Lamborghini

Around the 1960s, successful tractor manufacturer Ferruccio Lamborghini began to gain interest in developing a high-performance car. He had owned Oscas, Maseratis, and Ferraris, but was never completely happy with his car. Although there are several versions of what finally drove Ferrucio to bring his car company into existence, they all involve a conflict between Enzo Ferrari (the founder of Ferrari) and Ferruccio, driving Lamborgini to set up his own company to compete against Ferrari's. The most common version, as told by Ferruccio Lamborghini's son [1], is that Ferruccio Lamborghini went to meet Enzo Ferrari at the Ferrari factory to complain about the quality of the clutch in the Ferrari 250 GT he owned. Enzo Ferrari sent him away telling him to go and drive tractors because he was not able to drive cars. Lamborghini went back to his factory, had his Ferrari's clutch dismantled and realized that the clutch manufacturer was the same who supplied the clutches for his tractors. In his warehouse he found a spare part which he thought suitable, and when it was installed the problem was solved. Ferrucio decided that his car was to have a V12 engine, and enlisted the services of talented engineer Giotto Bizzarrini, who had previously worked on a Ferrari V12. The new engine had 4 cams, a short stroke and 4 big bore valves per cylinder, and developed a surprising 350 horsepower. The engine featured aluminium construction, with a crankshaft supported by seven main bearings, forged aluminium pistons, and camshafts with their own half-engine speed sprocket and silent chain. The car the engine was mounted in was designed by Franco Scaglione's Scaglione-Touring. This Lamborghini 350GTV prototype began making public appearances in 1963, starting with the Turin Auto Show. Sales of the production model, known as the 350GT, began the following year with great success, with over 130 examples sold. Born under the sign of the taurus, Ferrucio Lamborghini used the bull as the badge by which to mark his new automobile. The 350GT was followed up by the 400GT. The excellent sales of the 400GT and its predecesor gave the company sufficient funds to design its first...

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