When judged in the context of its time, the Lamborghini Countach is the most exciting production car ever made. But even that term ‘production car’ demands elaboration. The Countach was the unquestioned star of the 1971 Geneva Salon, and while it was always intended for the market, almost three years slipped by before the first customer could take delivery. When it was discontinued in 1990, 2042 had been made.

There were rumours that it was only ever intended as a concept and they seem to have arisen from the fact that the Countach shown at Geneva was not road-ready. In his test of the Countach LP400S in the November 1981 edition of Wheels, editor Peter Robinson writes:

When the first photographs and words about the Countach arrived in our office in 1971 we were, despite the evidence of the Miura to the contrary, convinced the Countach was just another show car, destined to make a few public appearances before being consigned to a museum as an impractical fantasy.