Blog posting here -- http://www.onthedash.com/thoughts/countach_onthedash/ -- and also pasted below.

As you might expect, it would be great to find additional stories of great cars that were delivered with Heuers OnTheDash (or even other interesting timepieces)! Anyone know of any? This could be an interesting series of articles / postings, but we need to find the cars!!

Jeff

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What's OnTheDash of the World's Fastest Supercar (1975)? Heuers, Of Course!

Folklore has it that during a pre-delivery test run on the autostrada in January 1975, this 1974 Lamborghini Countach LP400 'Periscopa Speciale' (chassis number 1120056) achieved a speed of 202 miles per hour (326 kph), making it the first production road car to break the 200 MPH mark. While today's consensus dismisses the 200 MPH claim, this Countach can stake a legitimate claim of being the fastest road car in the world, at that time.

The car had been specially ordered by Albert Silvera, a wealthy car collector living in Haiti who was a VIP customer of both Lamborghini and Ferrari. One of the items that Silvera specified for his Countach was a pair of Heuer Rally Master dash-mounted timepieces, consisting of a matching 8-day Master Time clock and a 12-hour Monte Carlo stopwatch.

This is a brief overview of the Silvera Countach, with a focus on the Heuer timepieces that were factory-installed, upon Mr/ Silvera's request.

The Basics. The LP400 was the first production model of the Lamborghini Countach, and was first sold in April 1974. Powered by a 4.0 liter 12-cylinder engine, the LP400 is sometimes called the "narrow body" Countach, as later models added scoops, scallops and spoilers.

Albert Silvera's Countach -- with chassis number 1120056 and engine number 1120056 -- was the 28th Countach produced, being built in November and December 1974, and completed on January 23, 1975. A total of approximately 158 LP400s were built over the period from 1974 through 1977, making Silvera's one of the earlier models in the series.

Albert Silvera. To understand this particular car, it is important to understand the man who ordered the car. Albert Silvera is usually described as a wealthy hotelier, diplomat and sports car fanatic, with the words "playboy" and "jet-setter" usually found somewhere in the description. Silvera owned the exotic El Rancho Hotel near Port Au Prince in Haiti, a celebrity destination during the 1960s and 1970s to the likes of Liz Taylor & Richard Burton, as well as Mick Jagger. Silvera special-ordered most of his Italian cars directly from Enzo Ferrari or Ferruccio Lamborghini, with each of these cars built to one-off specification and including a variety of special appointments.

Silvera was the Director of Tourism of Haiti and, with his status as a diplomat, he was able to bring his cars into the United States, without being required to modify them to meet increasingly stringent federal emissions and safety standards. Records show that Silvera had his Countach in Haiti, South Florida and Paris, as he had homes in each of these locations.

Scroll down to the bottom of this posting for additional information about Albert Silvera.

Special Finishes. Silvera selected a special exterior paint for his Countach, referenced in factory papers as "Rosso Speciale". The special worksheet for the car notes that the interior color was originally to be "nero" (black), but this is crossed out and "Tab" (short for "Tobacco") is entered, to accommodate Silvera's wishes for a special leather interior. The carpeting and the dashboard materials were supplied to Lamborghini by Ferrari SpA, as Silvera was also a VIP customer of the Ferrari factory and was able to request that these materials be provided to the rival Lamborghini factory.

And a Very Special Engine. Silvera's special Countach was sent to Dallara Automobili SrL, where the engine was blueprinted, balanced and tuned by means of high-lift camshafts, bigger intakes, bigger main jets for the carburetors, free flow headers and an open exhaust system. These modifications increased the standard 375 bhp LP400 engine's output by 60-70 bhp. Dallara was world-renowned as a chassis, development and performance engineer. Dallara first made his mark with the launch of Lamborghini's benchmark Miura, and he went on to be responsible for the world-championship winning Lancia Stratos. Back in 1975, Dallara was the man that Lamborghini retained to produce a factory "hot rod" whenever VIP clients such as Albert Silvera and Walter Wolf wanted performance upgrades.

The Price of Being Special. With all the custom work and finishes specified by Silvera, the price of his Countach jumped from the standard price of $43,000 to a final price of $60,000. Ironically, Silvera owned the car for only 14 months, at which time he sold 1120056 to make room for his next specially-ordered Countach.

What's That OnTheDash? Looking through the driver's window, we see that there is a pair of Heuer timepieces mounted on the dashboard. While we are accustomed to seeing Heuers mounted on the dashboards of rally and race cars, it is very unusual to see them on the dashboard of a road car.

The Heuer Rally Master pair consists of a Master Time 8-day clock (on the left) and a Monte Carlo 12-hour stopwatch (on the right), both attached to a dedicated back-plate (also made by Heuer).

The Master Time is a simple time-of-day clock with a rotating bezel that can be used to mark a specific time. The Monte Carlo displays hours by Arabic numerals seen through a "window" at six o'clock, minutes by a wider hand with an arrow on the end, and seconds by a narrower hand. The hour disc and both hands return to zero, when the button at two o'clock is pressed. Each timepiece is attached to the back-plate by three small screws; the back-plate is attached to the dashboard by four larger bolts, one at each corner of the back-plate.

A Special Rally Master Pair. Silvera's Countach included many special elements, so it is fitting that the Rally Master pair that he chose for the car also includes a special feature. While most Monte Carlos have a plain rotating bezel, with a triangle to mark a specific time, the Monte Carlo included in Silvera's Countach has a rotating Tachymeter bezel. This bezel shows speed over a measured distance (for example, a car covering one mile in 27 seconds has traveled at 133 miles per hour over the mile; a car covering one mile is 18 seconds has averaged 200 MPH for that mile).

While we can question the usefulness of any rotating bezel for actually computing speeds, the Tachymeter bezel was a symbol of the motorsports-watch connection in the 1960s and 70s, with Tachymeter bezels being features of many popular chronographs -- the Heuer Autavia, Rolex Daytona and Omega Speedmaster, among others.

The Perfect Way to Trim Out the World's Fastest Road Car. Albert Silvera was a fascinating man, who ordered up what would be among the world's fastest road cars. His Countach is one of the most celebrated Lamborghinis in the history of the marque. The Heuer Rally Master pair was the perfect finishing touch on this supercar.

Other Interesting Installations. We are always looking for interesting installations of Heuer dashboard timers on vintage road, racing or rally cars, as well as boats and airplanes. If you know of an interesting car, boat or plane with Heuers OnTheDash, please write to me at OnTheDash@bellsouth.net.

Thanks; Additional Resources

Special thanks to Joe Sackey, for answering a couple of my questions about the car and for allowing me to use his article about the car and his photos.

You can view additional photos of the ex-Silvera Countach here.