Lamborghini 350 gtv

Lamborghini 350 GTV

The Lamborghini 350 GTV was the prototype and forerunner of the later 350 GT - Lamborghini's first production model. The car was presented to the public on the 1963 Turin Auto Show.The first 'Gran Turismo' bearing the now famous bull emblem. Before then, only farmers used tractors bearing this emblem. According to the legend, at this time, Ferruccio Lamborghini, who was already very wealthy, had some problems with his personal Ferrari, but the people who surrounded Enzo Ferrari at that time didn't pay any attention to this 'farmer'. Ferruccio was so angry, he decided to built his own car, and it would be more refined than any Ferrari. Ferruccio built a completely new factory just to create his ideal sportcars, but the 350 GTV was designed and built at the tractor factory at Cento, before the Sant'Agatha factory was completed. The engine became a V-12 of course, designed by Giotto Bizzarrini, who recently had left Ferrari. This beautiful engine first roared into life on Lamborghini's Schenk Dynometer on May 15, 1963 (according to Rob de la Rive Box). The power output on these first tests was 350 DIN (374 SAE) horsepower at 8000 rpm. However, Ferruccio didn't want a highly tuned racing engine, but a smooth running touring car, so Bizzarrini lowered the output to 'only' 270 bhp at 6500 rpm for the 350 GT production car. The square steel tube chassis used for this prototype was welded up by Neri & Bonacini of Modena, who actually made two slightly different chassis, the engine used many parts manufactured by ATS Microfusioni at Sasso Marconi and the gearbox was bought from ZF, completed by a differential from Salisburry.

The black leather interior of this protype was produced by an external upholsterer and the body of the 350 GTV was designed by Franco Scaglione, and was built by Sargiotto Bodyworks of Turin, so other than carefull assembling of the differnt components, not much was really build by Automobili Lamborghini SpA, not yet anyway. This prototype was finished in a bright metallic blue and attracted a lot of attention on the 1963 Turin Auto Show. The fabulous engine was put next to the car and in the engine compartment they put a cradle of ceramic tiles ! The engine couldn't be installed in the car because with its vertical carburetors, it didn't fit under the hood. Recently the car has been restored for collector Romano Bernardoni, by Emilianauto of Bologna, after 20 years of storage, this time the engine was built into the car which caused major modifications to the chassis. It is now finished in a bright metallic green with a light-toned leather interior, and the car is fully driveable. The 350 GTV was intended to be placed in the official Lamborghini museum, together with other memorable Lamborghini's, but this priceless piece of Automobili Lamborghini SpA history was sold to a collector in Japan, where the car resided in the Noritake Collection for several years. Today this unique car is shown in the official Lamborghini museum located at the factory, joined by the very last Countach ever built next to one of the first Countach ever made, and some of the other special Lamborghini's that were built during the years, like the Diablo Roadster prototype and the Cala.

Rejection for production and preparation for show

The 350 GTV featured a controversial semi-fastback body designed by Franco Scaglione[1] and built by Carrozzeria Sargiotto in Turin.[1][3] Giorgio Neri and Luciano Bonacini built the tube frame chassis in Modena.[4] Giotto Bizzarrini developed a 3.5 litre dry sump racing-specification V12 engine, with an output of 255 kilowatts (347 PS;

342 bhp) at 8,000 rpm, and torque of 326 newton metres (240 ft·lbf),[1] using the DIN measurement standard, for use in the car.[4][5]

Ferruccio Lamborghini was dissatisfied with several design features of the 350 GTV,[3] and with the state of tune of the engine.[4][5] He commissioned Carrozzeria Touring to redesign the car to be more practical[3] and had the engine detuned to 270 brake horsepower (201 kW; 274 PS) at 6,500 rpm for use in the production car.[4][5] The new body and retuned engine resulted in the first production Lamborghini, the 350 GT.

Lamborghini continued with the 350 GTV as a show-only car. Upon assembling the car, however, the workforce discovered that the body panels would not fit around the engine. Since he had no further plans for the 350 GTV beyond being a show car, Lamboghini had the engine bay ballasted with bricks and kept the bonnet shut throughout the Turin Auto Show. The incomplete show car also had no brake calipers, foot pedals, or windshield wipers.

After the show

The show car was then stored by Lamborghini, remaining in storage until the mid-1980s, when car dealer Romano Bernandoni and his cousin, Lamborghini expert Stefano Pasini, convinced the management to sell it to them. Bernandoni and Pasini did not receive the gauges and steering wheel with the car. They did, however, receive several proposals made to modify the car into running condition; these were used to do so. The colour was changed from its original pale blue to metallic green at the new owner's

request.

The car was then sold to a Japanese collector, who placed the car in the Noritake Collection. Several years later, the car was on display at the museum at Lamborghini's factory.