And in the beginning it was the Lamborghini 350 GTV. When the term concept had not yet entered common language to indicate the prototypes that often anticipate production cars, when models such as the Miura or the Countach were still far from being the icons they have become today, Automobili Lamborghini presented at the Motor Show Turin, his first car, the starting point for the 350 GT which would arrive on the road shortly thereafter. It was October 30, 1963, Ferruccio Lamborghini’s adventure in the automotive world officially began.
An exaggerated V12
The heart of this project was undoubtedly the V12 engine, strongly desired by the engineer Giotto Bizzarrini, an engine that was capable of delivering 360 HP at 8,000 rpm, an engine that allowed the Lamborghini 350 GTV to reach 280 km/h. An engine so exaggerated for the time that it could not be contained in the bonnet housing due to the presence of vertical carburettors, too large to not lead to modifications that were too obvious and impossible for the time of the debut of that prototype.
The new Lamborghini 350 GTV and its debut
So it was decided to display the twelve-cylinder and the mechanics separately, to show everyone what the production car would have been capable of doing. The official debut of the Lamborghini 350 GTV had actually taken place a few days earlier, in Sant’Agata Bolognese, when the press had been welcomed into the factory, inaugurated in those days. Ferruccio’s dream was taking shape more and more and the Turin Motor Show was the consecration of that vision.
The peculiar elements of Lamborghini 350 GTV
The journalists therefore had to limit themselves to admiring the car and not testing it. The line was futuristic and particularly elegant, the result of Franco Scaglione’s pencil. The Lamborghini 350 GTV was equipped with some peculiar elements, such as the retractable headlights, which would never have arrived on the production car. The details provided by the Bull brand spoke of a powertrain with four overhead camshaft distribution, fueled by six double-barrel carburettors; five-speed gearbox, all synchronized; four-wheel disc brakes with vacuum booster; empty weight slightly less than 1000 kilograms. A real jewel, Automobili Lamborghini’s first step towards a story that perhaps not even Sant’Agata thought they were capable of writing.
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