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reprinted with permission |
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Unlike most of the jelly bean cars being pumped out of factories around the world by major automakers today, the Lamborghini Countach has never been dull.
Even today, nearly two decades after its introduction, the car, with all its angles, all its horsepower, all its eccentricities, still stands out from the crowd.
As a consequence, the car--in kit form and as a full-blown turnkey replica--continues to sell well. Demetrios Koroneos, who runs Exotic Illusions out of Dickson City, Pennsylvania, has sold 80 kits and 11 turnkeys over the past 11 years.
"I'm not an exaggerating kind of guy," says Demetrios, "so that's the real number. I've got them all documented."
As a matter of fact, he and his wife, Maria, do all of their own hand-laid fiberglass bodies. And, in all the years Exotic Illusions has been building Countach replicas, Demetrios has never raised his prices!
Demetrios came to this country by boat in 1962 from Greece, and he and his wife started a string of donut shops. When (master designer) Adrian Corbett moved to Pennsylvania back in the late '80s to build his VW-based Countach before moving on to a car called the Patriot, Demetrios turned the donut shop over to his wife and learned how to do fiberglass.
Before long, Koroneos was building Countach kits for Fieros. He currently sells both an unstretched (using the standard 93.5-inch Fiero wheelbase) and a stretched version to accurately duplicate the Countach's 98-inch wheelbase on the 25th anniversary model. The package to stretch a Fiero frame costs you $500.
The base Eurosex kit sells for $5,500, and that comes with everything including the headlight buckets prehung and installed. The Eurosex 2500 (the anniversary model) sells for $8,500. If you want a turnkey, plan on spending at least $35,000. The car pictured here, with V6 Pontiac engine and a Miller/Woods turbo in a low-mileage '88 Fiero, sold for $50,000.
Unlike many Countach replicas, the light buckets on this car work!
Although Koroneos got into the game to own a Countach replica of his own, he still doesn't have one. "The longest time I've had one is seven days," he says. "I've got one (a turnkey) at the paint shop right now, and there are three people who want it. It's not sold, but t will be! I have no doubt."
And, as for assembling a kit, Demetrios refuses to pull any punches. "I tell people it will take between 300 and 400 hours, but I guarantee that they will be able to finish it. When I sell a car, every hole is cut and everything: has been hinged or installed on the body. That's the difference between someone finishing a car and giving up."
It's his integrity which sets him apart. "Curt Scott says on the Internet that I'm the only Countach replica manufacturer who he hasn't received a complaint about. My feeling is that if you have only one complaint, that's the one everyone will hear!"
Altogether, Koroneos feels that a person can have one of his cars on the road for $25,000.
While we could spend even more time explaining what you get with each of the kits, or about his one-year guarantee on a turnkey, or his guarantee that his kit will meet your expectations or he'll refund your full deposit--it would ultimately be wasted space. All you have to do is call Demetrios and he will fill in any blanks for you. "I answer the phone. I'm here seven days a week and you'll never get an answering machine. I'm here all the time," he says most emphatically!
And, besides, what more could we say, besides maybe the fact that in the 11 years he's been doing exoticars, all the lights on the cars have come from Greece. "I use only authentic items, says Demetrios, who recently returned from his homeland with 200 sets of the hard-to-get items. He got them the hard way--he worked for them. "I went to one dealer and he called a couple of his friends, who called a couple of their friends. I even got some lights from eastern Europe!"
In the end, though, Demetrios was working for his customers.
