Marcello Gandini Talks About His Most Famous Creation: The Lamborghini Countach

Lamborghini is releasing a four-part series of videos to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first Countach concept. To start things off, it spoke to Marcello Gandini, the designer behind the legendary supercar.

The car was first commissioned by Ferruccio Lamborghini in the summer of 1970 when he asked his designers to devise a revolutionary model as the follow up to the Miura. According to Gandini, his design had been inspired by the moon landing in 1969.

“As far as I’m concerned, this has also changed our attitude towards the question of doing something new, something different, without repeating the same old styles all over again,” says Gandini in the video.

Read Also: Lamborghini Rumored To Debut Limited-Run Sian Paying Homage To The Countach

Indeed, the straight, hard lines of the Countach abandoned the rounded shapes that had dominated car design in the ’60s.

“In general, those who wish to leave a small mark need to put their personal spin on whatever it is they do,” he explains. “Whether it is then recognized or not, that can be luck, chance, let’s say the conditions of the moment.”

But it wasn’t all style for style’s sake. Some of the most memorable design features, like the scissor doors, were actually chosen to make the car just a little bit wider and make it easier for occupants to get in and out of the car.

When Lamborghini unveiled the Countach, Gandini wanted it to roll into the hall at the Geneva Motor show because he wanted the car to be shown in motion.

He reasons that as long as a car is still, “it’s a static image, it’s a photograph but as soon as it starts to move, even very slowly, it becomes a holographic image, as if you could see the visible parts and the non-visible parts at the same time because movement makes the eye and the brain record slightly different views every moment, which add up and transform into something more complex, even where you can’t see it. Movement makes this little miracle possible.”

It’s clear from the video that Gandini is proud of his creation, admitting that people perhaps hadn’t expected something so brutal following the Miura, but basking in the years of love that the supercar has inspired in car enthusiasts all over the world.

Just the first in a series of videos that will track the full length of the Countach’s history and its impact on the brand, Lamborghini says it will debut a new video every Monday for the next three weeks. The Countach, meanwhile, is said to be the inspiration for a new V12 model coming later this year. Keep an out for more on that story here.