Automobili Ferruccio Lamborghini: The Birth of a Legend

"You can drive a tractor, but you will never know how to drive a Ferrari."

These words, spoken by Enzo Ferrari to a young Ferruccio Lamborghini, would forever change the history of sports cars. Ferruccio, born under the sign of the bull on April 28, 1916, was not just a car enthusiast, but a successful entrepreneur.

Life Before the Supercars 

In post-war Italy, Lamborghini made his way by trading gymnastic equipment and fueling his passion for cars in races, albeit with little success. In the 1948 Mille Miglia, his modified Fiat Topolino failed to cross the finish line, while Enzo's Ferrari won the Targa Florio, marking Ferrari's first historic victory.

But Ferruccio's interests had already shifted to another sector: tractors. With his Lamborghini Trattori, he became the third-largest Italian tractor manufacturer in just a few years, with a capacity of 15 tractors per day. His success was based on cutting-edge technology, superior materials, and a scrupulous attention to the customer, to the point of being the first to offer a full two-year warranty. During the economic boom years, he also founded Lamborghini Bruciatori, applying the same winning formula.

The Dream of a Lifetime and the Challenge to Ferrari 

Despite his success, the dream of building cars never left him. After yet another complaint about recurring clutch problems on his Ferrari, he decided to do it himself. He bought a 90,000 m² plot in Sant'Agata Bolognese and invested 500 million lire of his own money to build a dream team, composed of engineers like Giotto Bizzarrini, Giampaolo Dallara, and Paolo Stanzani.

On October 1, 1963, Ferruccio Lamborghini realized his dream and founded Automobili Ferruccio Lamborghini S.a.s.. The first model, the Lamborghini 350GTV, was not just a car, but an open challenge to Ferrari. Lamborghini openly declared that he wanted to compete with the Prancing Horse, not on the racetrack, but on their favorite "battlefield": V12 engines.

Whether it was a grudge, a provocation, or the fulfillment of a dream, that decision wrote a fundamental chapter in the history of luxury sports cars.