WORDS: NATHAN CHADWICK | PHOTOS: BONHAMS
The Lamborghini Countach famously extensively damaged in the making of the 2013 movie The Wolf of Wall Street is heading to auction with Bonhams, just days before its sister ‘perfect’ car goes up for auction with RM Sotheby’s. On the night before the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (November 25, 2023), this cinematic icon will be put up for sale directly from a member of the film’s production crew.
This was the car that shared three minutes and 11 seconds of riotous destruction as Jordan Belfort, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, tries to get home from a country club having ingested far too many Quaaludes. The scene begins with Belfort sliding into his car and then believing he was driving home safely, only to awake the next day to find police and the remnants of his Countach in the front yard.
Bonhams says this is the car that starred in the majority of the film's scenes
Bonhams says this is the car that starred in the majority of The Wolf of Wall Street‘s scenes. The second Countach, chassis ZA9CA05A0KLA12722 – up for sale with RM Sotheby’s in December, as reported here – is claimed to have been rented for use in approximately 16 seconds of screen time in all. “The first, shot by the second-unit crew with a stunt driver, and the second, where it is only partially visible, and DiCaprio’s character is briefly seen exiting it,” Bonhams says.
The rest of the sequence was performed by this car, which after the first run in the film was driven home hitting cars, signs and a mailbox. The Wolf of Wall Street director Martin Scorsese insisted on using a real Countach because he believed a glassfibre replica “wouldn’t crumple up properly”. It turned out that the damage caused on the ‘real’ run home wasn’t enough – as per the director’s instructions, an additional car and a flatbed truck were used to inflict yet more damage to the Countach.
Chassis ZA9CA05A6KLA12692, referred to as the ‘Hero Car’ is one of just 658 Lamborghini Countach 25th Anniversary editions built, and one of a handful produced for the US market. It comes directly from one of the film-makers, and is presented in exactly the state in which it finished filming. It comes with several letters of authenticity from key members of the film crew, with one letter saying: “The Lamborghini Countach with VIN ZA9CA05A6KLA12692 is the one and only Hero Car used in The Wolf of Wall Street.”
The car will come with a director’s chair and clapboard signed by Scorsese, DiCaprio and female lead Margot Robbie, plus two crew hoodies, two DVDs of the film and the letters of authenticity. The whole package is estimated at between $1.5m and $2m, and is due to be sold at Bonhams’ Abu Dhabi sale on the eve of the Abu Dhabi F1 GP.
More details are available here.
