BACK TO THE FUTURE
Like superheroes, every great company has a founding myth. Automobili Lamborghini’s origin story centers around a clash of midcentury Italian industrial titans: Ferruccio Lamborghini and Enzo Ferrari. Lamborghini was a successful entrepreneur who, legend has it, decided to reward himself for creating his eponymous tractor-manufacturing company with the purchase of a Ferrari sports car. But the clutch of his new possession proved troublesome, and when Lamborghini had his own company’s engineers troubleshoot the problem, he called for a meeting with Ferrari to offer the technical solution.
The imperious Enzo Ferrari was outraged that a tractor maker would deign to tell him how to design his sports cars, and he sent Lamborghini on his way, telling him to focus on what he knew best. Instead, Lamborghini returned to Sant’Agata, outside Bologna, resolved to build sports cars that would show Ferrari how it should be done. He warmed up with a couple of conventional 1960s-style models, starting with the 350GT in 1964.
Lamborghini’s first production car, the 350GT, featured an aluminum alloy V-12 and was well-received following its release in 1964.
The Miura was a breakout success for Lamborghini upon its introduction
