‘Cannonball Run’ Lambo turns 45

Adrienne Barbeau and Tara Buckman played the roles of Marcie Thatcher and Jill Rivers — the pair of satin spandex-clad women driving the Lamborghini Countach LP 400 S in the first of the Cannonball Run movies.

They were united recently for the first time since the movie was released, in June 1981, to celebrate and talk about the black car on its 45th anniversary.

In the opening sequence of the movie a black Countach LP 400 S is hurtling down a freeway at full chat with police on its tail. Soon after the vehicle comes to a smoky halt next to a 55m/h sign post, and the scissor door opens to gasps as a satin spandex-clad and gorgeous Buckman steps out the car to vandalise the sign post, then jumps back in the car. 

It was a seminal moment for girls in cars behaving badly, long before Thelma & Louise. The franchise became a star-studded affair featuring many legendary actors and personalities in full and cameo roles, including Sammy Davies Jnr, Farrah Fawcett, Jacky Chan, Burt Reynolds, Frank Sinatra and Roger Moore.

The Cannonball Run was a real, illegal cross-country race held in the US. The race that started off from New York and finishing in Los Angeles, was intended both as a celebration and a protest against strict new speeding laws of the US Interstate highway, with the rebellious participants doing anything possible under the sun to win — the characters played by Rivers and Thatcher use their looks to their advantage. 

This Lamborghini Countach LP 400 S was produced in November 1979 with a Nero (black) exterior and Senape (mustard) interior. It was shipped to the then SEA dealership in Rome and, from there, it was most likely sold directly in the US, ending up in Florida.

It was owned by a friend of the movie’s director and was signed on to begin its legend that led it to capture a place in American history. As “stage makeup”, it was given a wing and two full-beam headlights on the nose, a spoiler, three antennas and 12 exhaust pipes, along with two supplementary fake instruments in front of the passenger’s seat.

After filming ended, the Countach was returned to its legitimate owner, but didn’t shed its transformations especially made for it. In 2009, the car found a new owner living in Florida who as a boy saw the opening scene of the 1981 movie. 

“I had always been crazy about cars,” the owner recalled, “but the opening of the movie was the first time I got to see and hear the Countach in motion, and I was captivated! I didn’t see it in person for the first time until 26 years later, and it took me another 18 months of negotiations before I managed to take it home.”

The black Countach LP 400 S was also entered into the US Library of Congress in 2021, becoming the 30th car to receive it. Another red Countach identified as a 1983 LP 500 S, and driven by a different female duo using the same modus operandi appeared in the 1984 sequel Cannonball Run II.

“I immediately said it was beautiful, simply beautiful, and it still is,” says Barbeau. 

“We had the best car and it was definitely the most beautiful of all,” concluded Buckman.