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EUROWORKS EXOTICS HISTORY 1
Ferruccio Lamborghini was a self made millionaire; he
made a fortune by building tractors from army surplus left
by the Allied Forces back in 1945. He started this business
from a small garage but soon was able to move to larger buildings
because demand for his very powerful tractors rose.
He also started manufacturing oil burners and air-conditioning
systems after his tractor plant started making lots of money,
it turned out his second business also made big money so Ferruccio
Lamborghini became one the wealthiest men in Italy. He could
afford just about everything he wanted, including high speed
GT cars like the Mercedes SL300 and Ferrari he owned alongside
the Jaguar he liked very much. May be then it did not strike
him that he would design the world famous cars Lamborghini
Countach, Lamborghini Murcielago, Lamborghini Diablo and Lamborghini
Gallarado.
But his Ferrari started giving problems with the clutch, the
local workshop couldn't fix this problem so Ferruccio decided
to drive to Modena and confront Enzo Ferrari himself .But
Enzo, who was known for his arrogance, told this 'farmer'
to take a walk, Ferruccio was furious and at that moment decided
to show Enzo how he should build GT cars.
Of course this is a legend, and the truth about it could be
a little different, it was obvious that Ferruccio had lots
of money to spare and the GT car market was still open for
new things, money could still be made by building high speed,
well finished cars, so it is more likely this persuaded Lamborghini
to start his own company.
Automobili Lamborghini SpA was founded in early 1963; Ferruccio
bought a green-field site of 90,000 square meters near Bologna,
in SantAgata Bologna and work on his brand new factory started
immediately. The building was erected in only eight months.
This was a very modern factory using lots of open spaces and
glass everywhere, but this state of the art building cost
money, about 500,000,000 Lire was needed to make Ferruccios
dream come true. The entire factory was surrounded by a road
and in front of the main office building a nice garden was
made. The large glass hall welcomed visitors and Ferruccios
own office was located at the front of this central building.
But a car factory needs people, so Sig. Ferruccio Lamborghini
started looking for the top men in the business and was able
to recruit Giotto Bizzarrini after had left Ferrari, to design
and build a V-12 for Lamborghini. The engine was finished
soon and was able to pump out about 400 Bhp at 11,000 rpm,
but Ferruccio wanted a GT car and not a race car, so the engine
was detuned to 'only' 280 Bhp at 7,000 rpm. Bizzarrini was
made very clearly that there was no way he could make a race
car for Lamborghini so he decided to leave again very soon
after the final tests were completed.
By that time two members were added to the technical team
at SantAgata, Giampaolo Dallara and Giampaolo Stanzani joined
Ferruccio, and in early 1964 Ubaldo Sgarzi started working
for the new Automobili Lamborghini SpA Company. Ubaldo would
remain at the firm for many years to come, and lasted even
through the very rough times that were to come in the seventies.
Ferruccio had a fabulous team of engineers surrounding him
to make his dream car, but a car has to be road tested so
he made an offer to Bob Wallace he couldn't refuse. Bob Wallace
became chief test driver for Lamborghini; he already had an
extensive experience with racing both Ferraris and Maseratis
after he moved to Italy from his origins in New Zealand.
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