We travel back to an era when a tractor manufacturer challenged the might of Ferrari – and look at the history behind Lamborghini’s first road cars.
There are at least two apocryphal stories as to why Ferrucio Lamborghini, a wealthy tractor manufacturer, decided to build high performance gran turismo cars – both stories include a Ferrari 250GT. The first says that Lamborghini dropped by the Ferrari factory and asked for an audience with Enzo Ferrari to complain about the clutch in his Ferrari 250GT; the other story says that Lamborghini wanted to discuss purchasing a 250GT with Il Commendatore. Both stories end in Lamborghini being rebuffed. They’re both good tales but the truth, as told by Ferrucio himself, is that having owned several Ferrari and Maserati road cars, Lamborghini felt that their detailing left something to be desired. The solution to his problem was simple – he would design and build his own GT car.
This seems altogether more probable as Ferrari, irascible as he was made out to be, built road cars to finance his racing, and is unlikely to have rebuffed a potentially lucrative client.
Either way, Ferrucio was certain there were enough clients who had the same values he did, and set out to provide an alternative. Automobili Lamborghini SpA was founded in early 1963 when Ferrucio bought a 90,000 square metre site at Sant Agata near Bologna, where a very modern factory was erected in only eight months.
Scaglione, Bizzarrini and Dallara
Not a group of operatic singers to rival The Three Tenors, but the three men responsible for the very first Lamborghini road car – the 350GT. By meshing the abilities of these three great artisans into one unit, and providing the oil to encourage them to perform at their best, Lamborghini had started something special.
During his time with Bertone, Franco Scaglione had, most famously, been the man behind the futuristic BAT concept cars notable for their wild, furled wings. By the time Ferrucio Lamborghini contacted him to design his road car, Scaglione was a freelance designer, but his styling senses retained a real sense of drama. Scaglione’s final design was for a lithe coupé featuring a massively deep rear window and a low, chiselled nose complete with pop-up headlights.
Matching Scaglione’s dramatic styling was Giotto Bizzarrini’s specially commissioned V12 engine. Bizzarrini had previously worked for Ferrari, where he assisted with the development of the 250 Testa Rossa and took sole responsibility for the 250GT short-wheelbase and 250GTO competition cars. Bizzarrini left Ferrari in 1962 to pursue an independent career – which would include cars such as the ASA 1000GT, Iso-Grifo and Rivolta and, of course, the Bizzarrini GT Strada.
For Lamborghini, Bizzarrini took only four months to design and develop an all-aluminium V12 – complete with duplex roller-chain driven twin overhead camshafts per bank of cylinders, and a battery of six downdraught twin-choke Weber carburettors. Lamborghini had asked for 261kW (350bhp) and Bizzarrini’s V12 easily developed that kind of power.
The next cog would be Gian Paulo Dallara, an engineer lured from Ferrari by the promise that he would become Lamborghini’s chief engineer – a remarkable achievement when you consider that Dallara was, at that time, still only in his 20s.
His job would be to design a chassis that combined the efforts of Scaglione and Bizzarrini into an effective GT car – this being achieved with a steel, box-frame chassis, independent suspension all-round by wishbones, disc brakes, a ZF five-speed gearbox and a Salisbury LSD. The finished car would be known at the 350GT – derived from its power output; 350bhp. Although, in truth, in order to make the 350GT more drivable, early engine power was restricted to 209kW (280bhp), raising to 239kW (320bhp) for later cars.
The finished prototype was the star of the 1963 Turin motor show, where it was displayed alongside a bare chassis into which had been mounted the first of Bizzarrini’s V12 engines. However, it was a bit of sham – the engine bay of the car did not contain an engine, just a box of ceramic tiles; the new V12 was too tall for the 350GT’s engine bay!
Dallara solved this problem by the simple expedient of replacing the down-draught Webers with side-suckers. Other, more serious changes would come as the 350GT was readied for series production.
Touring Superleggera
Lamborghini’s design brief called for aluminium bodywork, and the prototype car was built by Sargiotto. However, Carrozzeria Touring was entrusted with building the production bodies using its Superleggera construction – aluminium panels laid over a steel-tube frame. Scaglione’s rear treatment came through the process virtually untouched, although the prototype’s chrome side strake disappeared, as did the pop-up headlamps as Touring grafted on a blunter, bug-eyed nose.
The first Touring-bodied 350GT appeared at the 1964 Geneva motor show, but full production would be slow, with only a handful of cars being built and sold in the first year.
What Lamborghini didn’t know was that Touring was on the slippery slope to oblivion and, just as 350GT production began, the coach-building firm went into state receivership. Touring finally closed its doors in 1967, and subsequent 350GTs (and the later 400GT) would be built by Mario Marazzi, an ex Touring employee. None of these problems handicapped the 350GT, and it was soon being widely praised for its wonderfully neutral handling and its superb, suitably bullish-sounding V12 engine. In its day, the 350GT was favourably compared to the Ferrari 275GTB – with many contemporary road-testers noting that the Lamborghini was by far the most civilised of the two, an amazing achievement for a first-time car manufacturer. Perhaps even more amazingly, over 40 years later Bizzarrini’s original V12 can still to be found – in suitably developed form – in the current Murciélago.
Developments
After 50 cars had been built, Lamborghini ditched the British-made Salisbury rear axle as being too noisy. Later cars would feature a Lamborghini-designed rear axle. A competition version of the 350GT was also mooted, planned to use a lighter, round-section tubular chassis and the full 261kW V12. However, this would never happen – indeed, Ferrucio Lamborghini was no fan of building racing cars. That would be the main reason why Dallara would eventually part company with Lamborghini, subsequently setting up his own very successful racing car design company.
In 1965 Zagato essayed two 350GTZ cars, which featured a sharply cut-off Kamm-tail and a lower nose with faired-in headlights. One GTZ was destroyed in an accident; the other survives to the present day in the US. Touring also built two special-bodied convertible 350GTs but, as Lamborghini was reputedly losing money on each car sold, there was never enough cash to put the drop-top model into production.
The 400GT
In 1965 the 350GT was offered with an enlarged version of the V12 – at 3929cc – effectively becoming the 400GT. As an indicator of what the future held, only three of the 23 3.9-litre cars featured aluminium bodywork, the majority being steel-bodied.
Lamborghini’s next step became apparent at the 1965 Geneva motor show when it put the first 400 GT 2+2 on its stand. Although the same length as the standard GT, the 2+2 had been subtly redesigned with a higher roofline, smaller rear window and larger boot-lid. Allied to revised rear suspension and a lowered rear floor-pan, these changes allowed Lamborghini to place two rear seats in place of the luggage platform of the GT.
The bodywork was now in steel (apart from an aluminium bonnet and boot lid) – with a resulting increase in weight – and, for the first time, the driveline would be pure Lamborghini; the original ZF ’box being replaced by a Lamborghini-designed unit. The most distinctive outward change would be the inclusion of quad headlights – a handful of final 350GTs were fitted with this arrangement before the model was phased out in 1967, after 120 350GTs had been built.
The 400GT 2+2 became Lamborghini’s mainstay model (although five two-seater 400GTs were also built). Virtually all 400GT 2+2s were LHD, and it’s believed only five RHD models were produced by the factory. In Spring 1968, after 400GT 2+2 production reached 242 units, a new model – the Islero – was brought in to replace it.
The Kiwi and the Bull
There’s a bit of New Zealand in every 400GT, but not many 400GTs in New Zealand. It stems from the involvement of Kiwi Bob Wallace in the development and engineering. An Aucklander, Wallace was born in 1938. He was one of the original hot rodders in Auckland. Ray Stone had a garage in Alfriston, and remembers Bob driving around in his superbly built hot rod to visit the workshop to admire the P3 Alfa, or whatever exotic machinery was in there for fettling. He became part of the crowd, and whilst admiring the Italian machinery would often say, “I’d love to go to Italy!” – but then they all said that. In the end, only Bob made it, and he stayed there for many years. Bob was Johnny Mansel’s mechanic in 1962, when Mansel was chosen to drive the Italian team Scuderia Centro Sud’s second Cooper Maserati in the Tasman Series.
Bob quickly made a lot of friends among the Italians and also worked for Maserati and Camoradi, an American racing team based in Italy.
When Bob visited the Lamborghini factory in 1963, he already knew Gian Paolo Dallara from his time at Maserati. Dallara talked Wallace into staying with Lamborghini. The 350 and 400GTs would be the first cars Bob worked on, his expertise being development and testing. He earned the respect of Ferrucio Lamborghini, and went on to be the key development engineer on the legendary Miura. Bob also built the most collectible Lamborghinis himself, tweaked up for very fast road and competition work. These were simply known as the Jarama ‘Bob’ and the Islero ‘Wallace.’
Wallace left the Italian concern in 1973 and moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where he opened a very exclusive business specialising in Italian cars.
Provenance
The interesting thing about our featured 400GT 2+2 is that it was first registered in New Zealand to Dorothy Mary Wallace, on June 9, 1969, suggesting that it indeed has an interesting link to the factory. Only 222 400GT 2+2s were made, of which only five were RHD. Regardless of the Wallace connection, this is one of only five cars like it in the world, and who knows if the other four cars have survived?
This Lamborghini has been in the hands of legendary Kiwi racing driver Ken Smith for many years, but was recently passed on to Paul Halford – who entrusted Gavin and Myles Hicks with the task of returning it to roadworthy condition after its lengthy stay in storage. Nearly all the paint and trim on the car is original, and it has still only covered 32,000km! This Lamborghini is like a time capsule.
Owning a Ferrari 275GTB/4 of similar vintage, Paul is in a reasonable position to make a comparison. So, how did Lamborghini make out on its second attempt to build a better Ferrari? Paul says the 400 is much more of a GT, where the Ferrari is more of a sports car – but he reckons that both have a fabulous identity all their own. The Lamborghini certainly sounds the part, and looks to have been very well built.
Those looks are the key to this car. Whilst contemporary Ferraris were more traditional and elegant, the Lamborghini is stunning and elaborate – it is certainly no wallflower.
With a Ferrari one tends to dwell on the overall shape, whereas with this car there are sweeps and compound curves going everywhere, mixed with the odd straight line. Your eyes dart all over it, seemingly finding a new theme wherever you look – even down to the interior door handles. One has the feeling that it would have looked like the car of the future when it first appeared in the late ’60s – something from The Jetsons.
It is certainly a bold piece of design worthy of any Auto Salon, and its beauty is more than skin deep. Lifting the bonnet gives more of a thrill than you’d get lifting the lid on modern supercar – the quad-cam V12 looking powerfully purposeful, filling every inch of engine bay space. Once fired up, the wonderful sounds produced by the Lamborghini V12 are of the hair-raising variety. Blip the throttle and you add to the orchestra as the throats on six twin-choke Webers crack open to inhale mighty gusts of air. Gorgeous!
When someone refers to a car lacking a sense of occasion, this car is the antonym. Rarely would a car give the owner the sense of occasion offered by this Lamborghini.
Lamborghini 400gt 2+2 (1966-1968) – Specifications
Engine All-alloy 60-degree V12
Capacity 3929cc
Bore/stroke 82mm x 62mm
Valves dohc per bank
C/R 9.5:1
Fuel system Six Weber 40DCO
Max power 268kW (360bhp) at 6500rpm
Max torque 393Nm at 5000rpm
Axle Ratio 4.08:1 (opt: 3.77:1 and 4.27:1)
Steering Worm-and-cam
Body Glass-fibre body bolted onto central backbone
Suspension Front Independent by unequal length wishbones and coil springs Rear anti-roll bar
Brakes Disc/Disc
Wheels/Tyres Centre-lock wire/ Pirelli 210×15
Dimensions
Length/Width 4640mm/ 1730mm
Height/ Wheelbase 1285mm/ 2550mm
Track F/R 1380/1380mm
Kerb weight 1451kg
Performance
Max speed 251kph (156mph)
0-60mph/ 0-100mph 7.5secs/ 17.8secs
Production
1966-1968 247
Words: Allan Walton & Tim Nevinson Photos: Quinn Hamill
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