Cannonball Run Countach: What’s It Worth?

It’s easy to dismiss the Cannonball Run as nothing more than a goofy Burt Reynolds’ movie – a star-studded comedy with slightly less shtick than The Three Stooges. But if you want to understand why the movie elevated a jet black Lamborghini Countach into a multi-million dollar automotive icon, if you want to know how much the Cannonball Countach is worth, you need to see Mr. Reynolds’ romp in its proper historical context. First, check out the movie’s opening sequence below.

Cannonball Run hit the silver screen in 1981, the same year the dopey, dour and anemic Oldsmobile Cutlass was America’s best-selling car (for the fourth year running).

Sure, GM also shifted 40k+ Corvettes. But the black Countach was like nothing an average car guy had ever seen: a vehicle from another planet that sounded like sex. It was lust at first sight – and something more.

The Cannonball Countach was the same cinematic middle finger Reynolds raised in 1977’s Smokey and the Bandit, flipping the bird at Richard Nixon’s 55 mph national speed limit. By the time Cannonball Run arrived, American automotive enthusiasts had endured four long years of speeding ticket tyranny (with four years ahead).

And then, in 3:56 of pedal-to-the-metal glory, the Cannonball Run Lamborghini Countach personified four-wheeled liberation. The black Lambo was like the Bandit’s screaming chicken Firebird, only ten times better. It was an unimaginably exotic symbol of automotive freedom. An icon.

How do you put a value on a car that almost single-handedly reinvigorated American car culture, adorning teenage boys’ bedroom walls for decades? It’s a simple matter of putting emotion to one side, and weighing-up the variables.

The Movie

• The Cannonball car is the star of one of the biggest box office blockbusters in history. The movie grossed $160m ($522m in today’s money) – enormous by 1981 standards

• The Cannonball Run is car movie – not just a movie with a car in it

• The Cannonball Run Countach is the star of the film – featured prominently on the movie poster and throughout the film. The first four minutes focuses entirely on the car

The Company

• Lamborghini was in bankruptcy and receivership in 1979. Lamborghini’s demise as a manufacturer was all but certain at that time

• The 1979 Cannonball Run Countach made Lamborghini an overnight worldwide sensation

• Demand for the Countach skyrocketed following the movie’s release – Lamborghini was saved!

The Car

• The Cannonball car was one of 105 lowbody Countaches produced between 1978 and 1981. The lowbody is the most beautiful and coveted Countach model

• The Cannonball car has been a two-owner car since 1979, with 16k original miles in the clock

• It was painstaking restored to museum quality condition, left exactly as it appeared in the movie, CB radio antennas and all

The Money

• In 1979, a federalized Lamborghini Countach cost $150k – $612k in today’s money

• In August 2022, a Lamborghini Countach sold for $1,061,000

The Movie Car Multiple

• In August 2019, a Goldfinger Aston Martin DB5 – one of four built for the movie – sold for 7x the non-movie car value of a DB5 – before the last two years’ stratospheric increase in collector car values

• The Risky Business Porsche 928 – one of three that appeared in the movie – sold for 30x the value of a non-movie 1979 Porsche 928

• So the movie car multiple for collector cars is 7x to 30x – call it 20x on average.

The Historic Vehicle Registry Multiple

• The Cannonball Run Countach was inducted into the Library of Congress National Historic Vehicle Register in 2021 – one of 30 cars deemed to have “Important Historical Significance”

• Other cars on the Register include the 15 millionth Model T, the Shelby Daytona Coupe and the first winner of the Indy 500

• The Cannonball Run Countach was documented, laser scanned and photographed for the Library of Congress archives

• For a week in September 2021, the vehicle was displayed in a glass box on the National Mall. A special American Flag flew over the Capitol Building on June 19, 2021 – the 40th anniversary of the Cannonball Run’s release

• The Hirohata Mercury – inducted into the National Historic Vehicle Register as the vehicle that kick-started the 1950’s hot rodding trend – sold in January 2022 for $2,145,000. That’s a 40x multiple of similar cars, or 10x the value of a George Barris hot rod

• Inclusion in the Library of Congress National Historic Vehicle Register has increased a car’s value by 10x

Cannonball Countach Comparables

• The Porsche 928 Tom Cruise’s Joel Goodsen drove in Risky Business is not on the Register. It sold for $1.9m, roughy 30X the price of a similar vintage non-movie car

• The Hirohata Mercury hot rod (not a movie car) is on the National Register (not a movie car). It sold for $2.1m, roughly 10x a similar vintage and quality hot rod that’s not on the Registry

• The 1968 fastback Mustang that appeared in the movie Bullitt is both a movie car (20x non-movie counterparts) and a car listed in the National Historic Vehicle Register (10x non-registered cars). Compounding these two multiples yields a 200x valuation

• In January 2020, the Bullitt Mustang (one of three) sold for $3,740,000 – approximately 200x the value of its non-movie counterpart

Cannonball Countach Value Based on Comparables

Movie	Goldfinger 1964	————	Risky Biz 1983	Bullitt 1968	Cannonball Run 1981
Model	Aston DB5	1951 Hirohata Mercury	Porsche 928	Mustang GT	Countach lp400s
Model based Value in 2021	$1M	$200k	$60k	$20k	$1m
#’s Used in film	1 of 4	———	1 of 3	1 of 2	1 of 1
#’s Produced	1,059	310k	5,437	42,581	105
Movie Premium	7X	———	30x	20x	20x
Star Power adds to (X’s)	Sean Connery	Barris build	Tom Cruise	Steve McQueen	Sammy Davis Jr Dean Martin Farrah Fawcett Burt Reynolds Roger Moore
Library Of Congress	0	10X	0	10x	10x
% over	700%	2000%	3000%	20,000%	20,000%
Bidw/ fee	$6.8m	$2.1m	$1.9m	$3.7m	?

• Based on the Risky Business Porsche, the Cannonball Countach as movie car is worth 30x its $1m recent sale price – $30m

• Based on the Hirohata Mercury, the National Registry-listed Cannonball Countach is worth 10x its $1m recent sale price – $10m

• Based on the Bullitt Mustang, the Cannonball Countach movie AND Registry-listed is worth 200x the $1m recent Countach 5000s sale price – $200m

Cannonball Countach Estimated Value

A 1995 Creighton Brown/Brazilian Brown McLaren F1 – one of 106 F1’s built – recently sold for $20.5m. The Cannonball Run Lamborghini Countach is one of 105 built, but there’s no comparison. It’s one of one – the only Countach that appeared in a world-famous car movie, inspired millions of teenagers to post a picture of an Italian supercar on their wall and earned a coveted spot the prestigious National Register.

I can’t see the Cannonball Countach fetching anything less than $50m. Is it impossible to believe the Cannonball Countach could fetch $200m? Not with a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR “Uhlenhaut” going for $142m. Or, more to the point, Andy Warhol’s “Shot Sage Blue Marilyn” silkscreen hammering for $195m. The Cannonball Run Lamborghini Countach is also a cultural icon – with a difference. It’s a work of both high and pop art that you can drive, that makes that noise. It’s worth a small fortune. Or a big one.