Early 1960s – Start-up and 350GT Prior to founding his company, Lamborghini had commissioned the engineering firm
Società Autostar to design a
V12 engine for use in his new cars. Lamborghini wanted the engine to have a similar displacement to
Ferrari's 3-litre V12; however, he wanted the engine to be designed purely for road use, in contrast to the modified racing engines used by Ferrari in its road cars. Autostar was led by
Giotto Bizzarrini, a member of the "Gang of Five" of Ferrari engineers, who had been responsible for creating the famous
Ferrari 250 GTO, but left the company in 1961 after founder
Enzo Ferrari announced his intention to reorganise the engineering staff. The engine Bizzarrini designed, known today as the
Lamborghini V12, had a displacement of 3.5 litres, a 9.5:1
compression ratio, and a maximum output of at 9,800 rpm. Lamborghini was displeased with the engine's high
revolutions and
dry-sump lubrication system, both characteristic of the racing engines he specifically did not wish to use; when Bizzarrini refused to change the engine's design to make it more "well-mannered", Lamborghini refused to pay the agreed-upon fee of 4.5 million
Italian lire (plus a bonus for every unit of
brake horsepower the engine could produce over the equivalent Ferrari engine). Lamborghini did not fully compensate the designer until ordered to do so by the
courts, a terrific irony considering variants of Bizzarrini's V12 design were used by Lamborghini automobiles for nearly
half a century, from 1963 to 2010. The first Lamborghini chassis design was penned by Italian
Giampaolo Dallara of Ferrari and
Maserati fame, together with a team that included
Paolo Stanzani, then a recent college graduate and
Bob Wallace, a
New Zealander who was known at Maserati for his keen sense of chassis handling and excellent feedback and developmental skills. The body was styled by the then-relatively unknown designer
Franco Scaglione, who was selected by Ferruccio Lamborghini after passing over highly regarded names including
Vignale,
Ghia,
Bertone, and
Pininfarina. of the
350GTV was not very well received hence necessitating a redesign Lamborghini designed and built the
350GTV in only four months, in time for an October unveiling at the 1963
Turin Motor Show. Due to the ongoing disagreement with engine designer Giotto Bizzarrini, a working powerplant was not available for the prototype car in time for the show. The car went on display in Turin without an engine under its hood; according to lore, Ferruccio Lamborghini had the engine bay filled with bricks so that the car would sit at an appropriate height above the ground, and made sure that the bonnet stayed closed to hide the missing engine. The motoring press gave the 350GTV a warm response. Automobili Ferruccio Lamborghini S.p.A. was officially
incorporated on 30 October 1963. Ferruccio Lamborghini purchased a property at Via Modena, 12, in the township of
Sant'Agata Bolognese, less than from Cento. This location was close to the centre of Italy's automobile industry and provided easy access to skilled labour and facilities. The township was chosen as the location for the factory due to a favorable financial agreement with the city's communist leadership, who promised Lamborghini a 19% interest rate on the company's profits when deposited in the bank, in addition to charging zero tax on the profits. As part of the agreement, the factory would be required to
unionise its workers. re-designed the body of the 350 GTV prototype for Lamborghini's first production vehicle, the 350 GT Despite the favorable press reviews of the 350GTV, Ferruccio Lamborghini decided to rework the car for production as the design did not receive a much greater response from the general public. The production model, which would be called the
350GT, was restyled by
Carrozzeria Touring of
Milan, and a new chassis was constructed in-house. Bizzarrini's V12 engine would be detuned for mass production, rated at rather than the designer's intended . The completed design debuted at the 1964
Geneva Motor Show, once again garnering positive reviews from the press. Production began shortly afterwards, and by the end of the year, cars had been built for 13 customers; Lamborghini sold each car at a loss to keep prices competitive with Ferrari's. The 350GT remained in production for a further two years, with a total of 120 cars sold.
1965–1966 – 400GT and Miura In 1965, Giampaolo Dallara made improvements to the Bizzarrini V12, increasing its displacement to 3.9 litres, and its power output to at 6,500 rpm. The engine was first installed in the 400GT, essentially a 350GT with a larger engine. At the 1966 Geneva Auto Show, Lamborghini introduced the
400GT (2+2), a stretched revision of the 350GT/400GT that had
2+2 seating and other minor updates. The 400GT 2+2, like its predecessors, was well received by the motoring press. The revenue from sales of the 2+2 allowed Lamborghini to increase the labour force at his factory to 170 employees, and expand services offered to customers. During 1965, Dallara, Stanzani, and Wallace invested their personal time into the development of a prototype car 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. They hoped to sway Ferruccio Lamborghini away from the opinion that such a car would be too expensive and distract from the company's focus. When finally brought aboard, Lamborghini allowed his engineers to go ahead, deciding that the car, known internally as the P400, would be useful as a potential marketing tool, if nothing more. The car's rolling chassis, featuring an unusual transversely mounted mid-engine layout, was displayed at the Turin Salon in 1965, impressing showgoers. A version with bodywork styled by Bertone designer Marcello Gandini was finished only days before its debut at the 1966 Geneva motor show. As had happened three years earlier at the debut of the 350GTV, an ill-fitting engine meant the prototype's engine bay was filled with ballast, and the engine compartment was kept locked. The favorable reaction to the P400 at Geneva led Lamborghini to slate the car for production by 1967, under the name
Miura. The Miura's layout and styling would become the standard for mid-engine two-seat high-performance sports cars, a trend that continues today. Lamborghini now had an offering that positioned the fledgling automaker as a leader in the world of sports cars, while the 400GT was the sophisticated road car that Ferruccio Lamborghini had long desired to build. By end of 1966, the workforce at the Sant'Agata factory had expanded to 300, and enough deposits were made by prospective buyers to begin the final development of the Miura in 1967. The first four cars produced were kept at the factory, where Bob Wallace continued to improve and refine the car. By December, 108 cars had been delivered.
1967–1968 – Islero replaces 400GT, Stanzani replaces Dallara Production of the 400GT continued, with Ferruccio Lamborghini seeking to replace the four-year-old design. Lamborghini commissioned Touring, which had styled the 350GT and the 400GT, to design a possible replacement based on the same chassis. Touring's
400 GT Flying Star II did not win Lamborghini's approval. Giorgio Neri and Luciano Bonacini, of
Neri and Bonacini coachbuilders in
Modena, produced their own design, the
400GT Monza, which was rejected as well. Facing mounting financial difficulties, Touring would close its doors later that year. Ferruccio Lamborghini turned to Bertone designer Mario Marazzi, who had formerly worked at Touring. Together with Lamborghini's engineers, he developed a four-seater concept named the
Marzal. The car rode on a stretched version of the P400 chassis and was powered by an in-line six-cylinder engine that was made from one-half of Lamborghini's V12 design. Despite an innovative design that featured
gullwing doors and enormous glass windows, Lamborghini rejected the design. Eventually, a toned-down version became the
Islero 400GT. While the car was not the full four-seater that he desired, Ferruccio Lamborghini thought the car represented a well-developed
gran turismo product. It failed to attract buyers, with only 125 cars produced between 1968 and 1969. New versions of the Miura arrived in 1968; the Miura P400 S (more commonly known as the Miura S) had a stiffened chassis and more power, with the V12 engine now developing at 7,000 rpm. At the 1968 Brussels auto show, the automaker unveiled the Miura P400
Roadster (more commonly called the Miura Spider), an open-top version of the coupé. Gandini, by now effectively the head of design at Bertone, had paid great attention to the details, particularly the problems of wind buffeting and noise insulation inherent to a roadster. For all of Gandini's hard work, sales manager Ubaldo Sgarzi was forced to turn potential buyers away, as Lamborghini and Bertone were unable to reach a consensus on the size of a theoretical roadster production run. The one-off Miura Spider was sold off to an American metal alloy supplier, who wanted to use it as a marketing device. 1968 was a positive time for all of Ferruccio's businesses, and Automobili delivered 353 cars over the course of the year. {{external media In August 1968,
Giampaolo Dallara, frustrated with Ferruccio Lamborghini's refusal to participate in motorsport, was recruited away from Sant'Agata to head the
Formula One programme at rival automaker
De Tomaso in Modena. With profits on the rise, a racing programme would have been a possibility, but Lamborghini remained against even the construction of prototypes, stating his mission as: "I wish to build GT cars without defects – quite normal, conventional but perfect – not a technical bomb." With cars like the 400GT and the Islero, his aim to establish himself and his cars as equal or superior to the works of Enzo Ferrari had been satisfied. Dallara's assistant, Paolo Stanzani, replaced him as technical director.
1969 – Espada and union trouble Bertone was able to persuade Lamborghini to allow them to design a brand-new four-seater. The shape was penned by
Marcello Gandini, and a bodyshell was delivered to Ferruccio for inspection. The businessman was less than pleased with the enormous gullwing doors that Gandini had included, and insisted that the car should have conventional doors instead. The car that resulted from the collaboration was debuted at the 1969 Geneva show with the name
Espada, powered by a 3.9-litre, front-mounted evolution of the factory's V12, generating a power output of . The Espada was a success, with a total production run of 1,217 cars over ten years of production. In 1969, Automobili Lamborghini encountered problems with its fully unionised work force, among which the machinists and fabricators had begun to take one-hour token stoppages as part of a national campaign due to strained relations between the metal workers' union and the Italian industry. Ferruccio Lamborghini, who often rolled up his sleeves and joined in the work on the factory floor, was able to motivate his staff to continue working towards their common goal despite the disruptions. Throughout that year, Lamborghini's product range, then consisting of the Islero, the Espada, and the Miura S, received upgrades across the board, with the Miura receiving a power boost, the Islero being upgraded to the "S" trim, and the Espada gaining comfort and performance upgrades, which allowed it to reach speeds of up to . The Islero was slated to be replaced by a shortened yet higher-performing version of the Espada, the
Jarama 400GT. The 3.9-litre V12 was retained, its compression ratio increasing to 10.5:1.
1970–1971 – Jarama, Urraco, prototype Countach, and financial woes By the time the Jarama was unveiled at the 1970 Geneva Motor Show, Paolo Stanzani was at work on a new clean-sheet design, which would use no parts from previous Lamborghini cars. Changes in tax laws and a desire to make full use of the factory's manufacturing capacity meant that the Italian automaker would follow the direction taken by Ferrari, with its
Dino 246 and Porsche, with its
911, and produce a smaller, V8-powered
2+2 car, the
Urraco. The 2+2 body style was selected as a concession to practicality, with Ferruccio acknowledging that Urraco owners might have children. The single overhead cam
V8 designed by Stanzani generated a power output of at 5,000 rpm.
Bob Wallace immediately began road testing and development; the car was to be presented at the 1970 Turin motor show. In 1970, Lamborghini began development of a replacement for the Miura, which was a pioneering model, but had interior noise levels that Ferruccio Lamborghini found unacceptable and nonconforming to his brand philosophy. Engineers designed a new, longer chassis that placed the engine longitudinally, further away from the driver's seat. Designated the
LP 500 for its 4.97-litre version of the company's V12, the prototype's body was styled by
Marcello Gandini at Bertone. The car was presented at the 1971
Geneva Motor Show, alongside the final revision of the Miura, the P400
SuperVeloce. Completing the Lamborghini range were the Espada 2, the Urraco P250, and the Jarama GT. As a world financial crisis began to take hold, Ferruccio Lamborghini's companies began to run into financial difficulties. In 1971, Lamborghini's tractor company, which exported around half of its production, ran into difficulties. Cento, Trattori's South African importer, cancelled all its orders. After staging a
successful coup d'état, the new military government of
Bolivia cancelled a large order of tractors that was partially ready to ship from
Genoa. Trattori's employees, like Automobili's, were unionised and could not be laid off. In 1972, Lamborghini sold his entire holding in Trattori to
SAME, another tractor builder.
1972 – Ferruccio sells control of the company The entire Lamborghini group was now finding itself in financial troubles. Development at the automaker slowed; the production version of the LP 500 missed the 1972 Geneva Show, and only the P400 GTS version of the Jarama was on display. Faced with a need to cut costs, Paolo Stanzani set aside the LP 500's powerplant, slating a smaller, 4-litre engine for production. Ferruccio Lamborghini began courting buyers for Automobili; he entered negotiations with Georges-Henri Rossetti, a wealthy Swiss businessman and friend of Ferruccio's, as well as the owner of an Islero and an Espada. Ferruccio sold Rossetti 51% of the company for US$600,000, thereby relinquishing control of the automaker he had founded. He continued to work at the Sant'Agata factory; Rossetti rarely involved himself in Automobili's affairs. ==1973–1977 – Rossetti==