This speedy two-seater Berlinetta had everything it took to attract customers, although sales were naturally rather modest at first. Not everyone was bold enough to abandon the better-known established makes like Ferrari and Maserati to hand a substantial sum of money over to a constructor who, until then, had been famous only for his excellent tractors. Word had to get around, a few of the models had to be seen in circulation, and Lamborghini, the tireless promoter of his own company, did not hesitate to go about with his creation to show it off to the world. Several journalists immediately understood its worth and readily expressed their enthusiasm about the new car. In the July 1965 issue of “Car”, Henry Manney III, one of the leading American journalists, stated in no uncertain terms that “this car will be a headache for Ferrari and that the Lamborghini is the most desirable sports car I’ve ever driven”. This was a considerable compliment, considering that Manney, who wrote for a number of prestigious American and English periodicals at the time, was a Ferrari customer himself and owned a 250 GTO.
The immediate and almost inevitable offshoot of the 350 GT, of which 135 were built, was the 400 GT. Its engine was increased to a four-litre model and it featured the first gearbox designed in-house by Lamborghini. Based initially on the two-seater body, which was later developed into the 400 GT 2+2 with two occasional seats behind the two regular ones, the 400 GT reached the respectable overall production figure of 273 units.
Thus, by early 1965 the coupes from Sant’Agata were starting to be noticed. Moreover, several aficionados also began to realise that under the rather extravagant chassis, which broke from the classic standards of famous coachwork companies, there was outstanding mechanical quality: in short, this was a fast car that also offered comfort on long trips. Sales gradually started to increase, although these figures were obviously small, given the elite target.
This was the first, great phase of the Lamborghini company, and one of its most prolific and creative periods. Between October 1965 and June 1966, the company presented an astonishing number of new models. Although cars like the 3500 GTZ (with a Zagato body), 350 Spyder by Touring and the Monza 400 by Neri and Bonacini were essentially prototypes, the seemingly extravagant chassis presented at the Lamborghini stand during the 1965 Turin Auto Show was destined to have a profound impact on the history of the company and on the entire automotive industry.
The design of this chassis can be traced to the enormous enthusiasm of the two young engineers hired by Ferruccio to head the technical department of his factory. Both Dallara and Stanzani were young, passionate and enthusiastic. The trust that Lamborghini placed in them by putting them at the head of this new and extraordinary operation quickly spawned new and more advanced ideas in the minds of the two engineers. These ideas were based on the state of the art in race cars during this period, namely the two-seater sports car, a concept that was well represented by an automobile that would also become a legend: the Ford GT40. This car had completely broken with the tradition of the Fifties, represented by Jaguar, Maserati, Ferrari and Aston Martin, with their big engines mounted in front of the car in a tubular chassis finished with a lightweight aluminium body. All this was revolutionised by the arrival of cars with a mid-rear engine, assembled on a chassis made of bent and welded sheet metal. This achieved excellent weight distribution, outstanding structural rigidity, and the possibility of highly sophisticated integrations between the various chassis components and the mechanical parts.
This was indeed the concept of the two young engineers from Bologna: to put a barely tamed version of a full-fledged race car on the road, rather than a reinterpretation of the classic traditional GT. Their project, provisional zly codenamed 400 TP, thus had the 4-litre 12-cylinder engine of the 400 GT transversely mounted behind the cockpit, with the gearbox and the differential united to the engine base in a single casting. The chassis was made of bent, welded sheet metal that was drilled to make it more lightweight. Unfortunately, at the beginning of 1965 all this seemed to be little more than a project, without any hope for practical application. Lamborghini himself had continuously repeated and emphasised that he was not interested in futuristic or extravagant projects: he simply wanted to make a normal, ultra-fast and flawless car. His engineers instead found the courage to propose a car that, at least in appearance, went in the opposite direction. It was potentially a very fast car, but by the same token it was bound to be a noisy one – one that had to be tested and would almost certainly not be fault-free – and yet it was an exciting and ultra-modern car.
As the story goes, when Lamborghini saw the project he approved it immediately, probably shocking the two very surprised designers, who certainly didn’t dare hope for such a happy ending to their proposal. For once, however, Lamborghini was wrong in his forecast: he declared that a car like that should be built because it would be good advertising for the make, even though it would clearly never sell more than fifty worldwide. Every so often, even the best make mistakes.
The chassis was completed rather quickly, and it was exhibited at the Turin Auto Show in October 1965. As was always the case with Lamborghini items during that period, it was viewed with a mixture of curiosity, interest, incredulity and, in some cases, even outright diffidence. Many reiterated that, once again, Lamborghini had indeed put normal cars into production, but that chassis! The mechanics! No: that odd-looking chassis drilled like an aeroplane, with that engine set behind the cockpit, would never, ever go into production.
One person who believed in that chassis, and above all in Lamborghini’s capabilities, was Nuccio Bertone. The Turin-based coach-builder was an expert on cars and engines, and as soon as he saw the chassis he approached Lamborghini and said, “I’m the one who can make the shoe to fit your foot”. The two shook hands, and this marked the beginning of an extraordinary adventure. The head of Bertone’s design department, Giorgetto Giugiaro, had just left the company to establish his own firm, Ital Design, and his position had been filled by a young designer the age of Dallara and Stanzani, Marcello Gandini. Thus, it was up to Gandini to interpret Bertone’s ideas, creating a unique and sensational body for the Bologna-built chassis, something that – in its blend of aggressiveness, elegance, originality and class – was to prove unrepeatable: the Miura was born.
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