Pagani's Countach by Liberty Walk Is Car Culture Appropriation at Its TAS 2024 Hentai Best

There are two types of cars in this world: those we can use as proper automobiles and those we are afraid of dreaming about using. Not in a specific way, but using, period. Ferruccio Lamborghini was a practical man; he wanted his cars to be driven and enjoyed at the same time. But he also liked his cars to be comfortable. The Countach was the exact opposite, and yet it captured the spirit of Lamborghini’s raging bull better than any other car from Sant’ Agata Bolognese will ever be able to.

No matter how cutting-edge a car is at its launch, at one point or another, it will go out of style, get trampled by the merciless progress of engineering, and end up as a classic nostalgia. But put a new twist on the old trick, and a dog might think it’s new and learn it. It's like slamming widebody kits on regular cars and calling them something else.

Now, I don’t want to plant the flag in the idea claim that a Lamborghini Countach is ‘regular’ in any way, shape, or form (especially shape). Still, even among its peers, there are variations. From the primordial LP 400 show car from 1971 to the production versions debuting in ’74 and finally to the 25th Anniversary edition from 1988, the Countach grew in numbers and ludicrousness.

Or so we thought – before nonsensical styling became the norm, rendering the original Countach a mere spec of ‘old people’s idea of a supercar.’ The JDM treatment could be just what the present ordered as the perfect cure for the past allergy that seems to be transforming into a pandemic of automotive proportions. Liberty Walk has a track record of taking classics and giving them some samurai-infused garments more befitting to the manga universe than an Italian monument of motoring.

Still, one of the 1,983 Lamborghini Countaches produced between 1974 and 1990 is now a rice-blessed one-off that just broke cover at the Tokyo Auto Show 2024. And it sparked immediate controversy, just like the nameplate had done half a century ago. See it in the gallery and tell me exactly what was more appropriate to a flared-fenders supercar than to get even wider fenders, a road-crawling body kit, and some rear diffusers that would make an F-22 Raptor fighter jet proud.

And yes, the car in question is from the last variant of the Countach – and the most numerous, with 657 examples assembled. In fact, over half of the mad Lambo’s production run was achieved in the model’s final five years. The curtain dropped after a young designer (Horacio Pagani) chiseled a particular variant to celebrate Lamborghini Automobili’s 25th birthday in 1988. If the name sounds familiar, that is solely because it should: Horacio Pagani is the same man who puts his signatures on Zondas, Huayras, and Utopias.

In Liberty Walk tradition, their Countach got the full beans with the LB-WORKS Countach complete body kit. The bumper-diffuser-racing canard trio on the front is the literal depiction of ‘I can see sounds’ syndrome. Look a little longer, and you can almost hear the driver grinding his teeth when hitting the brakes in anticipation of horrendous screeching between the low-profile Lambo and the asphalt.

The Liberty Walk signature dish (the open wide fenders bolted onto the body) eats the tires (puns intended). The side skirt and accompanying diffuser would make shadows on the ground anxious about personal space invasion. It's all good so far, but check out the rear diffuser-and-wing assembly. Yep, that aileron is linked to the snow-plow-like inverted wing sitting low between the quad exhaust tips. And the driver can do without the rear-view mirror (not that it would have been of much use in the standard car), with the roof air intake taking most of that slit in the bodywork Lamborghini called ‘rear window.’

So, after the Japanese customization shop took a Walk down Liberty lane and put the scalpel on a Ferrari F40, it was a matter of time before an equally iconic Italian legend would get the low-down kimono garment. By the looks of it, I’d say the Asian sculptors already had the Countach in their sights when they tried their hand at the Prancing Horse.

So far, the price for the Countach body kit is not available, but we can look at the add-ons for the Maranello supercar. The ‘Japanese customization culture works style’ visual and aerodynamic elements cost $127,600 in standard form or $160,600 for the Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) option. The Countach has more Liberty Walk Works bodywork than the F40, so take the above numbers as a reference and build up from there.

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