1965 Lamborghini 350 GT

Details

Oldtimer Australia is excited to confirm the private sale of this absolutely stunning 1965 Lamborghini 350 GT.

According to the factory records, this particular car was delivered on the 3^rd June 1965 to Lambocar, the official Lamborghini agency in Milan, Italy. It was originally ‘grigio metallic’ with a ‘rosso’ interior, which is how the car is presented today.

The car found its way to the USA where it passed through a few owners before being restored by Rod Drew at Francorchamps of America Inc (FAI).

The car is a multi award winner that presents superbly today.

 

Background

The Lamborghini story is fascinating in itself but for the company to have survived all these years and indeed to be celebrating its 60^th Anniversary in 2013 is quite amazing. Ferruccio Lamborghini was an entrepreneur, a very successful businessman and a lover of the finer things in life, including sports cars. He was fortunate enough to own some wonderful cars including Ferraris, however, he found fault with them all. According to the legend, following a meeting with Enzo Ferrari to discuss some of the shortcomings of his cars, Enzo dismissed Ferruccio and he subsequently decided that he could and would build a better car.

Not long after, in May 1963, Automobili Ferruccio Lamborghini SPA was established and the small town of Sant’Agata Bolognese, located between Modena and Bologna, was chosen as the location to build the factory. Born under the Zodiac sign Taurus, Lamborghini chose the raging bull as the emblem for his sports cars.

Lamborghini knew what he wanted and he put together a highly skilled team. His first car, the 350 GTV, was shown at the Turin Motor Show in October 1963. This car received mixed reviews, however, Lamborghini was not deterred and made a number of improvements and design changes to the original concept. The first Lamborghini production car, the 350 GT, left the factory in 1964.

The 350 GT evolved into the 400 GT 2+2 and later the Islero. In parallel to building these classic front engine V12 GT cars, Lamborghini wanted to build a supercar. Enter the Miura, which was first shown as a rolling chassis at the Turin Motor Show in November 1965. Fast track to the 1966 Geneva Motor Show and the stunning Bertone designed Miura was officially released to critical acclaim. The Miura is considered by many to be the first real ‘supercar’. The first model was known as the P400, followed by the P400 S introduced in 1969 and the P400 SV which was introduced in 1971. Even though the Miura was a great success it was starting to show its age.

Under the project name LP112, chief engineer Paolo Stanzani and his staff began working on a successor to the Miura in 1970. For this project, he collaborated with test driver Bob Wallace, assistant engineer Massimo Parenti and designer Marcello Gandini of Bertone.

Ferruccio Lamborghini had a preference for Grand Tourers, but he recognized there was a real market for uncompromising sports cars. He gave the development team his approval to push the boundaries even further than what they had done while designing the Miura.

The first prototype, designated LP500, was first shown to the world at the 1971 Geneva Motor Show. The prototype Countach shocked the world. Surely ‘just another show car’ they said. The Miura was a tough act to follow and Bertone’s design team pushed the boundaries to create what is today one of the most recognisable shapes on the planet! The word ‘Countach’ is a slang exclamation of astonishment in Piedmontese, a northern Italian dialect. This expletive was uttered when one of Bertone’s design team members was building a scale model of the car . . . and it stuck! The Countach became reality when the first production car rolled off the Sant’ Agata production line in 1974.

The Countach evolved through LP400S, LP500S (also referred to as the LP5000S), LP5000 Quattrovalvole (or “QV”) and ultimately the 25th Anniversary.

The front engine V12’s didn’t have the extremeness of the Miura or Countach, but they were fabulous cars in their own right and very important for Lamborghini. The Espada, 1,227 built from 1968 – 1978 and the Jarama 328 cars built from 1970 – 1976 formed the back bone of Lamborghini production from the late 1960’s through until the late 1970’s.

It all started with the 350 GT. With all aluminium coach work by Carrozzeria Touring and powered by the Bizzarrini designed 3,363cc V12 engine, the 350 GT immediately made a bold statement and put Lamborghini on the map. The production car was first shown at the 1964 Geneva Motor Show and the first customer car was completed on the 31^st July 1964.

Lamborghini built 120 350 GT’s before the introduction of the 400 GT 2+2 in April 1966.

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