A story that has been repeated and distorted over the decades. Enzo Ferrari was not the nicest of individuals when Ferruccio Lamborghini suggested an improvement to one of his machines. The consequences of that episode are still felt today, with the name Lamborghini being one of the few mentioned at the level of rival Modena.
But there were always gaps in the story. Gaps that we'll try to fill, thanks to an interview with Tonino (short for Antonio) Lamborghini, the son of the brand's founder, who portrays in greater detail what really happened. And we go back in time, to the end of the 50s, when Ferruccio Lamborghini's business was going from strength to strength, selling tractors.
The success of the Lamborghini tractor brand was such that it allowed Ferruccio to acquire not one but several Ferraris. A self-confessed admirer of the cavallino rampante machines, Ferruccio himself admitted that after buying his first Ferrari, all his other machines — Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Mercedes, Maserati, Jaguar — were forgotten in the garage.
But, as it turned out, liking them did not imply that they were perfect.
As his son reports, Ferruccio even participated in races (not exactly legal) in Bologna, Florence, driving his Ferrari. A short greeting between the two conductors was enough to start the race. The loser, in the end, paid a simple coffee to the winner. Other times…
His machine of choice, a Ferrari 250 GT (one of his examples in the image above), like every Ferrari he owned, lacked a somewhat fragile clutch. In regular use it did not present any problems, but when the Ferrari was used in such a way as to exploit its full potential, as in these races, it was the component that yielded more easily. Even after several repairs, the problem persisted.
More robust units were simply needed. Ferruccio Lamborghini, a self made man, decided to repair the problematic clutch once and for all by his own means. And it was on his tractors that he found a solution , adapting a clutch like this to his Ferrari, and presto… problem solved.
The clash between two strong personalities
As it could not be otherwise, Ferruccio Lamborghini was not asked and went to speak directly with Enzo Ferrari. The Ferrari boss made Ferrucio wait a long time before answering him and he didn't like the recommendation to use a more robust clutch. Ferruccio's boldness in criticizing Enzo's machines did not go down well.
Nobody questioned Enzo Ferrari and the latter did not tolerate being called into question. Pardon the stereotype, but since these gentlemen are masters of themselves and Italians, the dialogue must have been, at the very least, expressive and, let's say… “verbally coloured”. Enzo Ferrari was peremptory: “ you might know how to drive your tractors, but you don't know how to drive a Ferrari“.
Ferrari's rude treatment of Lamborghini infuriated the latter. Later, at home, Lamborghini couldn't forget, neither the way he was treated, nor the phrase said by Enzo, and proposed to build his own car. A solution that nobody agreed with, neither his collaborators, nor his wife and mother of Tonino, Clelia Monti, who handled the accounting of Lamborghini Trattori.
The reasons were valid: the costs would be immense, the task difficult to carry out, and the competition was fierce, not only from Ferrari but also from Maserati. The woman in charge of the accounts and Ferrucio with such a “daydream”? It takes courage…
But Ferruccio was determined. He started by using the money intended for advertising his tractors and decided to move forward, even when the banks refused to lend him more money for this demand. He assembled a dream team: among those targeted were Giotto Bizarrinni and later Gian Paolo Dallara, and designer and stylist Franco Scaglione, having given them very clear instructions.
Automobili Lamborghini is born
It was 1962 and a year later, in the Turin salon, a first prototype was revealed to the world, the 350 GTV , which marked the official birth of Automobile Lamborghini . The 350 GTV was never produced, but it would be the starting point for the definitive 350 GT, Lamborghini's first series car.
The real impact of the bull brand would, however, be given a few years later, when it introduced one of the first mid-engine rear road sports cars, the striking Miura . And the rest, well, the rest is history...
Could it be that these two gentlemen spoke again after that pivotal point in automobile history? According to Ferruccio himself, years later, when entering a restaurant in Modena, he saw Enzo Ferrari sitting at one of the tables. He turned to Enzo to greet him, but Enzo turned his attention to someone else at the table, ignoring him.
Enzo Ferrari, as far as anyone knows, never spoke to Ferruccio Lamborghini again.
The video we leave you, produced by Quartamarcia, is subtitled in English and in addition to this episode, we get to know others, always through the words of Tonino Lamborghini. It talks about the origins of the Ferruccio Lamborghini museum where the interview takes place until the design of the Miura, considered by many to be the first supercar, passing through the origin of the bull as a symbol of the brand. A short movie not to be missed.