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How the Lamborghini Countach Got Its Wing
Tall and flat, the wing of the Lamborghini Countach has become an accepted part of the car’s styling. Lego even included the wing on its 1506-piece Countach kit, released in 2024. The rear wing wasn’t part of the original design, however, and Lamborghini didn’t build it. It appeared several years after the Countach entered production in 1974, and it was developed as part of a round of updates made to the car at the request of a client.
“In fact, we didn’t officially put the spoiler on the car, but there was someone else who did the work just around the corner [from the Lamborghini factory],” Rodrigo Filippani Ronconi told me. He’s a walking encyclopedia on classic Lamborghini models who runs the certification and archives divisions for Polo Storico.
Putting a wing on a car, even one with a wedge-shaped silhouette and a V-12, was a big deal in the 1970s. Back then, wings were reserved for race cars, and the companies bold enough to put one on a street-legal car drew a dark cloud of disapproval from regulators. BMW delivered the 3.0 CSL with the wing in, rather than on, the trunk to avoid having to re-homologate the coupe. In the 1970s, Porsche sued the West German government for the right to put the whale-tail spoiler on the original 911 Turbo.
The first Countach fitted with a rear wing belonged to a Canadian businessman and Formula 1 team owner named Walter Wolf. Wolf had owned numerous Lamborghini models, including several examples of the Miura. He had enough money and enough influence to call the brand and say, “I really like the Countach, but here’s what I want you to improve.” Wolf reportedly initially tried taking the matter into his own hands by bolting the wing from one of his Formula 1 cars to his Countach’s roof, to no avail.
Lamborghini asked Italian engineer Giampaolo Dallara, who played a major role in developing the Miura, to design a wing for Wolf’s Countach. Production was outsourced to a supplier that was based a stone’s throw from Lamborghini’s historic headquarters in Sant’Agata Bolognese, Italy, according to Ronconi (he remained tight-lipped when it came to identifying the supplier by name). The wing wasn’t made by Lamborghini, then, and it wasn’t installed on the Countach on the assembly line.
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The wing was one of several changes that Wolf requested. Finished in red and black, his Countach also featured the world’s first 345-series tires, which Pirelli developed exclusively for it, and flared wheel arches to cover the wider track. Canadian flag emblems inside and out and a plaque in the driver’s door jamb, which read “built specifically for Mr. Walter Wolf,” were part of the package as well. Lamborghini later modified two more examples of the Countach for Wolf, including the blue car that’s pictured below, and both had a wing.
Whether the wing was truly necessary is a point of debate. What’s certain is that it complemented the sharp, Gandini-penned lines surprisingly well. Before long, more customers requested a wing.
“It was so iconic to have a Countach with the razor-blade shape and the spoiler that everyone wanted to have the spoiler,” Ronconi told Hagerty. “It was installed before the car was delivered to the customer. But, sometimes, a car would come back [to us] for major maintenance and the owner asked for a spoiler.”
Lamborghini was happy to oblige. In hindsight, thinking a little outside the box to grant these requests laid the foundations for modern-day customization programs, like Ad Personam.
Funny tidbit: Victor Holtorf, the Countach guru whose cars we drove in this story ( https://www.hagerty.com/media/car-profiles/the-case-for-the-countach-lambos-bad-boy-seeks-redemption-in-the-rockies/ ) told me that the optional spoiler developed the nickname “H-wing,” because it cost as much as a whole Hyundai.
Ahh but which Hyundai? I could imagine it was not cheap, labor not included. It could be a Honda wing also. That is a funny fact.
That was written into a Car and Driver story about the car, where it was called the Hyundai wing since it cost more than a new Hyundai, about 5k at the time (mid 80’s I think)
Performance be damned I think it looks cooler with it.
Anyone remember that last-century article in an enthusiast magazine where they compared a Countach to a Ferrari Boxer? One test was on a high speed track (Daytona?) and the cars were evenly matched in the low 180s. Removing the wing to reduce drag sped up the Countach but caused it to lift and skip its rear wheels around, leaving long black marks at 190 mph. Asked to run it again for some extra photos, the pro driver said, “Never again!” So I think the wing does have some benefit.
That childish wing and ugly flares sure ruined that terrific shape. The anniversary edition with its ugly slats was the final insult.
Help me understand – so you need a rear wing above 180 MPH to keep the car stable. Where in the USA or Canada can you legally travel that fast on public highways ????