5 records of classic Lamborghini models

Sports cars with the bull in the logo are known for their radicalism. At Lamborghini in Sant’Agata, interesting vehicles with innovations and sometimes curious details have been created time and again since 1963. Some of them already achieved records at their respective premieres, some of which still stand today. Five curiosities of the past 58 years are highlighted here. Perhaps you didn’t know some of them yet.

Lamborghini Marzal Concept by Bertone

In 1967, the Lamborghini Marzal made its debut at the Geneva Motor Show. The four-seat sports coupé featured a body designed by Marcello Gandini, Bertone’s chief designer, with large gullwing doors. Although many chassis components were carried over from the Miura, there was no V12 under the front hood. This large engine wouldn’t have fit under the aluminium body. Gian Paolo Dallara therefore developed an inline six-cylinder engine with around 175 hp from two liters of displacement. The special styling features of te Marzal, namely the generous glazing and the all-silver seats, were shown off to their best advantage shortly after the premiere. Prince Rainier III of Monaco and his wife Gracia Patricia used the concept car for a few laps before the 1967 Formula 1 race in the principality on the Mediterranean. With a total glazed area of 4.5 square meters, the panes in the gullwing doors are still the largest glass surfaces on a functioning automobile today. For the production version, the Espada, Lamborghini reverted to normal doors.

Lamborghini Miura

After 1963 with the 350 GTV the very first sports car of Lamborghini had been presented, other interesting cars followed soon. The production version 350 GT and the evolutionary stage 400 GT were followed by the first mid-engined supercar as early as 1966. This brought together what is still the youngest team ever to develop a new production car. The overall average age was a mere 29 years. Accordingly, it isn’t surprising that the Miura not only broke with the convention of the then customary engine arrangement in front of the driver, but that the powerplant also sat transversely to the direction of travel behind the passengers to improve weight distribution. Chief engineer Gian Paolo Dallara and his engineering colleague Paolo Stanzani also developed the platform frame, which had to fit under the body designed by Marcello Gandini.

Second record of the Miura

This brings us directly to a second record that the Miura still holds today. Gandini designed the sports car so that it was just 1.15 meters high above the asphalt. This makes the Miura the lowest mass-produced road car in the world to this day. Despite this low height, the proportions, curves and edges are still impressive today. Exactly 765 examples were built in three versions between 1966 and 1971, and today they are sought-after classics.

Lamborghini LM002

Actually Lamborghini originates from a tractor manufacturer. While many car fans are aware of this fact, significantly fewer know that the company also developed projects for external partners. One of these, starting in the mid-1970s, was a new off-road vehicle for the US military. A prototype called the Cheetah was created for this in 1977. However, in a direct comparison with AM General’s High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) in the California desert, the Cheetah was inferior in almost all areas. The plans for it disappeared into the drawers of the development department until 1980. After the takeover of Lamborghini by Patrick Mimran, they were brought out again. Now an off-road vehicle for private customers was created on this basis. The LM001 (with AMC V8 engine) and LMA prototypes were followed by the premiere of the LM002 in 1986, with the 4.8-liter V12 engine from the Countach LP500S under the hood. Long before the current Urus, there was thus a supersport SUV.

Lamborghini Countach

How do you replace a design icon like the Miura? Ideally with the next one. Once again it was Marcello Gandini who took the drawing pencil for the Countach. In his position as chief designer at Bertone, he had earned a unique reputation on the automotive scene in the late 1960s and early 1970s. His wedge-shaped sports cars with characteristic wheel cutouts easily made it onto the covers of car magazines. With the 1968 Alfa Romeo Carabo, he first conceived of a concept car with “scissor doors” that opened forward and upward. This unusual design feature made it into series production for the first time with the Countach and, in slightly modified form, has remained a distinguishing feature of the large Lamborghini V12 models ever since.

Images: Lamborghini