Lamborghini Cars Performance Portfolio 1964-1976

9781855206465Click to enlarge product image
Lamborghini Cars Performance Portfolio 1964-1976

Lamborghini Cars Performance Portfolio 1964-1976

Author: Clarke R

  • 9781855206465
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What to do if you're an Italian manufacturing millionaire born under the sign of Taurus and harbouring a desire to beat Enzo Ferrari at his own game? Simple: establish a company for building low-volume, high-performance exotic cars and give the Taurean bull as its logo. Oh, and call it after yourself, of course. So Ferruccio Lamborghini did exactly that, diverting some of the profits from his booming tractor and heating-air conditioning business to building a new car factory at Sant' Agata Bolognese. The factory wasn't quite finished by the time the first car was ready for production, so that was built in the tractor plant with an imported gearbox. But by 1964 - a year after the first Lamborghini was displayed at the Turin Motor Show - Lamborghini was able to build every last part of his new car at Sant' Agata. The 350 GT was quite a remarkable machine, featuring bodywork styled by Touring and an astonishing quad-cam 3.5-litre V12 engine designed by Gianpaolo Dallara, plus all-independent suspension. It remained in production for three years, but was quickly joined by other models; it's the way of supercar manufacturers to offer their wealthy customers a tempting little something extra every year, and Lamborghini did exactly that in the 1960s. All the cars of the 1960s featured versions of that magnificent V12, which was enlarged to four litres from 1966. The 400 GT was really a grown-up 350 GT with two extra seats, but the Miura (announced in 1965) fitted the V12 transversely across the chassis just behind the driver. It was an astounding machine, capable initially of 170 mph or so and, in further-developed Miura S (1969) and SV (1971) forms, of 180 mph. No surprise, then, that the Miura was the supercar of its day for many people. The 400 GT gave way to the Islero in 1968 and the more powerful Islero S, both resembling the car which sired them but restyled by Marazzi. The 1969 Espada, though, was another wildly different design - this time by Bertone - which offered four seats and a front-engined layout. It was successful enough to sell 1217 examples in just under 10 years, making it Lamborghini's biggest seller of the era. From 1970, it was joined by the Jarama, which became a more powerful Jarama S two years later. This car would be Lamborghini's last front-engined design, and would be accompanied through the early 1970s by the "small" Urraco, which introduced a new V8 engine and again featured astonishingly beautiful styling by Bertone. However, the 1970s were not happy times for Lamborghini. After a slump hit the Italian agricultural industry, its owner decided to sell up. A majority share went in 1972 and the rest in 1974. Yet by this stage, Lamborghini was ready with the truly astounding Countach, whose brutal aerodynamic styling by Marcello Gandini introduced a new look for the marque. Unfortunately, by 1976 - when the Silhouette appeared to suggest the way forward - the company was in dire financial trouble. 39 articles sourced from the leading publications of the day, cover road and super tests, touring & new model intros. Models covered: 350 GT, 400 GT, Miura, Espada, Islero, Jarama, Countach, Urraco & Silhouette.

Publisher: Brooklands Books

Status: Bought to Order Only

Number of pages: 144

Colour images: 44

Black & white images: 200

Binding: SBD

Language: English

Origin: CHN

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