countach was still in production, and Lamborghini still in trouble, when Lee Iacocca's revitalized Chrysler bought the company.
"Countach" (rhymes with "June squash") isn't really a word in Italian -- instead it's more of an expletive, local to the Piedmont region. Various translations have ranged from "OhmyGod!" to "Holy Shit!" -- the wording varies, but the exclamation point, and the tone of reverence, are constant. The car wears the design credit of Nuccio Bertone's house, but the team responsible for the creation consists of Paolo Stanzani (for the mechanical layout) and Marcello Gandini (for the outrageous shape).
Despite what you might guess, the exterior design is actually less avant-garde than the mechanical layout underneath. The V-12 sends the power forward through a driveshaft to the five-speed transmission, which is behind and underneath the shifter. From the transmission the power goes back through a second driveshaft to the differential, and thence to the rear wheels. This unconventional layout spreads the major masses, giving this mid-engined design the high polar moment of inertia, and thus the good stability, of a conventional front-engine, rear-drive car.
If looks were horsepower, the Countach would break the sound barrier. The reality is rather speckled: I have seen 0-60 mph acceleration times ranging from 5.7 seconds down to 4.8; top speeds quoted from 167 to 178 to 196 to 204 to 218 mph. The progression was usually from the oldest models (slowest) to the newest (fastest), but not always -- the 218 mph was claimed for a 1978 model!
Countaches (not "Countachs") have gone through a variety of looks, too. The first models lacked the rear wing altogether, and on later ones it was optional, never standard. It was said to actually reduce top speed, because the creation of downforce created a good deal of aerodynamic drag as well. Later models grew extra scoops; some gray market models were federalized in the US with huge front and rear bumpers added; a few even had a front bumper disguised as a wing. The 25th anniversary models gained an array of lateral strakes on the side, a clear imitation of Ferrari's popular Testarossa.
This Polistil model represents a Countach LP5000S (5 liter) of 1988, arguably its most famous look, in black, arguably its best color. Car and Driver magazine said of one like this, "This is a bad boy's car."
Driving the Countach has been likened to a workout on a Nautilus machine designed by Torquemada. This is partly due to the very heavy clutch effort, partly the shifter that fights the driver at low speeds, and partly because the cockpit was not designed to accomodate the large American build of the journalist who created the colorful simile. At parking-lot speeds the huge tires and small-diameter steering wheel make the unboosted steering extremely heavy. The ceiling is low, and the narrow seats have been compared to a teacup both in shape and comfort level. Still, the cockpit looks terrific.
I had high expectations for this Polistil model, having seen Polistils selling for prices running into three digits. Polistils are European-made, and no longer available new, which doubtless helps the growth of prices.
So after all this buildup, how does Polistil's Countach stack up?
Putting the Countach next to the other cars reminds me of something that's easy to forget when looking at photos; something that I only remember when I see them in real life: Countaches are SMALL. Sure, they're wide, but they're very low and very short.
Anyway, the first impression is good. The finish on this car is a gleaming black, as I mentioned, and the proportions are nice. They captured the Lambo's hunkered-down stance very well.
First impressions can be deceiving.
I wanted to like this model, I really did. I wanted to rave about how it easily surpassed all the others in my collection to date. How the detail was stunning, the fit terrific, the finish flawless. After all, I had paid more for this one than any other up to that date.
But I didn't want to lie. And if I said the former, I'd be doing the latter.
Sure, it has some good points. But I don't see a thing on this car to make me prefer a Polistil to a Maisto, much less a Bburago or UT.
Now some specifics to back my case:
The paint has many blemishes, including a large area of "orange peel" finish on the right side. Many of the painted surface edges are unusually rough.
The decals are very poor: The Lamborghini badge on the trunklid (nose) is too high, off center, and about twice the size it should be. The "license plate" decals, both front and rear, are skewed. The "disegno Bertone" decals ahead of the rear fenders are too high, and again twice the right size. The only decals on the whole car that look right are the "Lamborghini" and "Countach 5000S" decals on the rear fascia.
The front bumper, airdam, and turn signals are well done. The pop-up headlights are represented by scribed lines, but actually look pretty good that way.
The trunklid, by the way, doesn't open, so there's no spare to see.
Moving along: the windshield wiper actually looks quite good. The doors have the partitions that on the real car separated the (opening) lower glass from the (fixed) upper and corner glass. Leaving that out would have spoiled the model's look entirely.
The side mirrors are plastic, but the shapes are nicely done. Unfortunately, the mirrors on my (used) Countach seem to have lost their "mirror" surfaces somewhere. I'll have to remedy that myself.
As any Lamborghini fan knows, the door latches are found in the large NACA ducts that punctuate the door's trailing edge. Sure enough, there are clever little latches in there securing the doors, just the right size to be operated with a fingernail. When the latch is operated, a spring lifts the door neatly. (The finish on the black plastic inserts in the NACA duct looks awful.)
And that's where the neat part ends. The interior is basically monochromatic (though it's not a bad shade of tawny yellow -- goes well with the black). The shifter is black, the handbrake chromed (!). The steering wheel is too small. And the dash gauges are represented by another really bad decal, badly applied: this shows white instrument markings on a clear background, with the intent seeming to be that of gauges printed directly on the dashboard leather. Instead it just looks like a bad decal.
Looking for a headliner instead shows us the windshield plastic continuing across to form the backlight, or rear window. As an apparent afterthought it sticks a little clear extrusion down to represent the interior rearview mirror. Not very convincing.
Moving past the cockpit we find that the engine lid does open, and wedges open easily. Inside there is a creditable model of the 48-valve 5-liter V-12. It looks a little too simple, though, because it is presented in only two colors:black and chrome. It may be that multicolor engines are mainly found in the newer models; still, that's an advance over the Polistil.
To their credit, they did get the correct hood bulge to accomodate the large airbox on the Quattrovalvole engine.
The famous rear wing is done in plastic rather than metal, but it generally doesn't look bad. There is a relatively large chunk of sprue sticking out on the left strut of my sample, however. And a Lamborghini fan could tell you that the wing itself resides on the second trunklid, the one over the rear trunk. Of course, this doesn't open.
This area on a Countach, especially a later model, is richly festooned with vents and intakes. Besides the NACA ducts at the doors, there are vent grilles behind the rear quarter windows, angular scoops immediately behind them, some more vents further back, and some vents below and behind the doors, with strakes, that identify this as a 25th anniversary model. Finally, the engine lid itself has two sets of scribed lines representing louvered vents. Of the sets named above, only the "further back" ones have convincing grilles.
The rear of the car is dominated by the huge taillight lenses -- which makes their inaccurate color all the more obvious. Besides that we can see that the quad exhaust pipes, while actually looking like tubes, are molded in an unrealistic black plastic -- as is the large, barrellike muffler.
If we flip the car over we get a pleasant surprise: they actually spent some time trying to get the underside right. The rear multilink suspension is nicely represented, as are the differential and the beefy rear axles. The underside of the engine shows the cover housing the unique dual-driveshaft system to the transmission, and we can see an extension from the 5-speed itself forward to underneath the gearshift lever.
The front suspension combines two annoyances from other models: the connecting rod between the two wheels has flexible, S-shaped ends, which both creates the self-centering action that Bburago likes, and allows the sloppy steering found on Maisto's '96 Corvette. Definitely the worst of both worlds.
This leads us to the wheels and tires, and another disappointment. The wheels are solid, with the trademark Lamborghini holes painted black rather than actually open. So don't even think of looking for brake rotors. The lug nuts are simple circles. The tires replicate the Pirelli P7 tread pattern, which is correct for the Countach, but they each have a large "sprue end" right smack in the center of the tread. In addition, they suffer from a conical sort of deformity -- they taper inward; that is, the diameter at the inner surface is smaller that that at the outer surface. This means the car rides on the small outer edge of each tire. Don't bother looking for the Pirelli name on the sidewalls -- there's nothing there. And if you look at the inner surfaces, they're hollow and the inner sidewall is open, showing reinforcing ribs.
From what I've written here, you've probably figured out that I find the Polistil Countach disappointing. You're right. Sure, I'll keep it in my collection (unless someone makes me a good offer) simply to have the brand represented. But I'm also going to buy Bburago's Countach, and if it's not significantly better I'll eat it.
To sum it up:
Strengths: Good shape and undercarriage detail, clever doors.
Weaknesses: Poor overall finish, generally poor quality control, numerous shortcuts.
Overall: Not recommended. Certainly not worth the price many Polistils command.
A footnote to the whole thing: During Chrysler's ownership of Lamborghini the Countach was replaced by the Diablo in 1990, which is even faster, but too refined. The rough edges that made the Countach so outrageous were smoothed out, angles were replaced by curves, and something intangible was lost. They later sold the company to a Malaysian group of investors. When they couldn't make money in the car business, they sold most of their holdings -- including Lamborghini and the American company Vector Aeromotive -- to the newly prosperous Volkswagen Gmbh -- and that's where they are at this writing. Volkswagen's management shows every sign of planning to pour money and effort into making Lamborghini a flagship for the corporation -- but that's what Chrysler said, too.
PS: Since writing this review, I have acquired one of Bburago's Countaches, also black. A separate review, and a comparison, will be forthcoming. For now, let's just say that I didn't have to eat it.
Click on this link to return to the Main Review Page
Click on this link for reviews listed by Manufacturer
Click on this link for reviews listed by Marque
Return to the Main Page