It’s hard to imagine the world of performance-oriented cars without Lamborghini. But the founder of Automobili Lamborghini, Ferruccio Lamborghini, wasn’t always engaged in making supercars. Ferruccio started Lamborghini Trattori after World War II, manufacturing tractors, twenty-five years prior to founding the Lamborghini we are all familiar with today.
But how did Ferruccio Lamborghini go from making tractors for farmers to making luxury supercars for the elite? Well, it all started with him buying a Ferrari (And not being satisfied with it)!
Lamborghini Prior To Making Supercars
After World War II, Ferruccio Lamborghini founded a new tractor-manufacturing company under his own name, calling it ‘Lamborghini Trattori.’ Unlike other companies at the time, Lamborghini Trattori did not have a rich tradition in the automotive industry. In fact, Lamborghini started making tractors using discarded war materials.
Lamborghini’s first tractor, the “Carioca,” was built using engines and differentials from trucks and military vehicles. However, the Carioca had an innovative way to use fuel: it came with a fuel atomizer that allowed the tractor to start with petrol and switch to diesel afterward.
Lamborghini Trattori quickly found its feet among other companies like Fiat and Landini, and in no time, it went from manufacturing about fifty tractors a year to roughly two hundred. Later on, in 1951, Lamborghini managed to manufacture its first-ever in-house-made tractor, with the exception of the engine.
Lamborghini continued to improve the quality and performance of its tractors, always bringing a new feature to the table. In 1962, for instance, the 2R DT model was a four-wheel-drive tractor that enjoyed an air-cooled engine design.
Ferruccio Lamborghini faced massive success from his tractors in the 60s. Lamborghini’s success made him rich and enabled him to buy a number of luxury sports cars, one of which was a Ferrari 250GT. And that Ferrari was what sparked everything that has come afterward.
Ferruccio Lamborghini’s Revenge Story
Ferruccio Lamborghini’s love for engineering and cars inspired him to look for the perfect car. He bought Alfa Romeo, Maserati, and Mercedes cars, but none of them would satisfy him. Later he purchased a Ferrari 250GT in 1958. He loved it so much that he bought a second one. But, even though the 250GT was better than his other cars, it was still not “the perfect” car he was looking for. One major problem Ferruccio had with his 250GT was the clutch. Ferruccio would occasionally burn the clutch, which he needed to replace every now and then.
Getting frustrated with replacing the clutch, Ferrucio went to see Enzo Ferrari to talk about his problem with Ferrari parts. Mad at using cheap parts, he tells Enzo, ‘I pay for my tractor 10 lire, and I paid Ferrari 1000 lire for the same part.’
Enzo Ferrari did not have it. Infuriated by Ferruccio’s criticism, he tells Ferruccio that he’s only a tractor driver and he must not interfere with what Ferrari was doing: he claimed that Ferrari was making the best cars in the world.
This only added fuel to Lamborghini’s fury. Lamborghini then told Ferrari that he will build his own sports car to show him how sports cars should be made. And not long after, Ferruccio founded Automobili Lamborghini in 1963 and built its first sports car the same year, calling it 350 GTV.
The Birth Of The Lamborghini V12 Lineup
The first Lamborghini was equipped with a V12 designed by Giotto Bizzarrini. He was the former Ferrari engineer who had worked on the Ferrari 250 GTO. Lamborghini’s sports car instantly attracted a lot of attention in the automotive industry. By 1964, Lamborghini managed to sell thirteen cars. Lamborghini’s cars were known for their power, luxury, and refinement.
Lamborghini’s innovative mindset, along with radical decisions and his rivalry with Ferrari, led him to manufacture some of the most astonishing and revolutionary sports cars in history. The Miura, for example, was Lamborghini’s revolutionary mid-engine sports car that was introduced in 1966. The mid-engine layout was so successful that it became the standard layout for most sports cars later on.
The Dream Of Making “The Perfect Car”
Ferruccio Lamborghini saw massive success from founding a tractor-manufacturing company in 1948. His company quickly became one of the major producers of agricultural pieces of machinery in Italy. His passion for sports cars and his frustration with his Ferrari led him to make sports cars the way he wanted them to be.
Thanks to their bad temper management, which caused a great rivalry, Ferrari and Lamborghini managed to make some of the most astonishing cars in history. Both of them dreamt of the perfect car, and perhaps if it weren't for their feud, the automotive industry would never reach the milestones it has got to today.