1977 Lamborghini Countach LP400 ‘Periscopio’ 🔥
Marcello Gandini’s wedge-shaped design translated from the 1971 Geneva show car into production reality with remarkable fidelity. The LP400 “Periscopio” featured a distinctive roof channel originally designed to house a periscope-style rear-view mirror, addressing visibility challenges posed by the low-profile silhouette and sharply angled rear window.
Built around a complex tubular steel spaceframe clothed primarily in aluminum with some steel and composite elements, approximately 150 LP400s were produced from 1974 to 1978.
Sharp angles and flat surfaces defined the dramatic bodywork, with minimal aerodynamic addenda preserving Gandini’s original vision before the later wings, flares, and add-ons arrived.
The Bizzarrini-designed 240-cubic-inch (3,929-cc) V-12 produced about 375 horsepower, delivering a top speed just under 180 mph.
Innovative packaging positioned the five-speed gearbox between the seats ahead of the longitudinally-mounted mid-engine, centralizing mass and improving weight distribution compared to the transverse-engined Miura.
This configuration proved remarkably stable and forgiving at very high speeds for its era. Later Countach iterations added wider bodywork, spoilers, and fender flares, progressively diluting the purity of the original LP400 design that many enthusiasts still consider the essence of the Countach.
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