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1965 Lamborghini 3500GTZ

Enzo Ferrari managed to upset at least two influential people during the 1960s, including Henry Ford who responded by waging an all-out war on the racetrack resulting in outright victories. The other individual was an Italian Industrialist named Ferruccio Lamborghini. He had made a fortune with his Lamborghini Trattori tractor business during the post-World War II economic boom which allowed him to buy the best-of-the-best. In 1958, he purchased a Ferrari 250 GT two-seater coupe with a design by Pininfarina. This was followed by several other Ferrari's over the years, including a Scaglietti-designed 250 GT SWB Berlinetta and a 250 GT 2+2 four-seater. After several trips to Ferrari's service center to have repairs completed, he voiced his dissatisfaction about the cars to Enzo Ferrari. Enzo responded by saying Lamborghini should build tractors and leave the sports car building to Ferrari. Ferruccio disagreed and created Automobili Lamborghini in 1963.

Ferruccio was an accomplished businessman and knew that if he was to create a better product than Ferrari, he would have to have the industry's best and most accomplished designers and engineers. Among the list was Giotto Bizzarrini who - turns out - had a lot in common with Ferruccio. He had been employed by Ferrari but was part of the 'Great Walkout' in 1961. He then worked with ATS, and then in 1962 started his own company, Società Autostar, whose name was changed to Bizzarrini in 1964. For Lamborghini, he designed a 3.5-liter V12 engine with twin overhead camshafts, and with the help of six twin-choke Weber carburetors, it produced 350 horsepower.

Part of Ferruccio's dissatisfaction with the Ferrari vehicles was that they felt like they were initially racing cars turned into road-going cars. He felt that they were noisy, the interior was quickly made, and they lacked the quality of a refined grand tourer automobile. Having similar feelings about the potent engine created by Bizzarrini, he requested that the engine be detuned. In the end, it offered 280 horsepower with a 320 bhp version available as optional equipment.

The exterior design was tasked to Franco Scaglione. Sargiotto Bodyworks turned the drawings into metal and later Carrozzeria Touring was tasked with refining the design further. The square steel tube chassis was the work of Neri & Bonacini under the direction of chief engineer Giampaolo Dallara.

At the 1963 Turin Motorshow, the Lamborghini 350 GTV made its debut, sans engine. After further development, testing, and tuning, the Lamborghini 350 GT was ready for production and in the spring of 1964 was shown at the Geneva Auto Salon. Production would continue until 1966 with 120 examples ultimately built. During this time, at least one - possibly two examples were given Zagato coachwork and rested on a shortened chassis. The design was by Ercole Spada of Zagato and it made its debut at the 1965 London Motorshow as the Lamborghini 3500 GTZ.

The Zagato-bodied car was created as an alternative to the Touring body. Also in 1965, Lamborghini introduced a mid-engine 4-liter V12 car with coachwork by Bertone. It was called the Miura and it was revolutionary - arguably the creation of the supercar class.

Although the Lamborghini 3500 GTZ was attractive and elegant, Ferruccio feared that the struggling Zagato Company would be unable to stay afloat. Instead, Lamborghini installed the 4.0-liter V12 into the front-engined 350 GT and called it the 400 GT or 400 GT Interim. Twenty-three examples were built with three given aluminum coachwork. Further revisions and modifications resulted in the second 400 GT, commonly known as the 400 GT 2+2.

Of the potentially two examples that were created, only one is currently known.

by Dan Vaughan

Coupe by Zagato
Chassis number: 0310

Italian millionaire Ferruccio Lamborghini decided to build his own sports car because of his dissatisfaction with his Ferrari and the company's failure to address his complaints. Following the prototype 350GTV, Lamborghini's first production car was a two-seater named the 350GT with a top speed of more than 150 mph. About 120 350GT coupes were built. Styling elements included recessed headlights, rear wheel semi-skirts and a body/side crease from the front fender to the door handle. The car is powered by a double-overhead-cam, V12, 3.5-liter engine producing 280 horsepower. It has a five-speed manual transmission, fully independent coil-spring suspension with anti-roll bars, worm-and-roller steering and power-assisted Girling disc brakes. It weighs between 2650 - 2734 pounds.

Carrozzeria Zagato was the first coachbuilder to exhibit a derivative of the 350GT - the 3500GTZ. Zagato was well known for its lightweight, streamlined coachwork, where form followed function. In the early and mid-1960s, Zagato worked closely with Alfa Romeo to produce a number of victorious competition models such as the highly successful TZ-1 and TZ-2. The Ercole Spada-designed Lamborghini 3500 GTZ was built by Zagato on a shortened 350 GT chassis. The coupe was first shown at the 1965 London Motor Show and then went on to star at the Paris Auto Salon a few weeks later. After its debut, the GTZ was sold to race driver Marchese Gerino Gerini, Lamborghini's official agent in Milan. From there, it found its way to Australia, where it stayed for many years, painted red and converted to right-hand drive. A German collector purchased the car in 2006 and returned it to its original left-hand-drive configuration with its original white and black vinyl interior. Its current owner acquired the GTZ in 2006, and it has recently been awarded Best of Show at the Concorso d'Eleganza in Kyoto. The lines of the 3500 GTZ were used to develop Zagato's Alfa Romeo TZ2 race car, built at roughly the same time; the most notable similarity is the nearly identical one-piece rear window. Although it has never been officially confirmed, Zagato records show that it's possible that two 3500 GTZs were built, but the other car remains a mystery.

Ferruccio Lamborghini had built a significant amount of wealth as a tractor builder. When he bought a Ferrari he expected a vehicle with superior performance and few problems. What he got was a car that did have superior performance but was plagued with mechanical difficulties. Upon returning the vehicle to the Ferrari shop and complaining about the lack of build quality, Enzo Ferrari replied 'You should stick with building tractors and let me be concerned about the cars.' Ferruccio was so enraged, that he began a new quest - to build proper supercars that had performance and quality.

Bizzarini, a brilliant engineer, had just left Ferrari and was a suitable candidate to build Lamborghini a twelve-cylinder engine. Franco Scaglione, an employee of Sargiotto located in Turin, was tasked with designing a new vehicle for the newly formed Automobili Ferruccio Lamborghini S.p.A. Scaglione's resume included work such as the Alfa Romeo BATs and the ATS 2500 GT. Sargiotto Bodyworks was responsible for the metal work while Neri & Bonacini were given the task of building the square tube steel chassis. The result was a prototype labeled the Lamborghini 350 GTV and first displayed at the 1963 Turin Auto Show. The interior was leather while the finish was a bright metallic blue color. The engine was not installed in the car because it would not fit. The vertical carburetors were too large and did not fit under the hood. Only recently has the vehicle been restored and the chassis was altered to allow room for the engine.

After the Turin Show, Carlo Anderloni of Touring was brought in to redesign the 350 and prepare it for production. The design was smoothed out and the pop-up headlights were replaced with units that were gracefully incorporated into the hood of the vehicle. The 3.5-liter V12 with twin overhead camshafts and six twin-choke Weber carburetors were placed horizontally between the camshafts in order to fit under the hood. Along with the redesign, the engine was detuned because Ferruccio Lamborghini desired a smooth running, refined engine rather than a highly-tuned racing power-plant. Horsepower dropped from 350 to 270. A 320 horsepower version was available as optional equipment.

In 1964 Ferruccio Lamborghini debuted the production version, the 350 GT, the V had been dropped, to the public at the Geneva Auto Show. The car was powered by a Giotto Bizzarini designed 12-cylinder engine, sat atop a tubular steel chassis, and featured independent suspension and a ZF gearbox. Disc brakes were placed on all four tires. This was Lamborghini's first serial-production GT vehicle. Producing 280 horsepower, the 350 GT was a formidable contender with the other super-cars of the day.

Two shortened chassis's were sent to Zagato, renowned for their lightweight construction, to create alternative creations to the Touring design. Ercole Spada of Zagato was given the task of designing the body. The result was a very elegant coupe that drew inspiration from previous work such as Lancia and Alfa Romeo racers. It was shown at the 1965 London Motor Show under the name Lamborghini 3500 GTZ. Only two examples were ever created. One was retained by the factory while the other was sold to a customer after the show.

Another coachbuilding factory was commissioned in the mid-1960s to create a mid-engined supercar. It was known as the Miura and was powered by a four-liter V12. In 1966 the four-liter engine was available in the front-engined Lamborghini as optional equipment. This version became known as the 400 GT. A few examples were built before it was replaced by the 400 GT 2+2. The two-plus-two configuration made the supercar a little more practical, allowing room for additional occupants in the rear seats. The design of the 2+2 varied slightly from the 400 GT. The 2+2 was constructed of steel while the 400 GT used aluminum. The most distinguishable difference was the double-oval headlights in the front of the 2+2.

In 1966 a Lamborghini 400 GT Monza prototype was created that carried the mechanical components of Lamborghini with styling reminiscent of Ferrari's legendary 250 GTO series. The design was handled by Neri & Bonacini and was shown to the public at the 1966 Barcelona Motor Show. It was sold to a wealthy Spanish individual who used the vehicle as a daily driver. It was put into storage in the early 1970's with the odometer reading just 7,000 km's. It remained in possession of the family until the owner's death in the mid-2000's. Bonham's Auction had the pleasure of offering the vehicle up for auction at the 2005 London Olympia sale where it was sold for $315,000.

During its introductory year, only thirteen examples of the 350 GT version were created. Around 120 examples were created in total. Since these were mostly hand-built, specifications and designs may vary. For example, most of the 400 GTs intended for the US market were given four round headlights, however, a few had larger oval units that were common on the 350 GT.

There were about 247 examples of the 400 GT 2+2 constructed from 1966 through 1968.

The 350/400 GT Series represent Lamborghini's intention to construct the finest Grand Touring automobiles ever assembled. Many automotive journalists at the time hailed the cars as being better than equivalent exotic machinery.

by Dan Vaughan