The Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A car company was founded in 1963 by Ferruccio Lamborghini. He was born in 1916 in Cento, Italy and started making tractors after the second world war in 1948.
Lamborghini was a multi-faceted industrialist that was involved in agricultural equipment, marine engines, winemaking and cars. The tractor company today remains a separate entity.
Ferruccio bought cars from Maserati and Ferrari among others but having been frustrated with them he decided he could do better. Starting with the 350GT they went on to develop the first supercar the Lamborghini Miura.
The oil crisis of 1973 made it difficult to sell such cars and after selling out in 1974 the company went bankrupt in 1978. It wasn’t until 1984 that Patrick Mimran and his brother Jean-Claude re-vitalised the company before selling the company on to the Chrysler Corporation in 1987.
It was sold on in 1994 to MegaTech before finally in 1998 making its way to the Volkswagen Group, where it remains today.
The names of Lamborghini cars models are often related to Bullfighting and the brand emblem is the ‘raging bull’. However, Countach, probably the most famous name, was derived from an exclamation in the Piedmontese language of North West Italy.
The Lamborghini Miura was the car known as the first supercar. Only 764 were built from 1066 to 1973. There were 3 main versions, the P400, P400S and P400SV. Lamborghini Miura P400 in white This first image is of a Lamborghini Miura P400 in white from around 1970, taken at the Chelsea Classic Car Show…