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Hagerty/National Historic Vehicle Register

The mission of the National Historic Vehicle Register is to “preserve America’s auto heritage for future generations.” The list’s latest addition is the 1979 Lamborghini Countach LP400S used in the comedy film The Cannonball Run.The angular speedster made an impression in the opening few minutes of the movie, with its additional front spoiler and twin spotlights, and kept on inspiring car people throughout the ’80s.The Countach has been restored to look the way it did in the film, including swapping out the burgundy red interior that a recent owner put in for the original Senape Tan. It will be on display in Washington, D.C., next month.As most of the automotive world looks forward with anticipation to the just-revealed Lamborghini Countach update, some contrarians are looking back. This week, a famous Countach—the 1979 Lamborghini Countach LP400 S used in the 1981 film The Cannonball Run—was added to the National Historic Vehicle Register, an exclusive list that only boasts a grand total of 30 vehicles.

“The Countach is a car that has excited and intrigued car enthusiasts since its radical style shocked the world on its debut in the early ’70s,” Jonathan Klinger, executive director of the Hagerty Drivers Foundation, said in a statement. “We are thrilled to document and share the history behind what is probably the most famous example of the storied model.”The mid-engine Countach was introduced to the world in 1971 and the one used in the comedy film based on the real-world speed coast-to-coast record attempts—officially called the Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash—featured an extra front spoiler and twin spotlights. We now understand why cross-country speed drives are dumb, but that doesn’t stop us from appreciating an important car when we see one.

Despite moving between different owners’ garages over the years and getting a burgundy interior at some point, the car has been restored to look like it did in the film, including a Senape tan interior. The powertrain is a 353-hp 4.0-liter 12-cylinder engine with a five-speed manual transmission. A grand total of 16,067 miles are on the odometer.
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The Cannonball Run film was directed by Hal Needham and starred the Countach, a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, a Aston Martin DB5, and many more wonderful vehicles, along with stars Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore, and Farrah Fawcett. The National Historic Vehicle Register is managed by the Hagerty Drivers Foundation and the U.S. Department of the Interior. The NHVR was established in 2013 and most recently added the 1981 DeLorean “hero car” from the movie Back to the Future to its list. If you want to see the Countach and other vehicles that were added to the list in 2020 and 2021, head on down to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in September during the Register’s annual Cars at the Capitol event. One car from the Register will be on display each week.
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Bugatti has announced it will produce the Bolide, first introduced as an 1825-hp concept in December 2020.These images show that it will look just about as outrageous as the concept, at least on the outside (interior details and images have not yet been released).Horsepower is down a bit for the production model but the W-16 still makes a respectable 1578 hp, the same as Bugatti’s Centodieci and Chiron Super Sport.You can color us unsurprised that Bugatti has just confirmed it will be producing a production version of last year’s Bolide concept. It was hard to imagine that the hypercar maker’s customer base of speed-seeking billionaires would not demand the right to buy their own example of the outrageous 1825-hp track-only one-off, albeit in what is set to be modestly downtuned form.

Bugatti has announced at The Quail Motorsport Gathering that it will be producing no more than 40 of the production Bolide, set to cost the equivalent of about $4.8 million. By our reckoning, that makes the Bolide the most expensive track special so far, considerably more than it would cost for a couple of seasons as a gentleman driver in a top-flight GT3 championship. But that’s not the point, of course; this is a car designed for those with the financial means to scratch any automotive itch.
According to the official images, the production Bolide is set to keep most of the outrageous aero-sculpted design of the concept, notably a skeletal front end that has been built around a carbon-fiber version of Bugatti’s trademark horseshoe-shaped radiator grille. It isn’t just a stripped-back Chiron; it’s built around a carbon-fiber monocoque that is clearly lower and smaller than that of its roadgoing sister. Bugatti hasn’t released any detail views of the Bolide’s interior yet.The rear view is dominated by both a substantial dual-element wing and a quartet of exhaust pipes, these between what look to be Lotus Evija–style Venturi tunnels and above a huge diffuser. There is also an intake periscope mounted to the cockpit roof together with an extended in-line wing element that runs over the engine cover. Bugatti hasn’t released any claimed aerodynamic downforce figures, but the car seems certain to produce substantial negative lift.Power comes from Bugatti’s long-serving quad-turbocharged W-16 engine, a developed version of the powerplant that has been used in all the company’s modern era products since the Veyron launched in 2005. In the original “experimental vehicle” concept, this ran on 110-octane race fuel and was claimed to be capable of producing up to 1825 horsepower. For the production Bolide, the company has opted to keep the engine tune compatible with commercially available premium gasoline, restricting output to a more modest 1578 horsepower, the same as in the Chiron Super Sport and Centodieci. This is accompanied by 1180 pound-feet of torque, available from just 2250 rpm.

While Bugatti hasn’t confirmed what transmission the production Bolide will use, the concept was built around the all-wheel-drive system of the company’s roadgoing cars, featuring a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. Bugatti says the finished car will have a curb weight of 3200 pounds, svelte by the company’s modern standards, giving a power-to-weight ratio superior to that of any earlier Bugatti except the concept version. The Bolide’s structure is being designed to deliver protection equivalent to FIA safety standards and will include an automatic fire extinguisher system, a bladder fuel tank, and six-point safety harnesses.As with similar programs, including the Lamborghini SCV12 Essenza and Ferrari FXX, Bugatti says it is planning to offer buyers exclusive track days to experience the Bolide in conjunction with fellow owners, and without any of those vulgar GT Porsches. We still think that a race series would be more fun, though.One thing conspicuously missing from the latest release is any mention of the previous claim that the concept was designed to be capable of a 5:23 lap around the Nürburgring Nordschleife—more than a minute inside the current “production car” lap record. We’d love to see some Bolide owners attempt that, too.

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Lamborghini’s legendary Countach name has been revived after 31 years for the Countach LPI 800-4, which pays homage to the original early-1970s design.Most of the new car’s mechanicals are shared with the Sián, although its 6.5-liter V-12 and electric motor offer a total of 802 horsepower, slightly less than that other Lamborghini.Only 112 Countach cars will be built, at a price yet to be named.Earlier this week, Lamborghini confirmed it was planning to bring back the famous Countach name. Now, after only the smallest of gaps between tease and please, we are seeing the reality. The Countach LPI 800-4 has just been revealed at The Quail Motorsport Gathering in California—a new version of a car the company last built 31 years ago.

The new Countach isn’t a restomod or a “continuation” version of the original, and underneath sits a substantial amount of the existing Aventador. Yet, as these first images make clear, it pays very obvious homage to the design of the original Countach, which made its debut in prototype form at the 1971 Geneva auto show. The ambition, as Lamborghini puts it, is “to imagine how the iconic Countach of the ’70s and ’80s might have evolved into an elite super sports model of this decade.”The original Countach was a pioneer. The use of a north-south V-12 engine behind its passenger compartment created the archetype for the modern supercar; the earlier Miura’s mid-mounted engine was fitted transversely. But while shocking when launched, with its name a mild expletive in the Piedmontese dialect, the first Countach lived until 1990, and the purity of Marcello Gandini’s design became diluted with the arrival of bigger wings, spoilers, and plastic bodywork extensions over time.

Lamborghini

For the new car, Lamborghini design director Mitja Bokert has chosen to channel the spirit of the earlier versions of the original Countach, but has also integrated some references to later models. The LPI800-4’s basic form incorporates the wedge-shaped frontal profile of the first LP400 production Countach, as well as the similarly clean taper from the passenger compartment to the rear end. It also lacks any fixed wing or visible aerodynamics (an active element sits hidden above the rear lights).There are some obvious and necessary differences, too. The new Countach’s need for cooling air has seen it given sizable intakes integrated into the doors; the original had small NACA-style ducts. Yet the upper air intakes at the rear are actually smaller than the LP400’s high-mounted scoops. All body panels are made from carbon fiber.Other elements of the 21st-century Countach have taken inspiration from the later Quattrovalvole version of the original, including the angular frontal design and trapezoidal hood and hexagonal wheel arches. Modern impact standards deprive the new car of pop-up headlights, sadly—but compact LED lighting units are similar in size to the first Countach’s glass-covered daytime lights and turn signals. Scissor-opening doors are, of course, present; every Lamborghini supercar since the first Countach has featured them.

Lamborghini

The new Countach’s interior is less retro, being obviously based closely on that of the Aventador. Both cars use the same carbon-fiber tub. Digital instruments and an 8.0-inch portrait central touchscreen are standard, although the latter incorporates a new function: selecting the Stile (or design) function will run an animation that explains the history of the Countach’s styling. The rear of the new Countach shares the original’s inverted wedge shape and four exhaust tailpipes, together with hexagonal triple-element light clusters at each side, plus a louvered engine cover. The alloy wheels, 20-inch at the front and 21-inch at the rear, have been designed to offer a modern take on the “telephone dial” alloys popular in the ’80s. The view through these to vast carbon-ceramic brake discs front and rear is necessarily different from the original car’s much smaller rotors. The new Countach concept at Pebble has been finished in pearlescent Bianco Siderale white. The color is similar to the one Ferruccio Lamborghini specified for his own Countach LP400 S, paired with a similarly period-appropriate red and black interior. New Countach buyers will be able to choose from a range of similarly retro exterior hues, including ’70s-style solid green and yellow shades. (A full range of modern colors will also be offered for less daring buyers.)Most of the new Countach’s mechanical package is shared with the even-more limited Sián, which we experienced earlier this year. This combines a 769-hp version of Lamborghini’s long-serving 6.5-liter naturally aspirated V-12 with additional assistance from a 33-hp electrical motor, this drawing power from a supercapacitor which supports high energy flow rates but which is only able to store charge for brief periods. The motor and capacitor add just 75 pounds to the powertrain’s mass, but the system doesn’t have enough juice for pure electric operation. Lamborghini claims a total system output of 802 horsepower, fractionally less than the 808-hp figure claimed for the Sián. But on Lamborghini’s numbers the Countach’s 3516-pound dry weight is 110 pounds less than the Sián, and the new car’s combination of a claimed 2.8-second zero-to-62-mph time, 8.6-second zero-to-124-mph time and 221-mph top speed are well outside the frame of reference for any original Countach.As with the Aventador, the Countach uses both an automated single-clutch gearbox and all-wheel drive, with torque sent to the front axle through an electronically controlled central coupling. It also gets pushrod suspension all around and rear-wheel steering. A front lift system will also be standard. Although the relationship between both is clear, this Countach is also a much larger car than the original. The new car is 29 inches longer, 14.9 inches wider, and 2.8 inches higher—and it sits on a 106.3-inch wheelbase, identical to that of the Aventador, which is 10 inches bigger.Just 112 of the new Countach will be built, a number chosen to correspond to the LP112 project name of the original car. Lamborghini hasn’t released any pricing, but as it says the entire allocation has been sold before the car’s official launch, it has clearly judged demand for this new version of its most iconic model perfectly.

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The Mini Strip, based on a Cooper SE, is the result of a partnership with fashion designer Paul Smith. It was unveiled yesterday in London.Smith left the steel bodywork exposed and redesigned the front and rear bumpers with more plain graphics constructed from 3D-printed recycled plastics.Leather and chrome are absent inside, with the dashboard made from recycled cork, the door panels replaced with mesh, and the floor mats fashioned from recycled rubber.If you feel overwhelmed by the dazzling display of exotica revealed at Monterey Car Week—from the open-top Aston Martin Valkyrie Spider to the 600-hp Acura NSX Type S—then check out the latest Mini concept, unveiled yesterday in London. The Mini Strip is a collaboration with fashion designer Paul Smith, who took an electric Mini Cooper SE and pared things back, guided, according to Mini, by a mantra of “simplicity, transparency, sustainability.”

Mini

Smith removed anything from the Mini he deemed unnecessary while using sustainable materials for the parts he replaced. The bodywork was left unpainted (save for a transparent coat to protect against corrosion) and marks on the steel panels from the manufacturing process weren’t fixed, with Smith aiming to show “the perfect imperfection.” Much of the simplified front and rear bumpers were 3D-printed from recycled plastics, and Smith left the screws exposed on the wheel arches to emphasize the back-to-basics look. The aerodynamic wheel covers as well as the grille trim and panoramic roof were all made from recycled Perspex, a transparent plastic.

Mini

While the exterior is very monotone, there’s a splash of color inside, where the theme of simplification continues. The doors feature Smith’s iconic stripe motif, and most of the interior trim was removed to expose the blue-painted bodyshell. A semi-transparent, smoked-glass piece makes up the dashboard, and the central console was removed, with a space for your smartphone to take over the infotainment duties. The only remaining physical controls are the window switches and start/stop button.

Mini

Sustainable materials abound in the cabin, replacing the traditional chrome and leather elements. The top of the dashboard and doors are made from recycled cork, the seats are wrapped in a knitted fabric, and the floor mats are recycled rubber. The steering wheel ditches buttons and switches for plain aluminum spokes and, since Smith is an avid cyclist, a rim wrapped in handlebar tape. A mesh covering in the center of the wheel allows the driver to see the airbag, and the door panels were replaced with the same mesh material. While the aluminum door handles remain, there are also pull handles fashioned from wound climbing rope.

With the Strip more of a styling exercise than anything, Mini didn’t quote any performance figures, but we would have to imagine that the weight shed by Smith’s simplification will have made the Cooper even more sprightly. This is not the first time Smith has gotten his hands on a Mini, painting an old Cooper with 86 stripes in 24 colors in 1997 for the Tokyo auto show.
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Most of the time, we don’t get too sad when a car ends production. But occasionally, there’s a vehicle that is disappears before it has had its due, and those are the rare birds we aimed to find on this week’s episode of Window Shop.Our panel found a wide variety of cars spanning many decades. Road & Track senior editor John Pearley Huffman kicked things off old-school with a nostalgic look at GM’s rear-engine alternate universe that never was, as exemplified by the Chevy Corvair that he claims was “murdered” by Ralph Nader.The next two entries fast-forwarded to modern times, with a look at one of Ford’s canceled hot hatches, the Fiesta ST, and VW’s luxury SUV, the Touareg. Both departed the U.S > market within the last few years. There’s a bit of lively discussion over whether these cars truly count as being “killed” since they’re both still on sale in Europe.Contributing editor Jonathon Ramsey examined an entire brand that was killed off, finding one of the last Saab 9-5 sedans sold in the U.S. before the Swedish automaker went kaput. And deputy editor Tony Quiroga took an entirely different tactic, looking way back into Chrysler’s history to find an Airflow from the 1930s, which was pioneering vehicle in terms of aerodynamics.After you watch the episode, let us know in the comments which cars you think were unjustly killed.

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