INDUSTRIAL

Ferruccio Lamborghini, was born on the 28th April, 1916 in Renazzo, a village not far from Cento, a busy  rich small town. “My great stroke of luck”, said Lamborghini, “was when, immediately after the second world war, I worked in the large depot of the allied vehicle centres. There I improved my knowledge and as Italy lacked everything I started to make tractors “; which in the fifties contributed to the development of Italian and European agricolture. From tractors to cars, passing through burners, making a lot of money. These were the years of industrial recovery after the world war and not yet “cavalier” Ferruccio with brilliant ideas could afford a Maserati and a Ferrari. The story of the great Ferruccio Lamborghini, of his friendship and competition with the great Enzo Ferrari went around the world and it remains an unforgettable example of the mechanic genious, of tenacy and entrepreneurial ability typical of Emilian people. Meanwhile the tractor factory grew, in 1959 Lamborghini was already an established manufacturer and, as a successful man, could afford a Ferrari. He chose a  “250 GT” designed by Pininfarina, it was white as his second wife Annita  liked. She was a hard-worker like him, but in her free time she liked driving. She found the clutch rather hard to use. She was right because that type was thought to be used by racing drivers with athlete’s calves. In 1961 Ferruccio, to meet his wife’s wishes, changed his “250GT” with the new “250 GT 2+”, a new model, conceived for sports drivers, who liked comfort as well. There was even a very comfortable  back seat. The controls, however, were always the same, that is hard to be used. The legend says that the rivalry with Enzo Ferrari took origin when Ferruccio Lamborghini went to  Maranello to ask to remove the clutch defect. Enzo Ferrari sent him away telling him to go and drive tractors because he was not able to drive cars. Ferruccio  Lamborghini went back to his factory, had the “2+” clutch dismantled and realised that the clutch manufacturer was the same who supplied the clutches of his tractors. In his spare part warehouse Ferruccio found a spare part which he thought suitable, he installed it and solved the problem. That success made him want again to improve all that he, very hard to please about mechanics, did not think it was up to the situation.  By modifying cars he thought he could make a car by himself, faster than a Ferrari to spite Commendator Enzo Ferrari. In august 1962 Lamborghini started the design of a new sports car with a V 12-cylinder 3500cc twin-cam engine.The challange to Ferrari started and at Geneva car-show, the most prestigeous place for the world car industry, Lamborghini showed a new sports car with a bull as a symbol. This was the first Lamborghini sports car. Lamborghini’s greatest love was mechanics and he demonstrated it making a series of sports car which have made an epoch, admired all over the world, a  “status symbol” to match with beautiful women, who always were important in his life. His cars, real technological wonders, were wanted by VIPs all over the world. Nobody can forget the famous MIURA and  COUNTACH which, for a certain time, were the most powerful sports cars running.

(Translated by Davide Morelli)

Go to the official Lamborghini website

When Ferruccio was born 83 years ago, he could not have foreseen that the square in Renazzo called “Delle Rimembranze” would have been named after him by his birthplace village; a marble plaque on the right side of the bell tower demonstrates it.

 Birth certificate of  FERRUCCIO LAMBORGHINI

Parish Archive "Register of Christenings" pg.360

(Translated by Davide Morelli)

FRANCESCO BORGATTI

GIACOMO CASSANI