More than half a century after Marcello Gandini’s distinctive style debuted with the 1968 Alfa Romeo Carabo and 1970 Lancia Stratos Zero concepts, his radical wedge has lost none of its fascination. In the 1970s, Bertone’s star designer turned the world of car design on its head with uncompromising creations such as the successful Stratos HF rally wedge and the Lamborghini Countach, the most famous expression of this design language. Particularly among sports cars, the soft curves of the 1950s and 1960s gave way to crisp edges that made the brute force of the powertrains unmistakably visible.

Designer Rem D. Koolhaas, head of the footwear brand United Nude, distilled the shape of the wedge from Sant’Agata he so admires down to its essence. Following the low-poly principle familiar from computer graphics, he broke the Countach’s silhouette into a handful of large surfaces, resulting in a faceted body made of tinted polycarbonate panels. The outcome bears a resemblance to Trevor Fiore’s Citroën Karin concept, whose pyramid-shaped roof drew crowds to the French marque’s stand at the 1980 Paris Motor Show. According to United Nude, four examples of the Lo Res were built.

At its Las Vegas auction on 31 October, Broad Arrow will offer the car bearing chassis number 003. According to the consignor, it is the only fully completed prototype. And yes, the Lo Res really does drive, even if it isn’t road legal. A 5 kW electric motor powers the rear wheels through a single-speed transmission and is said to propel the otherworldly-looking object to around 30 mph, just under 50 km/h.

The Lo Res caused quite a stir on its 2016 debut and won the prestigious Wallpaper* Design Award, presented by the British design magazine, that same year. Its futuristic looks earned it a place in pop culture, with the rap scene in particular embracing the Countach homage as a spectacular music video prop. Chassis 003 is verifiably the car seen in the video for ‘New Freezer’ by Rich the Kid featuring Kendrick Lamar. It is also believed to be the example that appears in the video for ‘Gang Gang’ by JackBoys, whose members include Don Toliver and Sheck Wes alongside Travis Scott.

Yet the story of chassis 003 isn’t only tied to famous names from the music world. In June 2019, the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation donated the car to the NGO Energy Independence Now, which campaigns for rigorous decarbonisation. The Lo Res was then shown in the ‘Disruptors’ exhibition at the renowned Petersen Automotive Museum and from 2020 spent most of its time slumbering in the Vault, the institution’s basement collection in Los Angeles. From August 2025 to July 2026 it returned to the spotlight there for ‘The Wedge Revolution’ exhibition, surrounded by many of the most significant wedge-shaped cars ever built. Now the quintessence of Gandini’s wedge design is looking for a new owner, who can either display it as a sculpture in their garage or share it with the public at the world’s most prestigious automotive events and design fairs.

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