Hello all! This is my first post. I'm just an enthusiast and I'm curious to know roughly how much money you guys spend on your Countach every month like maybe for maintenance and other things.

And also how reliable is a Countach? I heard something about how they need constant care.

Many thanks before hand!

Daily infusions of money. About $6000/Week

What? $6000 per week? Thats impossible...

Try owning one, then say "that's impossible"

Ganjamun: Just kiddin!

Look guys I know I dont own a Lambo but please spare me some thought and be serious for a little.

I will describe my experience with Countach maintainance. I have driven the car (hard) for long periods in between major maintainence expenditures, and once a Countach has been fully gone through they are very strong and reliable cars.

Having said that, let's define the budget.

Most garden variety problems are $150 to $1000 issues. The problem is that sometimes it will take a $300 flatbed movement and a bunch of time to get to the shop for the aforementioned attentions.

Unless the car you are buying has been fully gone through and refreshed, it will eventually (sooner than later) need it. Remember these are 20 year old cars, and they have either worn out stuff (even with low miles) or have so few miles that seals have shrunk, hoses have become stiff and brittle, etc.

A major service (major components are valve clearances, degreeing the cams, cam chain tension adjustments, and induction / fuel set up) is around $3500 to $5000 for the basic service, and expect to find $500 to $2000 of stuff requiring attention. Once a major has been done, that stuff is probably good for 15,000 miles on the outside.

The clutch is an $8000 item, rebuilding the tranny (20,000 to 30,000 miles is what you get from a set of synchros) is a $2500 item (once the engine is already out). If you end up doing this, it will probably last the life of the car as you know it.

The original ignition box will go out and $1500 or less gets you a noce MSD box to replace it (which is way better than the factory box).

I bought my car from a guy that did a lot of his own work, and had it set up pretty decent. I drove it for several years (including some pretty hardcore high speed rallies) before putting he car in for a complete go-through.

About $35,000 went all the way through the car including the above mentioned items and about everything it took to refresh and update every system in the car. I expect to drive the car about 5 years before needing to do much more than oil changes..... eventually I'll need to do a head job and oneday rings.

I figure I'll see a $400 to $2000 problem every year (electrical glitch, replace shocks, whatever).

Overall, you'll be okay if you take the assumption that a Countach is a $100,000 car whether you buy it for $50k and put $50 more into it, or buy one that's been just gone through for $100, the number will be at $100k within a few years of buying it if you drive it much or drive it hard (which is the only way to drive a Countach!). Then once the car's up to snuff you won't see much more than oil changes for years at a time.

Good Luck-

Steve L
'85 COuntach QV

It'll cost you more to let it sit than to drive it
But when running right...a very strong car they are.

Steve:
Your statement is so dam right and truthful. My countach went through the whole nine yards engine-out service a year and half ago and now I only spent $ on regular maintanence.

I participated the running of bull the past August along with mostly murci.and G cars. Even the oldest diablos are around '94. We drove through mountains, rivers and seashores in two days. My countach had no problems keeping up and staying right behind those much newer and better lambos.Out of 79 cars, there are one muira, one 400GT,two countachs ( '86 and Anniversary). My anniversary was the only "old" car completed the whole trip and did not overheat at all at 130 for about 30-40 minutes on St. Lucia mountain roads when outside temperature was around 103 degree.If the military police did not chase us ( me, Alex-orange turbo charged 6.0, a black '03 murci by a couple from Chicago. and a candy apple red '99 SV), my countach can go even faster. Even the gentlemen from factory told me during the fairwell dinner that they were impressed by what the anniversary countach can perform.
Conclusion: Once you bring your countach to tip top shape, you know how to drive right and how to take care of it, your regular maintenence is not much different than your other highliner cars.

The MSD-Box can be bought for $1250 from me.
Till now I installed one in a LP500s, a QV and a 25th.

Costs can differ heavily, till now I was on the cheap side, but I have a leaking head gasket, this will cost big $$$.
At this occasion also the valves and chains will be done.
The tranny is good for more than 70t Kilometers, the more you drive the better it works, no I can shift into 2nd without problem even on a cold day.

__________________
RaymondQV
Countach QV Ex-Mimran #GLA12997, Urraco P300 #20530 sold in August 2008, Jalpa #FLA12203 sold in May 2006
www.countach.ch
www.jalpa.ch

When Frank Sinatra got his Miura S in 1970, he said: “If you wanna be someone, buy Ferrari - If you are someone, you own a Lamborghini”.