L'Italo-Americano
THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 2014
www.italoamericano.com
2
Lamborghini: Italian excellence from the fields to the
racetrack
Continued from page 1
racing cars. He used his abilities
to modify his old Fiat, until the
proceeds
from his business – a
tractor and agricultural equip-
ment manufacturing company,
founded after World War II –
allowed him to purchase faster
and
more expensive cars such as
Mercedes, Jaguar, Alfa Romeo,
Maserati and, finally, Ferrari.
Despite his deep respect and
admiration for Maserati and
Ferrari's
work, Ferruccio
Lamborghini considered the for-
mer too heavy and not fast
enough, and the latter too noisy
and with poor quality interiors.
Legend
has it that he went to
Maranello to discuss the features
of the perfect gran turismo with
Enzo Ferrari, and to ask him for
advice to actually start building
one.
But he was turned down.
A
few years later, at the 1963
Turin Auto Show, Ferruccio
Lamborghini unveiled his brand
new, high-performance and styl-
ish 350 GTV, equipped with
mechanical components from his
tractors to increase power and
ride quality while keeping the
costs
low. The prototype was a
success.
Its logo was the beautiful
Miura bull. Lamborghini had
been introduced to a renowned
breeder of Spanish fighting bulls,
and was so impressed by them
that
he adopted a raging bull as
the emblem of his auto company.
After the Miura bulls, other
breeds inspired the names and
the looks of his creations:
Urraco,
Jalpa, Gallardo, and
more.
Italian and international
celebrities were among
Lamborghini's custumers, from
Grace Kelly to Liz Taylor, and
Arnold Schwarzenegger to Frank
Sinatra, who apparently said "If
you want to be somebody you
buy a Ferrari, if you are some-
body you buy a Lamborghini."
The 1970s oil crisis caused
financial troubles for
Lamborghini's business. He
retired and returned to where he
had started, farming his land and
producing
his own wine in the
Umbrian hills. He died in 1993 at
the age of 76, and soon after the
company became property of the
German manufacturer Audi. Yet
his
legacy remains thanks to his
son Tonino and daughter
Patrizia.
Last year, the limited edition
Lamborghini Veneno was
launched to celebrate the 50
th
anniversary of a brand that is part
of Italy's history. It also reminds
us of a golden age for the Italian
automotive industry, which
wasn't so long ago and may be
still within our reach.
The limited edition Lamborghini Veneno
Ferruccio Lamborghini: from Tractors to Gran Turismo
