Talk:Lamborghini Countach

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This article states that the prevalence of car names relating to bulls is due to Lamborghini's enthusiasm for bullfighting. The main article on Lamborghini directly contradicts this, stating, "Ferruccio himself never was a bullfighting supporter but loved Bulls and was a Taurus...".

They can't both be right. Which is correct?

The main article is wrong. Consider: first, the "espada" is named after the spanish bullfighting sword. (So is the Lamborghini show car "Faena") Second, "Miura" is a breed of bull specifically bred to fight (specifically, a sub-type of the Navarro strain created by Don AAntonio Miura). "Jalpa" is also a breed of fighting bull. "Islero" is the name of a bull who gored and killed the matador Manuel Rodrigues in 1947.

Lamborghini naming after Feruccio's death continues the tradition: "Diablo" is thre bull owned by thr Duke of Veragua who fought a well-known battle with the matador Chicarro in Madrid in 1869. "Gallardo" is a breed of fighting bulls. Murciélago is a bull that survived two dozen stab wounds in an 1879 bull fight. Beyond the bulls themselves, why is the "Jarama" named after the Spanish region/roadrace circuit? Becasuse Mr. Lamborghini loved bullfighting! I will be researching my books for Lamborghini info, because all the Lambo-related articles are pretty poor! Reimelt 22:12, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Translation

The lead mentions "Countach" being a profane expletive, then calling it akin to "Holy bleeping cow!" However, "Holy bleeping cow" is generally not considered profane. Being as Wikipedia is not bowdlerized, is there a better translation? Deltabeignet 02:47, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

There seem to be alternative versions of the name origin floating round, for instance this one. The profanity story is unsourced. --Robert Merkel 03:39, 9 February 2006 (UTC)
here's another version. Maybe we should ask on the Italian Wikipedia about this. --Robert Merkel 03:41, 9 February 2006 (UTC)
I've asked a question at the Italian Wikimedia Embassy to see if they can shed any light on this topic. --Robert Merkel 03:53, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

On Top Gear, they said that Countach was roughly equivelant to 'phwoar'. Not exactly profane, but they are on the BBC. Meeper 05:32, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

I dunno about what the word means, but I can point out that Lamborghini is based in Romagna, not in Piemonte, so they wouldn't have picked an expression in the 'local' Piemonteis, because Piemonteis is not the local language. If anything it would be the local Bolognese variant of Emiliano-Romagnol, however I don't know if it is, since I don't speak either Piemonteis, or Bolognese. Seek100 23:06, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

Piedmontese is local to Turin, where Bertone is established, not to Bologna, where Lamborghini is established. According to the article, "Countach" was the expression Nuccio Bertone used when he first saw the car. Respectfully, SamBlob 16:38, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
I'd have thought part of it's derivation was pretty obvious. Think about the French and English swearwords. Yeah, that one. Greglocock 05:56, 14 January 2007 (UTC)
Likely, but not necessarily so. See false friend for the possibilites. Respectfully, SamBlob 22:29, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] No mention of horsepower or price of the sports car?

The article mentions the displacement and configuration of the engines, but makes no mention of the power they produced.

Talking about the price of the car, as this comes from one issue of the 1985 issue of Car (the one with the Countach QV5000 on the cover) which I still have, the price of the Countach in 1985 was somewhere around £85,000. I will need to look up at that magazine again when I got the time. Willirennen 19:29, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] How inexperienced could Gandini have been?

"Gandini was then a young, inexperienced designer—not very experienced in the practical, ergonomic aspects of automobile design, but at the same time unhindered by them."

Considering that he was the Bertone stylist who did the Miura in 1965-66, how inexperienced could he have been when he started styling the Countach?

Respectfully, SamBlob 15:45, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Pop culture trivia

Okay, are we going to list every single appearance the Countach made in a television program, video game, or film? I hope not, as that could number in the hundreds. Some of these "appearances in pop culture" are beginning to look like fan trivia. Can we clean this section up or move the most notable appearances into the main article? --Vossanova o< 19:35, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

To Lee Vonce: thanks for cutting it down, but I think you went a bit too far. I summarized it from the original, and turned it into a paragraph, which will hopefully discourage people from adding indiscriminate items like a list. --Vossanova o< 01:39, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

CSZero suggested to remove the Trivia section entirely, and I'm inclined to agree. If we can hold an informal vote here, I'd say delete. --Vossanova o< 15:20, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

I also agree on delete as it has become a subject of abuse, the biggest problem is, the fanbois, you know that lot whose only access to European supercars is having a poster of a naked woman draped on one in their bedroom walls, as they spend their day and night playing NFS, PGR, they don't want to see a bit about their dream car mentioned on their beloved game be deleted. More recently the problem I had with numerous pages, particularly the Toyota Supra bit which I had tried to kill off. The problem with popular cars like these are, like Kenny from South Park, once killed off, these articles will always creep back after each episodes. Willirennen 23:53, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

I agree that we should not list each and every appearance of the Countach in popular culture. We should keep some mention of it being the iconic sports car of the 1980's (perhaps in the opening paragraph).SolarWind (talk)

[edit] External Links

Re-added link. Website is not commercial as the manufacterer does not exist anymore. This page is the only page containing most history facts about the UK lamborghini replica scene to be foud on the web. Countachfan 21:03, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

But this is the only external link for the article. We should find a general (preferably official) Countach site before adding one specific to UK Countach replicas. Anyway, I'll wait to hear some other opinions. --Vossanova o< 21:17, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] 5000QV or LP500 QuattroValvole or LP500S QV?

This article talks about the 5000QV while http://www.lambocars.com calls the same car as the LP500 QuattroValvole. At the end of this article the car is also called LP500S QV. Which name is correct?

ICE77 -- 81.104.129.226 19:33, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Preceding speed record car?

I know that the Ruf CTR held the speed record for production car for a time. It is also the right time frame, being produced in 1986. I noticed there was no preceding speed record car shown, and I was wondering if the CTR was it. If so, it should be added. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.69.60.29 (talk) 06:23, 10 April 2008 (UTC)