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Luxury Car Magnate Ferruccio Lamborghini Is Born: World War II

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Paula Mhaela

Ferruccio Lamborghini was born in Italy in 1916 and founded Automobili Lamborghini in 1963 after experiencing issues with his Ferrari. The company's first car was the 350 GTV coupe. Lamborghini became known for high-performance luxury sports cars like the Miura, which helped the company gain international recognition in the 1960s. While successful initially, Lamborghini's business struggled and he sold the sports car company in the 1970s. The company changed hands over the years before ultimately being acquired by Volkswagen in the late 1990s.

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Luxury Car Magnate Ferruccio Lamborghini Is Born: World War II

Uploaded by

Paula Mhaela
63 views2 pages
Ferruccio Lamborghini was born in Italy in 1916 and founded Automobili Lamborghini in 1963 after experiencing issues with his Ferrari. The company's first car was the 350 GTV coupe. Lamborghini became known for high-performance luxury sports cars like the Miura, which helped the company gain international recognition in the 1960s. While successful initially, Lamborghini's business struggled and he sold the sports car company in the 1970s. The company changed hands over the years before ultimately being acquired by Volkswagen in the late 1990s.

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Ferruccio Lamborghini was born in Italy in 1916 and founded Automobili Lamborghini in 1963 after experiencing issues with his Ferrari. The company's first car was the 350 GTV coupe. Lamborghini became known for high-performance luxury sports cars like the Miura, which helped the company gain international recognition in the 1960s. While successful initially, Lamborghini's business struggled and he sold the sports car company in the 1970s. The company changed hands over the years before ultimately being acquired by Volkswagen in the late 1990s.

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63 views2 pages

Luxury Car Magnate Ferruccio Lamborghini Is Born: World War II

Uploaded by

Paula Mhaela
Ferruccio Lamborghini was born in Italy in 1916 and founded Automobili Lamborghini in 1963 after experiencing issues with his Ferrari. The company's first car was the 350 GTV coupe. Lamborghini became known for high-performance luxury sports cars like the Miura, which helped the company gain international recognition in the 1960s. While successful initially, Lamborghini's business struggled and he sold the sports car company in the 1970s. The company changed hands over the years before ultimately being acquired by Volkswagen in the late 1990s.

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Luxury car magnate Ferruccio Lamborghini

is born
On April 28, 1916, Ferruccio Lamborghini, the founder of the company that bears his name and
is known for stylish, high-performance cars, is born in Italy.

After World War II, Lamborghini founded a business making tractors from reconfigured surplus
military machines, near Bologna, Italy. He later expanded into other ventures, including
manufacturing air-conditioning and heating systems, and grew rich. Lamborghini’s success
enabled him to purchase a variety of luxury sports cars, including a Ferrari, considered one of the
top cars of the time. After experiencing mechanical difficulties with his Ferrari, Lamborghini
decided to start his own rival sports car company, even hiring a former top Ferrari engineer.
Automobili Lamborghini was officially established in 1963 in Sant’Agata Bolognese, Italy, and
the same year debuted its first car, the Lamborghini 350 GTV, a two-seater coupe with a V12
engine.

The company’s logo featured a bull, a reference to Ferruccio Lamborghini’s zodiac sign, Taurus
the bull. Various Lamborghini models had names related to bulls or bullfighting, including the
Miura (named for Don Eduardo Miura, a breeder of fighting bulls), a mid-engine sports car that
was released in mid-1960s and gained Lamborghini an international following among car
enthusiasts and a reputation for prestige and cutting-edge design.

In the early 1970s, Lamborghini’s tractor business experienced problems and he eventually sold
his interest in his sports car business and retired to his vineyard. Automobili Lamborghini
changed hands several times and in the late 1990s was purchased by German automaker
Volkswagen. The company continued to build high-performance cars, including the Murcielago
(capable of going over 200 mph) and the Gallardo. Ferruccio Lamborghini died on February 20,
1993, at the age of 76.

During 1965, Lamborghini’s three top engineers, Gian Paolo Dallara, Paolo Stanzani and New
Zealander Bob Wallace put their own time into development of a prototype – named P400 – that
they envisioned as a road car with racing pedigree, capable of winning on the track as well as
being driven on the road by enthusiasts.

Despite being the antithesis of Ferruccio’s original ‘Grand Touring’ ethos, the company founder
allowed his engineers to go ahead, deciding the P400 would be useful as a marketing tool, if
nothing more.

Early Miuras were powered by a transversely mounted 350bhp 3.9-litre V12 derived from the 400GT. At
the 1968 Turin motor show, the Italian car maker pulled the wraps off the Miura P400S, which
showcased newly added power windows, optional air conditioning, bright chrome trim around external
windows and power up to 370bhp at 7000rpm. The last and most famous Miura – the P400SV or Miura
SV – featured a power hike up to a heady 380bhp. In total, 764 Miuras were made.
In 1968, the replacement for the 400GT arrived in the form of the Lamborghini Islero. Named after a
Miura bull which killed famed matador Manuel Rodriguez Manolete, it was essentially a rebody of the
400GT, but was powered by a 325bhp 3.9-litre V12 mated to a five-speed transmission and featured
fully independent suspension and disk brakes. Even though Ferruccio Lamborghini believed the car
represented a well-developed Gran Turismo product, it failed to attract buyers with only 125 units sold
between 1968 and 1969.

The following year, design house Bertone persuaded Lamborghini to allow them to design a brand new
four-seater. Crafted by Marcello Gandini, the result was a two-door coupé named the Espada. Again it
was propelled by the Raging Bull’s trusty 3.9-litre V12 under the bonnet, which kicked out 325bhp and
was the first Lamborghini offered with an optional automatic transmission. A total of 1,217 Espadas
were built, making it the most successful Lamborghini model at the time.

In 1970, the Jarama was unveiled at that year’s Geneva motor show. Another Marcello Gandini-
designed car, the Jarama was built on a shortened platform of the Espada and was available in
two flavours – a 350bhp GT (1970-1973) and 365bhp GTS (1973-1976), both with the familiar
3929cc V12 unit shoehorned in the nose.

Also in 1970, Lamborghini pulled the wraps off its 2+2 mid-engined Urraco coupé at that year’s
Turin auto show. The first model leaving the production line in 1973, the Urraco was a more
affordable alternative to the contemporary Ferrari Dino and Maserati Merak.

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