The Cannonball Run is, without a doubt, a dumb movie. It is also a very, very fun movie and that’s largely why it’s wormed its way into the hearts and minds of automotive enthusiasts the world over. While the film featured a ton of amazing cars, one of my favorites is the rally-winning Lamborghini Countach LP 400S with a wing on the nose and 12 exhaust tips – matching that V12 under the decklid. That car is now 45 years old, which doesn’t make me feel weird at all.
Ok, maybe that last part wasn’t entirely true, but the part about it being 45 is and to celebrate the birthday, Lamborghini got the actors who drove the car in the film – Adrienne Barbeau and Tara Buckman – together with the car for a photo shoot. The results are awesome.
The black-over-mustard Countach had a pretty standard history before its big Hollywood debut. It was built, shipped to a dealer in Rome, and then most likely (because Lamborghini record-keeping in the 1970s wasn’t ideal) sold to an American and imported here. That American owner was a friend of Hal Needham, director of The Cannonball Run as well as films like Smokey and the Bandit and Hooper.
Needham ordered the now-iconic modifications to the Countach to better fit the film’s zany and over-the-top aesthetic. These mods included fake gauges inside, the iconic extra wing in the front with driving lights mounted beneath it, and 12 – yes, 12 – exhaust tips. Given the film’s success, it’s not surprising that the car’s owner decided to keep the modifications in place once he got the car back. The car has remained that way since.
Fast forward to 2009, and the car is purchased by Jeff Ippoliti in Florida after a staggering 18 months of negotiations. Ippoliti had grown up idolizing the film and the hero Lamborghini in particular, so he seems like the perfect custodian for the Cannonball Lamborghini.
I say custodian because, at some point, cars like this become more than cars. They’re pieces of history. In fact, this Countach LP 400S is enough of a piece of history to have become the 30th car to be inducted into the Library of Congress.
