Lamborghini : The real raging bull

Ferrucio Lamborghini the founder of Lamborghini Automobili was a poor man by birth . His parents were farmers and their first farm tractor was given as charity to the family by the wealthier farmers. Ferrucio always used to loved to work and mend the tractor when it malfunctioned , this made Ferrucio's father admit Ferrucio to a Mechanical Technician course. Ferrucio completed his degree and joined the Italian Airforce as a group technician in the world war II. After the world war II Ferrucio started a small garage to repair cars and often used to convert charming street cars into high speed cars . But how did he enter the Automotive manufacturing field is still a question that lingers the minds of several people.



After opening a garage he saw the agricultural growth in Italy and created a tractor named the Carioca with parts from WWII trucks. Seeing the popularity for his tractors due the relatively low price , Ferrucio founder the Lamborghini Trattori and began manufacturing tractors.

Lamborghini spent most of his growing wealth in purchasing high end cars like the Alfa Romeos ,  Mercedes Benz 300SL  , Maserati 3500 GT , Jaguar E-type . In 1958 Ferrucio went on to purchase several Ferraris , namely the Ferrari 250 GT , 250 SWB Berlinetta and several other cars from Maranello . Lamborghini believed that the Ferrari's cars were good , but too noisy and clumsy for a road car , he said that they looked like track cars with substandard interiors. Ferrucio's approach towards a Grand Tourers(GT) were way different from that of Ferrari .

Ferrucio's belief was shattered when all of his Ferraris had similar problems with the clutch and regular visits to Maranello were required . Much to Ferrucio's annoyance all of his Ferraris were taken to a secret chamber in the Maranello factory and mended . Ferrucio later met Enzo Ferrari and told him about the problems that he faced with his Ferraris , the notorious and pride filled Enzo Ferrari insulted Ferrucio saying that Ferrucio a mere tractor maker who had no idea how cars are made did not deserve to comment on Ferrari's cars.

Ferrucio who was offended and insulted by Enzo , returned to his factory to design the first Lamborghini along with his team of designers . Lamborghini designed the first car , the 350 GT .

A 1964 production version 350 GT

Lamborghini who considered Ferrari an arch rival designed one of the best cars in the Italian auto industry which had a first in class 3.5 litre V12 engine . It was constructed on an all aluminium tubular chassis making the car as light as possible , a revolutionary technology of its time. The car also had an all leather interior , a soft touch dashboard and a lighted cluster panel, all high end features until the 70s.

Only 124 such cars were produced making this  a super rare iconic classic upto this day.

A Miura Targa an extremely rare vehicle

In 1966 the 350 GT was discontinued and a new car The Miura was launched . The Miura was named after a breed of bull used for the Spanish bull fight , Ferrucio loved the game and the agility of the Miura breed . The Miura was a transverse mid-engined rear wheel drive sports coupe that went on sale in the US and Europe in 1967 and was sold until 1973. The Miura had several body types like the targa and fastback to compete with other cars that were being sold in its time.

Shortly after the sales escalated ,  Ferrucio soon predicted the demand for oil would increase and his car sales would fall , an hence sold the company in 1974 to an Italian firm after producing just over 600 cars .

After this Ferrucio resorted to his sprawling 750 acre estate and started Lamborghini wines which is sold upto this day.

Meanwhile his automotive company shifted from hand to hand until 1987 after which it was sold to Chrysler and then in 1994 sold to a Malaysian firm before they finally sold it to Audi in 1999.

After Lamborghini was sold several cars were produced , notably , Urraco(1972-1979) , Espada(1968-1978) , Countach(1974-1990) ,  Jalpa (1981-1988) , Diablo(1990-2001).

Lamborghini Diablo

After Audi purchased the brand , in 1999, several new models were created and over 3000 cars were produced in 2015. Audi launched the flagship vehicles of Lamborghini , the Murcielago and Gallarado which were sold until 2010 after which they were replaced by the Aventador  and Huracan.

 Ferrucio Lamborghini died in 1993 in Umbria , Italy. Though he had sold his company he still watched over each and every car produced by Lamborghini . Although there are no proper figures of the number of cars produced by Lamborghini between 1973 and 1994 , Lamborghini survived two great recessions and still continues to be an eye catching dream car that dominates the supercar industry .

The story of Ferrucio Lamborghini is a story of revenge and how following one's passion can change one's life .

Until this day Ferrucio Lamborghini's cars and his accessories are available for the public to view at the Lamborghini Museo at Modena , Italy.

Dedicated to Ferrucio Lamborghini and Lamborghini Automobili

By Vaibhav Krishna