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EUROWORKS EXOTICS HISTORY 2
The Lamborghini 350 GTV prototype was shown to the public
on the Turin Auto Show of 1963, it was however not built in
this new factory, because the tooling equipment wasn't delivered
yet, so Ferruccio decided to finish this car in a closed section
of his Tractor plant in Cento di Ferrara.
In 1964 the first Ferrari Lamborghini 350 GTs were able to
be completed in this new plant, Touring supplied the bodywork
the chassis and the engine were mounted together with the
leather interior.
The future of Automobile Lamborghini Spa looked very bright
during the sixties, the 350 GT was succeeded by the 400 GT
and the 400 GT 2+2, but the best move Ferruccio allowed his
engineers to take was the design and construction of the Lamborghini
Miura. The 350 GT and 400 GT 2+2 made the Lamborghini name
known throughout the world, but the Miura made it legendary
and the name alone made people dream of super cars and road-ready
race cars.
The Countach was shown as the successor of the Miura and together
with the Espada, these two cars kept the company alive through
some very troublesome times. With the futuristic Countach,
Lamborghini managed to build an extreme looking car that was
usable on the road, this car made the name Lamborghini enter
automotive history. Even if by some strange way, Automobili
Lamborghini SpA was to disappear from the market, the name
would stay known as one of the most extreme Italian car builders
ever.
The first problems came in 1974, just after the Lamborghini
Trattrice received a major setback, a massive order for tractors
was cancelled, and Ferruccio lost a lot of money over it,
he already upgraded the tractor factory to be able to build
the numbers required and bought most of the raw materials
needed to do so. His personal fortune was still large, but
he decided to sell this factory to SAME, who eventually was
taken over by Fiat years later.
During these early seventies, Automobili Lamborghini Spa had
the Miura in production and in 1970 they even built 400 cars,
the factory was making money for the first time in ten years,
and it was becoming very attractive to possible buyers, Ferruccio
lost interest in the company after his tractor factory got
into trouble and sold a controlling interest of Automobili
Lamborghini SpA to Georges-Henri Rossetti, a Swiss industrialist.
Ferruccio stated he would still remain at the factory to run
it, but the oil-crisis of 1973 made things even worse for
Ferruccio and he lost interest completely, soon after this
he sold his remaining 49% of the shares to Rene Leimer, also
from Switzerland. From this day on, Automobili Lamborghini
SpA had nothing to do with its founder anymore, fortunately
the new owners kept this name; they didn't get the idea of
changing it. Rossetti and Leimer couldn't get the glorious
times back to Lamborghini, even with the Countach, it did
sell quite good, but there wasn't any money to pay for the
materials needed to build them, some buyers had to wait two
years before they would receive their car, and more often
than not their cars would be used on Car Shows all over Europe
before it was delivered to the dealer. EmilianAuto in Bologna
and Achilli Motors in Milan, two major Lamborghini dealers
paid for the Countachs ordered by them in advance to be able
to get one finished for their customers
A bright moment came when Automobili Lamborghini SpA managed
to get the building contract for the new BMW M1, a mid-engine
road car that was ultimately designed for Group 5 racing.
But they used the funds from BMW to design and built the Cheetah,
a car that looked promising but didn't live up to the expectations.
By then it was too late to save the BMW M1 project and the
German car manufacturer took their business elsewhere.
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