CarBrandLogos archive · Lamborghini · 1964

Lamborghini350 GT

A tractor manufacturer's first road car, with a V12 drawn by an ex-Ferrari engineer.

Photo: MrWalkr · CC BY-SA 4.0

The story

A defining chapter in Lamborghini history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Lamborghini 350 GT, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

12-10-25-autostadt-wolfsburg-by-Ralf R-30

Origins

Ferruccio Lamborghini had made money in tractors, heating and air conditioning, and owned Ferraris he found unsatisfactory. In 1963 he set up a car company at Sant'Agata Bolognese to build a grand tourer to his own standards: fast, but civilised, well finished, and reliable in a way Italian exotics of the period generally were not.

12-10-25-autostadt-wolfsburg-by-Ralf R-30 · Ralf Roletschek (talk) - Infos über Fahrräder auf fahrradmonteur.de · GFDL 1.2

Design and engineering

He hired Giotto Bizzarrini, who had worked on Ferrari's 250 GTO, to design a V12. Bizzarrini produced a 3.5-litre quad-cam unit conceived with racing in mind, and Ferruccio, who had no interest in motorsport, had Gian Paolo Dallara detune it for road use with a wet sump and more modest carburation. The result made ample power while remaining tractable.

Lamborghini 350 GT · Thesupermat · CC BY-SA 4.0

In production

The 350 GTV prototype shown at Turin in 1963 was poorly received, and its bodywork was replaced. For the production 350 GT, Carrozzeria Touring in Milan rebodied the car using its Superleggera method, aluminium panels over a tubular framework, producing a low, wide shape with distinctive elliptical headlamps. A rigid tubular chassis with independent suspension all round and a five-speed ZF gearbox completed a specification that was more advanced than the Ferrari 330 it was aimed at.

Lambo350GT 6821 · User:Edgy01 (Dan Lindsay) · CC BY 3.0

Legacy

Around 120 were built between May 1964 and 1966, plus a very small number of open 350 GTS cars. It sold slowly but it did what it was meant to do: it established that the company could build a car, and it paid for the engineers who would shortly build the Miura. The 400 GT that followed enlarged the engine and added two small rear seats.

At a glance