The most common version, as told by Ferruccio Lamborghini's son [3], 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.
Ferruccio 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 2 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, Ferruccio 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 predecessor gave the company sufficient funds to design its first supercar - the now-legendary Lamborghini Miura, which was premiered by Ferruccio himself in November 1965 at the Turin Auto Show. The car's engine was transversely mounted. The styling was executed by Marcello Gandini in less than a year; a completed car was displayed at the Geneva Auto Show in March, 1966 (the Turin car was only a chassis). The car's name was taken from that of a famed fighting-bull trainer, Don Eduardo Miura. The Miura was an absolute success for Lamborghini, 111 were sold in 1967, and it propelled the company into the small world of exotic supercar manufacturers. Because of it’s gorgeous looks and performance, the Miura is the most sought after Lamborghini among car collectors.
In 1971, Lamborghini brought the unusual looking LP500 Countach prototype, named after an Italian slang term uttered in surprise by a person who had just seen the new car. The production LP400 Countach was introduced three years later. The prototype was the first car to sport Lamborghini's now-traditional scissor doors, along with vertically mounted rear air intakes. The same 4-litre V12 engine was used.
In 1972, however, the company suffered a major setback. A massive tractor order for a South American nation was cancelled, rendering upgrades Lamborghini had already made to its factories in anticipation of the demand useless. The money lost drove Ferruccio to sell part of his share in the tractor factory, which was taken over by Fiat. The tractor business was eventually acquired by SAME (now Same Deutz-Fahr). Lamborghini tractors are still sold today, as part of the SAME Deutz-Fahr Group.
Throughout the seventies, sales of the Countach kept the company in business. Soon enough, the car division became self-sufficient and profitable. Lamborghini, however, sold all his remaining stock in the company to a Swiss investor. Ferruccio Lamborghini died in February 1993 at the age of 76.
The 1970s oil crisis plagued sales of high performance cars, and Lamborghini suffered budget and parts supply problems; cars were sold with two-year back orders, and customers became fed up with waiting for their cars.[citation needed] Also, Lamborghinis were never raced and were never fully developed; the company developed a reputation of building toys for rich playboys when Ferrari and Porsche, and Maserati before them built illustrious careers in the racing world.[citation needed] Since the beginning the cars had continuous and expensive reliability problems, in the 70’s things became even worse, as cars now had to meet US emission requirements.[citation needed] All these factors contributed to the company's demise. Like many other exotic Italian automobiles, the quality of construction and of the components used were often of poor quality. In 1978, Lamborghini declared bankruptcy. An Italian court was appointed to find a buyer, and the Swiss-based Mimran brothers took over the company. The 1980s saw things turn around for Lamborghini under its new ownership
In a surprise move, the company was then sold to the Chrysler Corporation. Lamborghini at the time was working on the Countach's successor, the Diablo. Chrysler brought its vast resources to the playing field, along with design input, pollution controls, and new manufacturing techniques. The end result was another success for the company. The Lamborghini Diablo received fame much like that of its predecessor, and once again put the manufacturer on top of its game.[citation needed]
In 1994, Chrysler was forced to sell Lamborghini to an Indonesian investment group headed by Tommy Suharto. The sale was due to poor economic circumstances for Chrysler, much like those which would later force the Indonesians to sell the company in the late 1990s. By then however, the German car company Audi AG had gained interest in the ailing Italian company, and in 1998, in a complex series of transactions, became the sole owner of Automobili Lamborghini.
Lamborghini's latest owner once again greatly influenced the design of its latest supercar, today's Murcielago. Audi's vast technical resources helped produce one of Lamborghini's most sophisticated two-seaters to date.
Lamborghini's cars are among the most powerful, expensive and exclusive serial-manufactured cars on the road today. Lamborghini's various models have different exclusive features, such as carbon fiber construction, high-tech V10 engines, and styling penciled by such names as Franco Scaglione, Touring of Milan, Zagato, Mario Marazzi, Bertone, ItalDesign and Marcello Gandini.
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