Founded by Ferruccio Lamborghini, Lamborghini started out as a tractor-building company in the Italian village of Sant'Agata Bolognese, between Bologna and Modena. However, Ferruccio Lamborghini's priorities changed when he went to meet Enzo Ferrari at the Ferrari factory in Maranello, Italy, to complain about the quality of the clutch in his Ferrari 250. Ferruccio received a dismissive answer from Ferrari, who said to Lamborghini that "the problem is not with the car, but rather, the driver," and suggested he look after his tractors. A resentful Lamborghini returned to his factory, and after dismounting the transmission from the defective Ferrari, discovered that it was built with the very same transmission used in his own tractors. Encouraged by the discovery, Ferruccio Lamborghini called upon the talents of Giotto Bizzarrini, Gian Paolo Dallara, and Franco Scaglione, who worked on what Ferruccio envisioned as his grand tourer to rival Ferrari. The result would eventual become the GTV prototype. The following year, Lamborghini would debut the 350GT.
The 1970s oil crisis plagued sales of high performance cars. In 1978, Lamborghini declared bankruptcy. An Italian court was appointed to find a buyer, and the Swiss-based Mimran brothers took over the company in 1984, after managing the company for four years while it was in receivership. The company remained solvent under Mimran's control, selling the Countach, the Jalpa, and the LM002 during this time.
In a surprise move, the company was bought by the Chrysler Corporation in 1987 with the acquisition being driven by Lee Iacocca, Chrysler's chairman at the time. Lamborghini was then working on the Countach's successor, the Diablo. The basic design of the Diablo was by Marcello Gandini, who designed the Miura and the Countach while at Bertone. The design was further developed by Chrysler, which brought its resources, including design input, pollution controls, and new manufacturing techniques, into this development. Chrysler's experience with the design of mass market vehicles improved areas of practicality and comfort that had been neglected earlier, including noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH), engineering, and ergonomics..
Post-Chrysler: Megatech and Audi
In a surprise move, the company was bought by the Chrysler Corporation in 1987 with the acquisition being driven by Lee Iacocca, Chrysler's chairman at the time. Lamborghini was then working on the Countach's successor, the Diablo. The basic design of the Diablo was by Marcello Gandini, who designed the Miura and the Countach while at Bertone. The design was further developed by Chrysler, which brought its resources, including design input, pollution controls, and new manufacturing techniques, into this development. Chrysler's experience with the design of mass market vehicles improved areas of practicality and comfort that had been neglected earlier, including noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH), engineering, and ergonomics..
Post-Chrysler: Megatech and Audi
In 1971, Lamborghini produced the LP500 Countach prototype. The Countach was named after an Italian dialect term uttered in surprise by Nuccio Bertone upon seeing the car for the first time. The production LP400 Countach was introduced three years later. The prototype was the first car to sport Lamborghini's now-traditional scissor doors, along with vertically mounted rear air intakes.
The Countach's V12 engine initially had the same 4-litre capacity as the Miura, but this was enlarged to five litres upon the introduction of the LP500S Countach in 1982. The Countach was one of the first cars to use the Pirelli "P-Zero" tires. Lamborghini's test driver would often demonstrate the Countach's abilities to journalists. A detail noted by journalists was the manner in which a Countach was reversed; the driver would raise the door and sit on the door sill.