Enzo. One of these was Giotto Bizzarrini who had just designed the Ferrari
250 GTO. He was quickly snapped up by ISO, who wanted to make
expensive GT and sports cars. To save money, ISO used engines from
General Motors in America, and this did not satisfy Bizzarrini, who wanted
to use his own engine ideas.
Luckily for him, Ferruccio wanted a V12 engine with four overhead
camshafts (Ferraris only had two at the time), a perfect job for the talented
Bizzarrini.
While Bizzarrini set to work, Ferruccio bought a site at Sant’Agata
Bolognese, a small village not far from his tractor plant in Cento, the
Maserati factory in Modena, and the Ferrari factory in Maranello. There he
erected a large, modern factory, perfect for creating the wonderful cars he
dreamed of.
People in that area of Italy tend to be very innovative, industrious and
hard-working. “It’s sort of like the Brescia area is for gunmaking, a perfect
place for creating high-tech products which they can make and develop
extremely well,” Bob Wallace said at the time.
On 15th May 1963, Bizzarrini had his 3.5-litre V12 ready for its first
dyno run, but the engine was not what Ferruccio wanted. Bizzarrini had
created a high-revving dry-sumped unit with 38mm downdraught Weber
carburettors which delivered 360hp, some 90 horses more than requested.
This was clearly a racing engine, and a furious Ferruccio demanded
substantial design changes so the engine could be built as a wet-sumped
V12. Not surprisingly, Bizzarrini did what he was told, and then quit in
June 1963 to concentrate on other projects. He was replaced by Gian Paolo
Dallara, a brilliant engineer who would later become famous for a myriad of
racing cars. He was complemented by Paolo Stanzani (more on him later),
and the New Zealander Bob Wallace, who was given the task of putting the
technical ideas of Dallara and Stanzani into practice as official test driver.
This extremely skilled engineering team unveiled their car, the 350 GTV, at
the Turin Motor show in October 1963. This was the first Lamborghini, and
was soon followed by the production model, the 350 GT (later followed by
the 400 GT) at the Geneva Motor show in 1964.
“It is very simple,” Ferruccio told Etienne Cornil from Sporting
Motorist in 1964. “In the past, I have bought some of the most famous Gran
Turismo cars and in each of these magnificent machines I have found some
faults. Too hot. Or uncomfortable. Or not sufficiently fast. Or not perfectly
finished. Now I want to make a GT car without faults. Not a technical bomb.
Very normal. Very conventional. But a perfect car.”
These words from Ferruccio make sense for the 350 GT and 400 GT,
but waiting in the wings was the car that would make the Lamborghini brand
immortal, and it went against everything Ferruccio had told journalists. It
was hot, it was uncomfortable and it was far from perfectly finished. It had
plenty of faults, but it was a technical bomb and as far from conventional as
you could possibly find: It was the Miura.
The sensational mid-engined supercar was first shown as a chassis
at the Turin Motor show in 1965, and then completely stole the show at
Geneva in 1966, when people were left gasping in admiration over the
fabulous sensual curves that the young designer Marcello Gandini, from
Bertone, had come up with. (Some sources claim that Giorgetto Giugiaro
designed everything including most or some parts of the Miura, but this
has never been proven in any way, so all the credits for the design should
go to Gandini). The Miura became the dreamcar for every schoolboy in
the sixties, and suddenly every Ferrari seemed very old and boring in
comparison.
The 400 GT was followed by the Islero, and when Dallara left the
company to set up his own design office (and work for yet another newly
started Italian sportscar company – De Tomaso), Stanzani took over his role
as chief engineer and started work on a new GT to replace the Islero: The
Jarama, which debuted at the Geneva show in 1970.
At the Geneva Motor show in 1968, the Espada was a sensation, and
cemented Lamborghini’s position as the number one creator of exciting
cars.
There was just one problem. Money. Or rather, a lack of money. As
1969 began, Lamborghini (thanks to cars like the Miura and the Espada)
The two masters: Ferruccio Lamborghini and Giuseppe ‘Nuccio’
Bertone. Together they would create some of the most incredible dream
machines of the sixties and seventies. (Courtesy Bertone)
10
Many customers experienced this, usually because the belts jumped
from their correct timing positions. The valves would then come into contact
with the piston crowns, leading to major and expensive engine damage.
Because of this, Urraco owners could not have their cars towed or pushstarted when the battery was dead. The sudden shock to the engine when the
dipped clutch was released could cause the belts to react like elastic, and
jump from their positions. Result: a destroyed engine.
“The price of the Urraco was half of the big ones, so to make money,
we would have to produce many cars. Unfortunately this was not the best
moment for Lamborghini, and we didn’t have the money to produce it in big
quantities. Mr Rosetti put more money into it, and eventually we started to
produce it in bigger numbers. The power was not exactly fantastic, although
it got better with the 3-litre version. It gave more people the chance to buy a
Lamborghini, and it was in fact a really nice car,” remembers Ubaldo Sgarzi.
In short, the Urraco had a very tough time in those early years. The
factory was short on money, missing legislation meant the car was not ready
for America yet, the car had to be produced in lower numbers with a higher
price tag, the fuel crisis made the market for sportscars very difficult, the
communist party and the 'red' times made strikes common and production
slow, and, to top it all, the factory had to use lots of money on fixing
destroyed engines for unhappy customers.
Would the Urraco ever get a chance to shine?
Another offical Bertone press photo. (Courtesy Bertone)
38
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car did 2-3000km testing at the most. The Bravo was a nice idea, but very
impractical. The visibility was almost non-existent, and the car was simply
too impractical for the street. But with the necessary styling and bodywork
changes it could have been a production car. The handling was very good,”
says Wallace.
Shortly thereafter, the legendary test driver quit Lamborghini. In The
Complete Book of Lamborghini by Pete Lyons, he said this about the Urraco
and the new Swiss owners:
“The whole problem with the company, when Lamborghini himself
abandoned it, was lack of money for research and development. Complete
and utter lack of money, and also with the foreign owners, basically a lack
of direction ...
“Basically I think a lot of their programs were way out of whack – trying
to develop the small eight-cylinder cars, trying to go into a bigger market. The
Swiss owners then didn’t really take any great interest in the company or get
very involved with it. Some very, very serious commercial, long-term planning
and that sort of thing, with the smaller cars, virtually broke their wallet and
actually finished the place off. Tooling up with enormous costs of tooling to
build thousands of cars a year when the market just wasn’t even there.
“The little Urraco – that car had tooling and body dies and stuff
especially to build thousands. All the dealers said, ‘Oh yes, we can sell 500,
1000 in the US alone.’ And it just wasn’t true. No, it was the wrong type of
car for them to build. Different clientele, a different price range, and the car
was basically, I think, what finally broke the company.
99
looked unappealing and combined with limp column stalks and everything
in sight painted in black, the cabin had an unwelcome cheap feel. However,
this was the eighties, the decade of inelegant interiors, so no-one seemed to
care too much.
Under the hood, the engine got even bigger, and was now up to
3485cc and equipped with four Weber 42 DCNF carburettors. This meant
255hp at 7000rpm, and a torque of 353Nm at 3400rpm.
The car was also strengthened in some places, with special attention
being paid to the subframe supporting the mechanics in the rear. A new
suspension geometry was adopted by Alfieri, and he changed the shock
absorber and spring settings in the struts, both front and rear. The fivespeed transmission was modified to suit the characteristics of the new
engine, with a higher first gear and a lower third gear.
“The Jalpa received lots of benefits from previous experiences. Major
investments in the project allowed us to develop the car properly. The
displacement was increased, it got electronic ignition, different geometry
to avoid shocks to the steering, a more powerful braking system, different
gear ratios, a new oil cooler, important modifications on the front section
of the frame and improved overall performance,” says test driver Balboni.
At the Geneva motor show in March 1981, the P118 project got its
official debut as the Lamborghini Jalpa. The name was taken from the
bull ring, Jalpa being a bull breed from Mexico. The actual showcar
looked gorgeous with its bronze bodywork, and the seats looked
154
absolutely amazing with a special ‘crossed ray’ pattern. These seats would
unfortunately not make it into production, neither would the two-spoke
steering wheel, or dashboard and bumpers which were in light colours (as
opposed to black on the production cars).
For the launch, Bertone issued a press release, which looked back
on the plea for help that Bertone had made with the Athon concept car
the year before. About a year ago, on the occasion of the Turin Motor
Show, Bertone presented the Athon, a futuristic prototype based on the
mechanics of the Lamborghini Urraco. At that time, Bertone wrote: “...
even today, the label stands for a wealth of experience and skilled staff
that cannot easily be forgotten. At such a testing time, it is Bertone’s
intention to once again lend its support to a name that it does not want to
die ...” This wish of Bertone’s was taken up and helped by both Italian and
foreign journalists and it now finds its first manifestation, as the Nuova
Automobili Ferruccio Lamborghini SpA presents, at Geneva, the Jalpa, an
in-depth, elaborate exercise in re-styling, both mechanical and aesthetic.
Considering the short time since the beginning of this project, one can
imply a considerable strength which forebodes well for the firm and its
products.”
In May 1981, Mimran appeared before the Bologna Bankruptcy court
with his lawyer for the first sale by auction of the factory. This was a mere
formality, as Mimran had every intention to pay the price fixed by the
court. The sale was then finally completed on payment of 3,850,000,000