Countach formerly owned by Rod Stewart goes on auction in Italy

A 1977 Lamborghini Countach once owned by singer Rod Stewart is being auctioned by RM Sotheby’s on May 20 at Villa Erba in Italy.

The Italian supercar is expected to fetch a high sum of about €1m (R20m), due to the provenance of having being owned for 25 years by the singer of hits such as Do ya think I'm sexy and Baby Jane.

The British star bought the right-hand drive Countach while on tour in Australia, and took the car with him when relocating to Los Angeles. While in the US, the musician converted the car with a full wide-body kit and installed an open-top targa roof. The LP400 was brought to the UK in 1987, where it stayed in Stewart’s ownership until he sold it in 2002.

The second owner converted it to left-hand drive and in 2013 the car was returned to its original factory specification, with a hard roof replacing the targa top.

Built around a complex spaceframe — and clothed with a mixture of aluminium, composite and steel panels — this first LP400 iteration of the Countach also had a unique feature: a periscope-style rear-view mirror located in the roof’s central dip to aid rear vision. It was one of only 157 examples of the first-series LP400 ‘Periscopio’ models produced.

The Countach LP400 was closest to designer Marcello Gandini’s radical and forward-thinking LP500 concept, first unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1971. The model’s 3.9l V12 engine produced 280kW, making it one of the fastest production cars of the decade with a top speed just short of 290km/h.