The highly desired Lamborghini brand is known by many car enthusiasts as a close Italian rival to Ferrari. The average consumer can easily become overwhelmed with the number of exotic supersport carmakers that are creating ground-breaking machines every year, but everyone has heard the names Ferrari and Lamborghini because they have been iconic for decades for producing consumer cars that perform like race cars.
When people imagine themselves reaching their goals of financial success, they often picture one of these cars in their garage along with several other luxury vehicles. The origin story of Lamborghini is one of epic rivalry between the founders of the companies.
Ferruccio Lamborghini grew up in a family of grape farmers, but he did not feel that farming was his path in life. Ferruccio was interested in mechanical pursuits. He had served during World War II in the Air Force, and he repurposed some old military vehicles as tractors after the war. His business generated considerable wealth, and this led him to purchase some luxury cars. One of them was a Ferrari.
Lamborghini developed a passion for cars to the point that he began racing. He was knowledgeable enough about cars that he discovered some things that he wanted to change mechanically in his racing vehicles. He even wanted to modify the performance of his Ferrari because he felt that it was too rough and noisy on the track. He also found that the car’s clutch was unreliable.
During the 1960s, when Ferrari was the top sports car brand, Lamborghini approached Enzo Ferrari about the improvements that he found were needed in the cars. Ferrari dismissed his advice as coming from a “tractor mechanic,” which naturally sparked a bitter rivalry between the men. From that moment onward, Lamborghini decided to turn his hobby into a serious career path.
Lamborghini immediately went to work designing his own luxury sports car. After four months, he had unveiled the Lamborghini 350 GTV at an auto show in 1963. He began selling this model, which was later renamed as the 350 GT. Although many people believed Lamborghini was insane to try and compete with Ferrari, his wealth and influence began to rival that of his competitor.
Lamborghini bought land in Sant’Agata Bolognese for his new car factory. His experience in the tractor business allowed him to create an effective manufacturing facility. The construction of the auto plant was unrivaled in its design during the early 1960s. An office building was also constructed alongside the manufacturing plant. This allowed the founder to oversee the car production while he ran the business side of things.
Lamborghini commissioned Giotto Bizzarrini to build the engine of his first car. Although he was a designer of Ferrari engines, there was no better choice in the world at that time. His team created their own unique designs for all the other parts of the cars. With his new factory and carefully selected team, Lamborghini revealed the 350 GT at the Turin Motor Show. The company has continued to create innovative and head-turning sports cars ever since.
