Man Spends 17 Years To Build A Lamborghini Countach in His Basement – From Scratch

Back in 80’s, Lamborghini Countach was an iconic supercar every young boy wanted to own. For most, reality was limited to day dreaming at the posters on his bedroom wall and was about as close as they would get to seeing one, let alone own one.

But for Ken Imhoff that was not enough. He had to have one. But, c’mon… A Lamborghini Countach? Yeah right.
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Love affair with the Lamborghini Countach started from years ago watching the movie The Cannonball Run and raised during Ford’s dominance of Le Mens with the Ford GT40. He fell in love with the Lamborghini Countach so much that he knew he had to have one. Affording it was another matter though, so he decided he would make his own!

Whenever he thought about how he might someday get that car – an insurmountable goal for a middle-class kid from Wisconsin – he heard his dad’s voice, saying, “Why don’t you just build it yourself?”
This started on him on a journey that culminated 17 years later when he unveiled what he had kept under wraps for so long. What he made with his own two hands is so amazing.
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He builds a Countach from scratch out of aluminum with a steel tubular space frame. He powers it with a bored and stroked 351 Ford Cleveland, topped with 48IDA Webers running the burned racing fuel at 12/1 through stainless steel 180 deg. headers referred to as the Ford GT40 “Bundle of snakes”.  The 515hp mid-engine power is being transferred through a ZF transaxle 5 speed. Yes, it’s eclectic, old school and 100% built by hand.

The amount of time and energy that must have went into this custom fabrication cannot be overstated. There is definitely a reason this project took 17 years to complete. He became the car hobbyist’s supermen, a regular guy who, through superhuman focus and insane determination, led him to a remarkable automotive achievement.

There was a light problem that needed to be solved before this thing could be brought into the light however. Because it was built in his basement, Ken had no way to get this thing up to the surface!

So he did what any man  would do, he knocked out a basement wall. He hired a contractor to tear down a wall of the basement and excavate the area around it to create a ramp to allow the car to be pulled out!