

Sign up to receive the weekly newsletter featuring the very latest from Petrolicious. Don’t be left out—join the ranks of those who Drive Tastefully.
Already a member? Log in
We're glad you're back.
Not a member yet? Sign up
We'll get you back on track.
If you were a boy growing up in the mid-eighties, there’s a 99% chance you had a poster of one of these cars on your bedroom wall. An entire generation spent sleepless hours, culminating into months and maybe even years, staring at 27″ x 41″ prints of these earthbound spaceships—all wide-hipped, vented, intake’d and wedge-shaped. Like me, you may even have had both on your wall, but you definitely had a preference. Which one you dreamt about as a 4th grader likely determines your adulthood allegiances as well. Are you a Maranello man or a Sant’Agata guy?
First up is the Countach, the car which arguably defines the word “supercar”. This particular example is a 25th Anniversary 1989 model, featuring a fuel-injected quattrovalvole version of the venerable Bizzarrini-designed V12, whose heritage dates back to the very first Lamborghini, the 350 GT. Wearing a rather fussy, but very period-appropriate body kit designed by none other than Horacio Pagani, it still evokes a feeling of childlike wonderment all these years later. It’s simply, wheeled insanity.
Next is the thinking kid’s alternative supercar, the lovely Testarossa. Though far more conservative in its approach than the outlandish Countach, it was still far from conventional. Equipped with a centrally-mounted, longitudinal 180° V12 that is commonly, though incorrectly, referred to as a “boxer”, it featured opposing pistons mounted to a common crankpin, in contrast to a true boxer which have separate pins for each piston, thus creating the “boxing” motion. The Redhead is said by many to be the sweeter of the two to drive, with light and delicate controls in contrast to the Countach’s truck-like interfaces—a more cerebral experience relative to the visceral and animal-like Lambo.
Which eighties poster exotic do you prefer?
1989 Ferrari Testarossa
Click here for the Testarossa details.
1989 Lamborghini Countach
When I was about 8 years old I was obsessed with the Countach. I drew pictures of it so often that my mom took one of my drawings and had it put on a sweatshirt at the mall. I thought I was the coolest person in the world wearing that thing. I think I still identify with Lamborghini over Ferrari today. Somehow though… if we’re just trying to fulfill childhood fantasy? Give me a Delorean.
Countach all day, no question. If someone gave me a free Testarossa, I would be looking for someone to trade me a Countach ASAP. I dont Think the Testarossa can even hold a candle to it in styling. Countach looks classic, and insane, and iconic all at the same time. Testarossa just looks dated, with little wheels.
While aging Ferraris don’t usually rev my engine, there’s something about the Testarossa (I guess you could call it the Testarossa presence that it has, as referenced in your video.) Lambos are cool, I love the Countach, but it’s not as… exciting, or soulful as a TR. Plus those side vents are my guilty pleasure.
The Countach wins simply because it’s an original. I see the Boxer and Testarossa as reactive cars: Ferrari’s responses to Lamborghini doing what it does best: outrageous, brutal, statements. I think everyone was a bit disappointed that the Daytona was so conventional when it came out after the Miura had wowed everyone so thoroughly with its innovative mechanical characteristics and spectacular styling. The Boxer was Ferrari’s first mid-engined flagship and while a good car, neither it nor the Testarossa had the sheer arresting power on the public as the Countach. Ferrari’s 288, F40, F50 etc. prove that they can do outrageous too, but their flagship “standard production” 12-cylinder cars have always been more sophisticated, grown up cars and their mid-engined flat-12 cars read retrospectively as though they lost their way for a bit. That said, any carb’d Boxer and 512 TR/M are very fine cars that will come into their own as collector cars eventually, in the same way that Daytonas and Countaches have.
We like old cars because they represent a divergence from the way we do things now. Few cars embody that more explicitly than the Countach, which is why, despite (because of?) its flaws, it is one of the most significant cars ever made.