Lamborghini · Countach to Diablo

The dossiers

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  Countach LP400 — ~150 built; the original narrow-body Gandini wedge with no wing and no arches; the purest visual form, the highest collector premium, and the most demanding to verify as genuine

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  LP400S and LP500S — the wide-body era begins; Pirelli P7 fitment demanded the arch extensions; LP500S with 4.8-litre engine; specification changes that define early-wide-body desirability

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  5000 QV and 25th Anniversary — the Quattrovalvole four-valve head brings the engine to maturity; 455bhp, 180mph; Anniversary bodywork by Horacio Pagani; the two variants that bracket the original Countach era

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  Diablo — the successor at last; 492bhp, 202mph, 5.7-litre V12; the car that finally broke 200mph in production form; base rear-wheel-drive specification is the driver's choice and the collectible one

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  Diablo SE30 and SE30 Jota — ~150 SE30s, ~28 Jotas; built to mark the thirtieth anniversary; the Jota's race-derived specification makes it the most concentrated performance Lamborghini of the decade

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  Diablo GT and VT 6.0 — the culmination: GT with ~80 cars and 575bhp, VT 6.0 with AWD and 550bhp; the two closing variants that ended the Diablo era at its technical peak

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  Murciélago: the bridge — the Audi-owned successor that resolved the Diablo's compromises; how the corporate transition stabilised quality and confirmed the Diablo's generation status

The era

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  Marcello Gandini and Bertone: the design brief for the LP112 that became the Countach, and the visual language that made Sant'Agata synonymous with the mid-engined supercar template

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  The Aida years and Chrysler ownership: how external capital stabilised production through the 1980s and the effect on build quality, specification consistency and long-term corrosion patterns

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  Diablo genesis: the Cizeta defection, the Gandini redesign, and the engineering decisions Lamborghini and Chrysler made in 1990 that shaped every variant that followed

Buying & ownership

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  Countach authentication: the VIN structure, the factory build records, the body panel fit patterns that separate genuine LP400 cars from later-specification replicas and kit-car frauds

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  Diablo inspection priorities: early ABS actuator condition, fuel system corrosion on pre-1994 cars, V12 cam carrier oil feed, and the gearbox selector forks that determine a straight-through shift

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  Ownership cost structures: the service intervals unique to the longitudinal V12 configuration, the specialist network outside Italy, and the parts availability contrast between Countach and Diablo

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  Configuration premiums: LP400 no-wing specification, SE30 Jota conversion documentation, Diablo GT colour and delivery records — what the market prices and what it ignores