

Man hand-builds Lamborghini Countach, from scratch, in his own basement - nickb
http://carscoop.blogspot.com/2008/10/man-hand-builds-lamborghini-countach-in.html

======
zacharypinter
This could serve as a great example of illustrating the difference between
theft and copyright infringement.

Theft would be stealing somebody's Lamborghini. Copyright infringement is
building your own.

The standard argument against copyright infringement is that Lamborghini lost
a sale by him building his own. However, how likely is it that he would have
bought a Lamborghini if he could not build one?

~~~
antiismist
I'm not sure that this is a great example, because it muddies the difference
between trademarks, copyrights, and patents (i.e. there may be issues with all
three here, and maybe the biggest issue is on the trademark side).

~~~
electromagnetic
Actually it doesn't have a single thing to do with copyright as it isn't a
creative work, it's solely under a patent. As long as he doesn't go around
calling it a "Lamborghini Countach" he isn't breaking any trademark laws.

Finally a patent only extends to cover something that is in itself patentable.
Nintendo is taking forever to get patents on it's DS game cartridges because
they're based off of an SD card. If its not found to be useful or inventive
then it's not patentable.

Inherently most vehicles are non-patentable as they all serve an identical
purpose and relatively few are at all inventive.

Quite simply a patent can be invalidated by someone simply inventing it
themselves, which turns something from 'original' to 'obvious' and thus non-
patentable.

Vehicle patents are very complicated to enforce, namely because if anyone ever
tries to enforce one they can actually end up getting it invalidated (which in
patent law, abolition happens more than enforcement). Lamborghini might not be
able to enforce a single patent because a court might find it an obvious
improvement over Henry Ford's original patent or is outright patent
infringement of Fords. It's a serious lose-lose business.

~~~
ken
> Inherently most vehicles are non-patentable as they all serve an identical
> purpose and relatively few are at all inventive.

I would guess Lamborghini is one of the few that does. Look up "design patent"
in wikipedia: "a patent granted on the ornamental design of a functional
item". If the shape and components of a top sports car don't meet this
description, it's hard to imagine what would.

In fact, it's not too hard to find automobile patents, e.g.,
<http://www.google.com/patents?id=XR87AAAAEBAJ> (DeLorean) or
<http://www.google.com/patents?id=TvZ7AAAAEBAJ> (Lotus?) -- but these patents
seem to have a 14-year term, so even if Lamborghini did patent this shape, the
patent (at least in the USA) has probably expired by now.

~~~
ken
Followup: looks like the Countach is
<http://www.google.com/patents?id=y9EpAAAAEBAJ> \-- patent number D324007,
granted Feb 18, 1992 to Chrysler for a period of 14 years.

~~~
hugh
Well, that's interesting. Looking further into it, the Countach had been built
since 1974, but they never applied for this US design patent until Lamborghini
was bought by Chrysler in 1989. By 1992, when it was actually granted, the
Countach had already been discontinued.

Wait... looking at the pictures again, I'm pretty sure that's actually the
Lamborghini Diablo -- that would make more sense with respect to the timing,
since it was made from 1990 to 2001.

------
viae
It's actually possible to do this with 1st generation Camaros (1967-69).
Someone thought ahead and saved the original tool and die casts before GM
destroyed them. Some googling will find you sources for parts: from frame and
body to seats adn trim. From what I've read, it costs somewhere in the realm
of 12-20k. Not bad for a clone of what is the most fantastic American muscle
car to ever be made with modern reliability.

~~~
jmtulloss
12-20k + how many man hours? More for me, all this programming doesn't help my
mechanical skills :).

~~~
jcromartie
Assembling a batch of nice fresh parts is a lot easier than you think. Unless
you have to assemble/rebuild the whole engine by hand, you will probably spend
more time waiting for the paint to dry than you will putting it all together.

~~~
tapostrophemo
Not necessarily; ever put together one of those Saga electric guitar kits?
I've spent maybe 5-10% (out of maybe 15-20 total build time) tweaking and
adjusting, finding they didn't drill all the holes in the right places, etc.

------
dougp
That's someone who doesn't let anything, including his basement, get in his
way.

------
notaddicted
After seeing the movie tomb raider I became obsessed with Lara Croft and hand
built a detailed model in my basement. I think I'll keep it down there.

~~~
fawxtin
at least give us the formula for it.

------
noonespecial
To me the coolest part would be the ramp and the new door in the basement.
Ordinary Ken slips down to the basement of his ordinary suburban house and,
like the bat cave, a Lambo comes roaring up out of the secret lair! Sweet.

------
rrhyne
I think this is kind of a shame. The guy has insane amounts of motivation,
insane skills, and even funding for his project, yet he makes a copy of
something else.

Seems all he was lacking was a great original idea.

~~~
astine
_Seems all he was lacking was a great original idea._

I dunno. Maybe he wasn't lacking it? Maybe he had one and it wasn't what he
wanted? Maybe what he wanted was a Lamborghini?

------
vaksel
if I was hand building a car from scratch I'd try for something a little bit
more exotic. Fiero kit car Coutnachs are all over the place(not really, but
its a pretty common kit).

Personally I'd go for something like an F50, because the kit cars for those
usually look like ass because the dimensions are way off since the donor cars
are shorter.

But still huge props from the guy, it probably took him 5-6 years to finish
this(unless he was doing it full time)

~~~
dangoldin
The post says 17 years - definitely not an easy feat.

~~~
vaksel
ah..makes sense that its not an F50 then...they were around from 95-97, so
they weren't around when he started. F40s were around since 87, but I bet the
behind the scenes prep work for the Countach took him a couple of years too so
they were probably not around as well.

------
tlrobinson
_"Once he finished the car there was one itsy-bitsy problem; the fact that the
faux Lambo was built in the basement meant that there was no conventional way
to take it outside of the house..."_

That's some extreme lack of foresight...

~~~
SwellJoe
For a dude who builds a super car, by hand, mostly by himself, it is merely a
technicality.

------
tapostrophemo
Cool...still, I couldn't help but think that having to cut a large hole in the
_foundation_ to get it out showed something of a lack of planning and
foresight. :-(

------
jchor
That's so badass! This car has always been one of my favs.

------
okeumeni
Is that wood?

~~~
nuclear_eclipse
The wood is only there while fashioning the sheet metal for the body. The wood
was then removed and replaced with the frame and suspension from a Corvette.

------
joubert
That is one ugly car. Bad taste. I would rather build a Porsche 911.

