Discussion
Martin350 said:
I'm not sure it was their decision..?
Also, I read somewhere that it was painted silver before its current Miura orange.
Either way, I agree that it looked epic in tahiti blue.
I had a passenger ride in that car around 1992, was one of the best days of my life!
I remember seeing the Tahiti blue 400 Countach at Mikes Carrara Sport day at Goodwood around a similar time,memory not what it was but i think the guy owned a Ferrari Daytona as well and a Lancia Intergrale as a daily. He looked and dressed like a heavy metal rock star if i got the wright guy but in fact made his money importing American comics. He told me that when he was delivering papers when a kid he would deliver to a house that had a Daytona in the driveway and there sowed the seed,roll on a few years later while looking for a Daytona to purchase he ended up buying the very same car by accident. great story .never caught his name but i'm sure someone on here must have known him or still does.Also, I read somewhere that it was painted silver before its current Miura orange.
Either way, I agree that it looked epic in tahiti blue.
I had a passenger ride in that car around 1992, was one of the best days of my life!
Edited by rat rod on Saturday 18th July 08:04
I think that was also the car I saw at Castle Combe around 1990 or 91. IIRC it had some of the rear quarter painted in primer following some body repairs, and was black flagged very quickly for being too loud. You could hear it pretty much all the way around the circuit from the paddock. I thought it was the coolest car I'd ever seen.
rat rod said:
Martin350 said:
I'm not sure it was their decision..?
Also, I read somewhere that it was painted silver before its current Miura orange.
Either way, I agree that it looked epic in tahiti blue.
I had a passenger ride in that car around 1992, was one of the best days of my life!
I remember seeing the Tahiti blue 400 Countach at Mikes Carrara sport day at Goodwood around a similar time,memory not what it was but i think the guy owned a Ferrari Daytona as well and a Lancia Intergrale as a daily. He looked and dressed like a heavy metal rock star if i got the wright guy but in fact made his money importing American comics. He told me that when he was delivering papers when a kid he would deliver to a house that had a Daytona in the driveway and there so sowed the seed,roll on a few years later while looking for a Daytona to purchase he ended up buying the very same car by accident. great story .never caught his name but i'm sure someone on here must have known him or still does.Also, I read somewhere that it was painted silver before its current Miura orange.
Either way, I agree that it looked epic in tahiti blue.
I had a passenger ride in that car around 1992, was one of the best days of my life!
His name (and he's been mentioned on here by name already) is Mike Lake. I met him many times, he was always extremely polite, totally down to earth, funny, and generous.
He did indeed import comics and later co-founded a chain of large comic stores.
He did also have a Daytona (which he once told me he would never sell), a Miura, 308GTB, Fiat Dino, Fiat 132 and probably others I never knew about.
In fact I didn't know about the Integrale. He once told me he used the Daytona to commute into central London daily!
I heard that during a track day at Brands Hatch a guy asked him for a passenger ride in the Daytona. He obliged, drove straight out of Brands Hatch and went VERY quickly along the M20, to give the guy an even better Daytona experience!
I've not seen or heard of him for about 26 years.
thegreenhell said:
I think that was also the car I saw at Castle Combe around 1990 or 91. IIRC it had some of the rear quarter painted in primer following some body repairs, and was black flagged very quickly for being too loud. You could hear it pretty much all the way around the circuit from the paddock. I thought it was the coolest car I'd ever seen.
I saw him with the Daytona at Castle Combe a few of times, so it's highly likely.Haha, it was very loud! I thought it sounded a bit like a Le Mans Group C car!
It got bumped in a car park, no details left, of course!
The day I took these photos, in April 1991, I was saturday boy at a local specialist car garage when he turned up with a mate in it.
I was a scruffy 16 year old at the time and I knew how to drive (by legal means) and when I asked if I could take some photos he moved the car to a better location, threw me the key, told me I could do whatever I like'd with it, then walked away into the office, totally out of sight.
You can't begin to imagine the temptation!!!
When he left he let his mate drive it home.
Edited by Martin350 on Friday 17th July 23:35
Martin350 said:
rat rod said:
Martin350 said:
I'm not sure it was their decision..?
Also, I read somewhere that it was painted silver before its current Miura orange.
Either way, I agree that it looked epic in tahiti blue.
I had a passenger ride in that car around 1992, was one of the best days of my life!
I remember seeing the Tahiti blue 400 Countach at Mikes Carrara sport day at Goodwood around a similar time,memory not what it was but i think the guy owned a Ferrari Daytona as well and a Lancia Intergrale as a daily. He looked and dressed like a heavy metal rock star if i got the wright guy but in fact made his money importing American comics. He told me that when he was delivering papers when a kid he would deliver to a house that had a Daytona in the driveway and there so sowed the seed,roll on a few years later while looking for a Daytona to purchase he ended up buying the very same car by accident. great story .never caught his name but i'm sure someone on here must have known him or still does.Also, I read somewhere that it was painted silver before its current Miura orange.
Either way, I agree that it looked epic in tahiti blue.
I had a passenger ride in that car around 1992, was one of the best days of my life!
His name (and he's been mentioned on here by name already) is Mike Lake. I met him many times, he was always extremely polite, totally down to earth, funny, and generous.
He did indeed import comics and later co-founded a chain of large comic stores.
He did also have a Daytona (which he once told me he would never sell), a Miura, 308GTB, Fiat Dino, Fiat 132 and probably others I never knew about.
In fact I didn't know about the Integrale. He once told me he used the Daytona to commute into central London daily!
I heard that during a track day at Brands Hatch a guy asked him for a passenger ride in the Daytona. He obliged, drove straight out of Brands Hatch and went VERY quickly along the M20, to give the guy an even better Daytona experience!
I've not seen or heard of him for about 26 years.
rat rod said:
He often turned up to Goodwood on his Yamaha V-Max so must have been into fast bikes as well. He told me that he liked doing things on the spur of the moment such as one night going to a London night club in the Daytona and meeting a girl and on the way home he suggested that if they call into her's and collect her passport and drive to Rome there and then. It was a mad dash there and back at brake neck speeds ,must have been exhilarating in that Daytona especially a night run on empty autoroutes, thought i was being wild driving down to Bournemouth from Chichester at 2am for a coffee and burger.
I didn't know he was into bikes as well.Haha, that's a great story.
I washed his Daytona after this event, the bug splats were like nothing I've seen since, he must have been seriously shifting for a very long time!
I heard that he would have come first but went back to help someone in a stricken Integrale.
Mike Pullen also took part in his LP400 S.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqVf-Zwphqk
Martin350 said:
thegreenhell said:
I think that was also the car I saw at Castle Combe around 1990 or 91. IIRC it had some of the rear quarter painted in primer following some body repairs, and was black flagged very quickly for being too loud. You could hear it pretty much all the way around the circuit from the paddock. I thought it was the coolest car I'd ever seen.
I saw him with the Daytona at Castle Combe a few of times, so it's highly likely.Haha, it was very loud! I thought it sounded a bit like a Le Mans Group C car!
It got bumped in a car park, no details left, of course!
The day I took these photos, in April 1991, I was saturday boy at a local specialist car garage when he turned up with a mate in his new purchase.
I was a scruffy 16 year old at the time and I knew how to drive (by legal means) but when I asked if I could take some photos he moved the car to a better location, threw me the key, told me I could do whatever I like'd with it, then walked away into the office, totally out of sight.
You can't begin to imagine the temptation!!!
When he left he let his mate drive it home.
Edited by Martin350 on Friday 17th July 22:15
rat rod said:
Just noticed Kent High Performance Cars in the background on the photo's ,must be back in their early days.I was visiting Mike Pullen on the day the transporter collected the Countach from his workshop after he had restored it ,must been around 4 1/2 years ago.Although it looked stunning i must admit to being disappointed that it wasn't in it's original Tahiti blue ,probably more from nostalgia of the Carrara Sport and Castle Coombe days rather than choice of colour.Do still enjoy some of the super car track days but with my head set firmly in the past they just can't match the cars,casualness and characters of those early Goodwood days . Thanks for posting video ,will look forward to watching it,thought i was getting a early night but looks like that's just gone out the window.
Yes, they are now in a different location under a different name.As a car loving teenager, I was very lucky to be in what I see as a bit of a heyday of supercar trackdays to witness those with few noise limits and some properly great cars!
It was the highlight of my year a few times.
Edited by Martin350 on Saturday 18th July 22:53
Martin350 said:
I washed his Daytona after this event, the bug splats were like nothing I've seen since, he must have been seriously shifting for a very long time!
One of my proudest possessions is an LCUK squashed fly trophy from the 90s.At the annual dinner they had a number plate template which they put over your number plate and then counted the flies.
The trophy itself is a large squashed fly mounted on a plinth made by John Gorbould. Class.
Those were the days.
Ferruccio said:
Martin350 said:
I washed his Daytona after this event, the bug splats were like nothing I've seen since, he must have been seriously shifting for a very long time!
One of my proudest possessions is an LCUK squashed fly trophy from the 90s.At the annual dinner they had a number plate template which they put over your number plate and then counted the flies.
The trophy itself is a large squashed fly mounted on a plinth made by John Gorbould. Class.
Those were the days.
Ferruccio said:
One of my proudest possessions is an LCUK squashed fly trophy from the 90s.
At the annual dinner they had a number plate template which they put over your number plate and then counted the flies.
The trophy itself is a large squashed fly mounted on a plinth made by John Gorbould. Class.
Those were the days.
Haha, love it! At the annual dinner they had a number plate template which they put over your number plate and then counted the flies.
The trophy itself is a large squashed fly mounted on a plinth made by John Gorbould. Class.
Those were the days.
minster said:
Martin.... ive trumped you...i went out in it when it had a few hundered miles on it , with the first owner...... beat that!!
It was an amazing experience in 1991, it must have been an even more incredible car in, what, 1975? rat rod said:
I always thought there's something very romantic about a fly spatted travel stained super car /race car so much so that the manufacturers leave their winning race cars just as they crossed the finishing line when they display the cars at motor shows now, After trips across Europe i am always reluctant to wash my car for a week or so .,even to the point of i can hardly see where i'm going there's so many squashed bugs on the screen, Silly really but i was quite proud of them and wore them like a trophy which is exactly what you got. well done, You are so wright ,Those were the days and so much more fun for them.
I totally agree.And I have done the same (although I've not owned supercars), especially when I had a few summer days and nights on German Autobahns in a Nissan 350Z a few years ago.
One bug splat started on the front bumper and reached the very back end of the bonnet, I was quite proud of that one!
Martin350 said:
I totally agree.
And I have done the same (although I've not owned supercars), especially when I had a few summer days and nights on German Autobahns in a Nissan 350Z a few years ago.
One bug splat started on the front bumper and reached the very back end of the bonnet, I was quite proud of that one!
At least he didn't suffer.And I have done the same (although I've not owned supercars), especially when I had a few summer days and nights on German Autobahns in a Nissan 350Z a few years ago.
One bug splat started on the front bumper and reached the very back end of the bonnet, I was quite proud of that one!
I loved the Panteras!
They sounded like thunder, the noise of those things blasting around Castle Combe is a great childhood memory!
In case you don't know, those track days were organised in conjunction with the Lamborghini Club UK and the De Tomaso Club UK, other stuff was welcome too, and it was always a fantastic turnout and variety of cars.
They sounded like thunder, the noise of those things blasting around Castle Combe is a great childhood memory!
In case you don't know, those track days were organised in conjunction with the Lamborghini Club UK and the De Tomaso Club UK, other stuff was welcome too, and it was always a fantastic turnout and variety of cars.
Martin350 said:
And I know it's a Countach thread but I don't think anyone would be offended by seeing the mentioned Daytona on track negotiating Quarry Corner at Castle Combe in September 1989.
Is that Mike Lakes Daytona ? I missed the boat on the Daytona , instead of paying £4,800 for my first Ferrari 308 GT4 i should have put the same amount down as deposit on one, There was a silver one for sale in my home town that was owned by a hairdresser and left it night and day on the forecourt of his salon in not the best part of town,he was asking £7,500 but i was driving round in my daily £450 excuse for a E type at the time and probably could have bought a house for that.Some years later after graduating to some proper Ferrari's purchased mainly from Maranello's the sales director Mark Konig took me out in a plexiglass model with a asking price of £19,500, One owner from new (The chairman of the Ferrari Owners Club) had a colour change from i would say more a cherry red to traditional red (Where are you slippydiff ) and all going on on a Saterday morning when they only opened to 12 o'clock with only one member of staff .With the showroom locked we went for blast,firstly with Mark driving then my turn,As Mark had raced for Ferrari and had built his own racing car called the Nomad i was a little apprehensive and nervous of making a cock up but i got used to it fairly quickly ,although a big heavy car compared to what i had at the time (a 308 GTB ) it felt like it needed to be taken by the scruff of the neck and driven not unlike my scruffy E type and even scruffier DB4 i had some time before the 308's,but not my car and with Mark in the passenger seat i behaved myself.We were out for some time but felt like minutes and then i had to hand the keys back.I remember this in the same way you remember going in Mike Lakes Countach .Gassing Station | Lamborghini Classics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff