'Cannonball Run' Countach Wins Place On Historic Vehicle Registry

This Lamborghini looks impeccable.

Properly collecting, document, archiving, and preserving history for future generations is no easy task, especially when you try to preserve something like a car. That’s where the National Historic Vehicle Register comes into play, which documents the country’s most historically significant cars, trucks, and motorcycles. Today, the organization announced the 30th car it’ll induct – the 1979 Lamborghini Countach LP400S used in The Cannonball Run.

The Countach is an icon in its own right, a stunning performance machine to debut in the mid-1970s that guided the supercar era that followed. However, the one being inducted is even more special. It stared in The Cannonball Run’s opening scene, which was a movie based on the famous coast-to-coast races organized by auto journalist Brock Yates. The movie, a slapstick comedy with a start-studded cast of actors and cars, certainly added to the car’s appeal through the 1980s.

Gallery: 1979 Lamborghini Countach LP400S




The mid-engine LP400S, chassis number 1121112, is completed in perfect Nero black paired with a crisp Senape interior. Powering the Lamborghini is a 4.0-liter V12 that produced a partly 353 horsepower (263 kilowatts); however, that was quite a bit during the 1970s when rising fuel pricing had automakers putting an emphasis on fuel efficiency. The car was modified for the moving, receiving a front wing and a pair of spotlights, which fit the movie’s fantastical style.

The NHVR was created in 2013 in collaboration with the US Dept. of the Interior for documentation in the Library of Congress. The organization works with the Historic American Engineering Record to properly document and preserve the vehicle. You’ll be able to see the Countach and other NHVR cars this September at the Cars at the Capitol even on the National Mall. The 1979 Lamborghini Countach LP400S, a nameplate Lamborghini is resurrecting, joins cars like the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro, DeLoren DMC-12, and countless others.

Sources:

Historic Vehicle Association / Facebook, Konstantinos Papagiannopoulos / YouTube

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