Lamborghini 350 GTV

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Lamborghini
Lamborghini 350 GTV.jpg

Lamborghini 350 GTV

350 GTV
Presentation year: 1963
Vehicle fair: Turin Motor Show
Class : Sports car
Body shape : Coupe
Engine: Otto engine :
3.5 liters (265 kW)
Length: 4500 mm
Width: 1730 mm
Height: 1220 mm
Wheelbase: 2450 mm
Empty weight: 1050 kg
Production model: Lamborghini 350 GT

The Lamborghini 350 GTV is a two-door coupé that was created as a one-off in 1963. It is the first sports car from Automobili Lamborghini SpA and, technically and stylistically, the forerunner of the Lamborghini 350 GT, which was produced in small series . The car was initially an exhibition item that was not ready to drive: when it was presented in October 1963, instead of the engine, there was only a box of rubble under the front hood. It wasn't until 25 years later that it was ready to drive.

History of origin

Lamborghini Trattori SpA , founded by Ferruccio Lamborghini , produced tractors and special machines from 1948. Ten years after it was founded, Lamborghini was the most successful tractor manufacturer in Italy.

Since the early 1960s, Ferruccio Lamborghini thought about expanding his business to include automobile production. In the literature, these considerations are often attributed to an alleged rift between Ferruccio Lamborghini and Enzo Ferrari , who - depending on the source - is said to have refused to modify his clutches or the cylinder heads of his sports cars according to Lamborghini's ideas or to give Ferruccio Lamborghini a conversation receive. Ferruccio Lamborghini has participated repeatedly in spreading these stories over the decades. Their veracity, however, is doubted. Other representations assume that Ferruccio Lamborghini and Enzo Ferrari never met in person. Rather, Lamborghini started sports car production primarily with the aim of advertising its tractor business; the alleged animosity towards Ferrari was merely a PR tool. Finally, an Italian source sees Ferruccio Lamborghini's “love of everything mechanical” as the decisive reason.

Ferruccio Lamborghini himself declared in the fall of 1963:

“I've owned the most famous sports cars in the world. I found flaws in each of these great cars. Too hot or too uncomfortable, not fast enough or not processed well enough. Now I'm going to build a sports car myself. A perfect car. "

In December 1962 the decision was made in favor of producing a Lamborghini sports car. According to Ferruccio Lamborghini's ideas, the vehicle should combine the stylistic and technical elements of the Jaguar E-Type and those of a Ferrari . A twelve-cylinder engine was provided so that the new car could compete with current Ferrari models.

details

In the course of 1963 the automobile plant of the newly founded Automobili Lamborghini SpA was established in Sant'Agata Bolognese. At that time, the company did not have its own design department capable of developing a luxury sports car. Many design tasks for the 350 GTV were therefore outsourced to independent engineers such as Giotto Bizzarrini and Giampaolo Dallara or to established companies. The individual parts of the car and the engine were made to order by various independent companies according to Lamborghini's specifications; If no new developments were necessary, Lamborghini also bought technical components from suppliers such as Girling , Salisbury or ZF .

Chassis and suspension

The 350 GTV had a tubular space frame that Dallara had designed. The vast majority of automotive literature assumes that it was built at Neri e Bonacini in Modena . A single source deviates from the fact that the Modeneser plant Marchesi is the manufacturer of the frame.

All four wheels were hung individually. Ferruccio Lamborghini attached particular importance to this feature, with which his car set itself apart from the Maserati models, which in the 1960s still had a rigid rear axle with leaf springs and, in view of this, occasionally mockingly in the press as "overpowered trucks" were designated. All four wheels had disc brakes, which were obtained from Girling.

body

Rear view
One of the first European vehicles with pop-up headlights: Lamborghini 350 GTV

For the body design, Ferruccio Lamborghini initially sought the established design houses Bertone , Ghia , Pininfarina , Touring and Zagato . They all canceled due to an alleged lack of capacity. Ultimately, Lamborghini commissioned the independent designer Franco Scaglione , who had been Bertone's chief designer until 1959.

The alcohol and cocaine addict Scaglione was regarded by Italian designers as "the man for the wild". He designed a two-seater coupé with a long front section, a tightly cut passenger cell and a flowing roof line that ended in a short notchback. The design took up design features of the Osca 1500 Berlinetta , which Scaglione had designed for Bertone in 1959. Only the proportions in the front area of ​​the car were changed, and the indicated tail fins of the Osca were omitted. At the front, the vehicle had pop-up headlights . The trunk lid revealed only a narrow opening due to the far reaching and rounded rear window. As with the Jaguar E-Type, the entire hood, including the front fenders, opened forward.

Scaglione's design was and is valued differently. Some observers spoke of an “exciting design”, and Giampaolo Dallara, who further developed the 350 GTV into the 350 GT, found the body more successful than that of the later production model. Others saw Scaglione's body as "polarizing", "bizarre" or "rigged up" or considered it a "confused ensemble of detailed views of several other sports cars".

The body was made of sheet steel and was bolted to the chassis. Unlike the superstructures of the later production vehicles, the body of the 350 GTV was built at Carrozzeria Sargiotto in Nichelino . Ferruccio Lamborghini was dissatisfied with the work of the Franco Scaglione workshop. He later called it “a rickety hut that was barely three by four meters”. According to reports in the specialist press, the level of craftsmanship was poor; the vehicle was "hastily bungled".

According to a source, Ferruccio Lamborghini negotiated in connection with the Turin Motor Show with the Turin company Carrozzeria Sibona-Basano , which also made its debut there in 1963, about a small series production of the 350 GTV. Ultimately, however, Lamborghini decided to revise the original design and found a more well-known partner.

Engine: 100 hp per liter of displacement

Ferruccio Lamborghini commissioned the former Ferrari engineer Giotto Bizzarrini to design the engine. The extent to which the engine was actually designed by Bizzarrini and what technical models the engine has is seen differently in the automotive literature.

Giotto Bizzarrini

Most of the automotive literature sees the design of the Lamborghini twelve-cylinder as a work by Giotto Bizzarrini. More recent studies, on the other hand, come to the conclusion that, contrary to popular belief, Bizzarrini did not design the engine himself. Rather, he merely provided a few sketches for a 1.5 liter twelve-cylinder engine that he had made in 1959 as a Ferrari employee. Oliviero Pedrazzi and Achille Bevini took on the detailed design of the Lamborghini engine as subcontractors for Bizzarrini. It was finally made by Neri e Bonacini.

After the Ferrari engines by Gioacchino Colombo and Aurelio Lampredi and Giulio Alfieri's Maserati, Lamborghini's engine was the fourth post-war twelve-cylinder engine built in Italy. The conceptual origins of the engine are not fully understood. When presenting the model, Lamborghini stated that it was a completely redesigned, independent engine. Giotto Bizzarrini countered this in the 1990s, claiming that he essentially copied Gioacchino Colombo's Ferrari twelve-cylinder engine. Other sources, on the other hand, assume that Maserati's twelve-cylinder engine (Tipo 9) served as a model, which was used in Formula 1 from 1957 : Both engines have considerable technical similarities.

Technical details

3.5 liter V12 engine from Lamborghini

The twelve-cylinder V-engine from Lamborghini had a displacement of 3465 cm³. The cylinder head was made of light metal. The crankshaft had seven bearings . Each of the two rows of cylinders had two overhead camshafts that were driven by roller chains . Two V-shaped valves were provided for each cylinder , which were operated by bucket tappets . The combustion chambers were hemispherical and the pistons , which were commissioned by ATS , were greatly expanded upwards. The mixture was prepared by six double carburetors from Weber (type 38 IDL). The compression was 9.5: 1. The force was a manual five-speed transmission from ZF on a self-locking differential of Salisbury on the rear axle transfer .

According to Ferruccio Lamborghini's specifications, the twelve-cylinder engine should produce 100  hp for every liter of displacement. Lamborghini made Bizzarrini's remuneration dependent on the achievement of this value: for every PS less, a deduction from Bizzarrini's fee was contractually agreed. Bizzarrini met the requirement. In August 1963, the engine prototype performed 360 SAE -PS at 8000 revolutions per minute on the test bench . In view of this high speed level, however, the engine was not suitable for the road or for series production. Ferruccio Lamborghini therefore withheld part of Bizzarrini's fee; an Italian court later obliged Lamborghini to pay the full remuneration.

designation

Lamborghini's first car was named Tipo 103 in-house. The model designation ultimately chosen, the 350 GTV, related to the volume of the engine (3.5 liter displacement), not its performance. The abbreviation GTV stands for Gran Turismo Veloce .

Presentation: motorized or not?

In October 1963 the prototype of the 350 GTV and a copy of the engine were completed. The vehicle was presented to the public in the same month. Lamborghini showed the 350 GTV for the first time on October 26, 1963 in front of the plant in Sant'Agata Bolognese, which was being built; a week later he was at the Turin Motor Show .

In almost all older publications there is a note that the engine did not fit in the car and that the car was shown without it in 1963. Research from 2013 shows, however, that the engine was installed in the front of the car at least when it was first presented on October 26, 1963. This is evidenced by contemporary photographs. At the subsequent trade fair presentation, however, the 350 GTV was undoubtedly not equipped with an engine. Instead, for weight reasons, there was a wooden box under the bonnet that was filled with floor tiles. The twelve-cylinder engine, of which only one example still existed at that time, was shown on a separate frame next to the coupé.

The 350 GTV was never ready to drive in 1963. The car had no cardan shaft and the electrical system was completely missing.

Modifications for series production

Production model 350 GT: Standing headlights instead of pop-up headlights

The 350 GTV was neither technically nor stylistically suitable for series production. After the vehicle was presented, both the technology and the exterior were extensively revised; The future Lamborghini test driver Bob Wallace took on a significant part of the development work . The modified version of the 350 GTV resulted in the 350 GT and later the 400 GT , of which 120 (350 GT) and 247 units (400 GT) were built up to 1968.

The following changes were made compared to the prototype:

  • On behalf of Lamborghini, Carrozzeria Touring in Milan revised Scaglione's body design in the course of 1964. Giorgio Prevedi was in charge. He largely retained Scaglione's lines, but changed numerous details with a view to efficient series production. The pop-up headlights were eliminated in favor of standing oval lights, which, depending on the source, were either obtained from Hella and at the same time also used on the NSU Prinz 1000 and the Ford Taunus P3 ("bathtub") or that Cibié produced for the Citroën Ami 6 . The rear roof line has also been changed; their rounding was shortened so that a usable trunk lid could be installed. Observers believed that this did not improve Scaglione's design.
  • Touring also changed the body design. Instead of the sheet steel structure of the 350 GTV, an aluminum body was created that rested on a frame made of thin steel tubes ( Superleggera principle).
  • Numerous details of the twelve-cylinder engine were also revised for series production. The engineer in charge was Giampaolo Dallara. He replaced the dry sump lubrication with a pressure circulation system with a wet sump and changed the carburetor arrangement. In addition, it reduced the compression to 9.0: 1. The later production version of the engine lost 70 hp on the prototype, but became more easy-revving and more suitable for everyday use.

Restoration of the 350 GTV

Restored 350 GTV at an exhibition in September 2013

The Lamborghini 350 GTV had been in a neglected condition in the factory from 1963 to 1985 before the Lamborghini dealer Romano Bernardoni bought it. Bernardoni had the car restored at his Emilianauto company based in Bologna . The aim was to get the car ready for driving for the first time using the original Bizzarrini engine. The work lasted more than four years. The engine was preserved and revised. Numerous body parts such as the exhaust , the cardan shaft and the entire electrical system had to be remade. The restorers based themselves on the Lamborghini 350 GT in numerous details.

In the spring of 1990 the Lamborghini 350 GTV drove on a public road for the first time. In 2010 the car was taken over by a Swiss collector who has since shown it repeatedly at international exhibitions.

Technical data: Lamborghini 350 GTV and 350 GT in comparison

The following overview compares the technical data of the prototype 350 GTV and the later series model 350 GT.

Lamborghini 350 GTV and 350 GT
Parameter 350 GTV 350 GT
Engine:  Twelve-cylinder gasoline engine
V configuration
Displacement:  3465 cc
Bore × stroke:  77.0 x 62.0 mm
Max. Power:  360 hp at 8000 rpm 280 hp at 6500 rpm
Mixture preparation:  6 double downdraft carburetors
Weber 38 IDL		 6 double flat-
flow carburetors Weber 40 DCOE
Valve control:  4 overhead camshafts, bucket tappets
Valves:  2 V-shaped hanging valves per cylinder
Cooling:  Water cooling
Transmission:  Five-speed gearbox (manual transmission)
Front and rear suspension:  Independent suspension
trapezoidal links, coil springs, telescopic shock absorbers, stabilizer
Brakes:  front and rear disc brakes
Chassis:  Tubular frame
Body:  Sheet steel
doors and hoods made of aluminum		 aluminum
Wheelbase:  2450 mm 2550 mm
Dimensions
(length × width × height): 		 4500 × 1730 × 1220 mm 4460 × 1730 × 1280 mm
Empty weight:  1050 kg 1210 kg
Tires:  205 HR 15
Top speed:  280 km / h 258 km / h

literature

  • Georg Amtmann, Halwart Schrader : Italian sports cars. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-613-01988-4 .
  • Dean Bachelor, Chris Poole, Graham Robson : The Big Book of Sports Cars. Müller, Erlangen 1990 (no ISBN)
  • Wolfgang Blaube : Green Star. 50 years of Lamborghini. Presentation of the 350 GTV in: Oldtimer Markt, issue 7/2013, p. 246 ff.
  • Matthias Braun, Alexander Franc Storz: Type compass Lamborghini: Sports car after 1964. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 978-3-613-02645-2 .
  • Kevin Brazendale: The Encyclopedia of classic cars. Advanced Marketing Services, London 1999, ISBN 1-57145-182-X (English).
  • Decio Carugati: Lamborghini. Mondadori Electa, 2010, ISBN 978-88-370-6763-2 .
  • David Hodges: Lamborghini. The Legend . Smithmark Publishers, London 1998, ISBN 978-0-7651-0846-3 .
  • Hans-Karl Lange: Lamborghini. All sports cars since 1963. Verlagsunion Pabel - Moewig, Rastatt 1991, ISBN 3-8118-3063-5 .
  • Hans-Karl Lange: Maserati. The other Italian sports car. Zsolnay, Vienna 1993, ISBN 3-552-05102-3 .
  • David Lillywhite, Halwart Schrader : Classic Automobiles. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-613-02552-3 .
  • Reinhard Lintelmann: 1000 automobiles. History. Classic. Technology. Naumann & Göbel Verlagsgesellschaft, Cologne (no year), ISBN 3-625-10543-8 .
  • Frank Oleski, Hartmut Lehbrink: Series sports cars. Könemann, Cologne 1993, ISBN 3-89508-000-4 .
  • Stefano Pasini: Numero Uno. Sports car history: How the first Lamborghini was created in 1963 and restored in the late 1980s . In: Motor Klassik, issue 10/1991, p. 34 ff.
  • Anthony Pritchard: Lamborghini. The history of the supercars from Sant'Agata. Heel, Königswinter 2006, ISBN 3-89880-574-3 .

Web links

Commons : Lamborghini 350 GTV  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Hans-Karl Lange: Lamborghini. All sports cars since 1963. Verlagsunion Pabel - Moewig, Rastatt 1991, ISBN 3-8118-3063-5 , p. 5.
  2. ^ Anthony Pritchard: Lamborghini. The history of the supercars from Sant'Agata. Heel, Königswinter 2006, ISBN 3-89880-574-3 , p. 9.
  3. ↑ a b c Stefano Pasini: Numero Uno . Motor Klassik, issue 10/1991, p. 36.
  4. ^ David Lillywhite, Halwart Schrader: Classic automobiles. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-613-02552-3 , p. 260.
  5. ↑ a b Reinhard Lintelmann: 1000 automobiles. History. Classic. Technology. NGV, Cologne (no year), ISBN 3-625-10543-8 , p. 335.
  6. ↑ a b c d series sports car. Könemann, Cologne 1993, ISBN 3-89508-000-4 , p. 278.
  7. ↑ Distancing yourself from the legends about the company founding, for example Anthony Pritchard: Lamborghini. The history of the supercars from Sant'Agata. Heel, Königswinter 2006, ISBN 3-89880-574-3 , p. 10.
  8. ↑ Wolfgang Blaube: Green Star. 50 years of Lamborghini . Oldtimer Markt, issue 7/2013, p. 246.
  9. ^ A b c Georg Amtmann, Halwart Schrader: Italian sports cars. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-613-01988-4 , p. 228.
  10. ^ A b c Matthias Braun, Alexander Franc Storz: Typenkompass Lamborghini: Sports car after 1964. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 978-3-613-02645-2 , p. 9.
  11. ↑ Hans-Karl Lange: Lamborghini. All sports cars since 1963. Verlagsunion Pabel - Moewig, ISBN 3-8118-3063-5 , p. 3.
  12. ↑ a b Wolfgang Blaube: Green Star. 50 years of Lamborghini . Presentation of the 350 GTV in: Oldtimer Markt, issue 7/2013, p. 248.
  13. ↑ a b c d e Hans-Karl Lange: Lamborghini. All sports cars since 1963. Verlagsunion Pabel - Moewig, Rastatt 1991, ISBN 3-8118-3063-5 , p. 10.
  14. ↑ a b c d e f g Stefano Pasini: Numero Uno . Motor Klassik, issue 10/1991, p. 38.
  15. ↑ It is true that Marchesi manufactured the majority of the chassis for the 350 GT and 450 GTV series models. See Anthony Pritchard: Lamborghini. The history of the supercars from Sant'Agata. Heel, Königswinter 2006, ISBN 3-89880-574-3 , p. 20.
  16. ↑ a b David Hodges: Lamborghini. The Legend . Smithmark Publishers, London 1998, ISBN 978-0-7651-0846-3 , p. 13.
  17. ↑ Hans-Karl Lange: Maserati. The other Italian sports car. Zsolnay, Vienna 1993, ISBN 3-552-05102-3 , p. 27.
  18. ↑ a b c Wolfgang Blaube: Green Star. 50 years of Lamborghini . Presentation of the 350 GTV in: Oldtimer Markt, issue 7/2013, p. 250.
  19. ^ Anthony Pritchard: Lamborghini. The history of the supercars from Sant'Agata. Heel, Königswinter 2006, ISBN 3-89880-574-3 , p. 16. - Scaglione designed numerous unusual and sensational bodies in the 1950s. The Alfa Romeo BAT prototypes were of particular importance here .
  20. ↑ a b Kevin Brazendale: Kevin Brazendale: The Encyclopedia of classic cars. Advanced Marketing Services, London 1999, ISBN 1-57145-182-X , p. 183.
  21. ↑ Quoted from Anthony Pritchard: Lamborghini. The history of the supercars from Sant'Agata. Heel Verlags GmbH, Königswinter 2006, ISBN 3-89880-574-3 , p. 28.
  22. ^ A b Dean Bachelor, Chris Poole, Graham Robson: The great book of sports cars. Müller, Erlangen 1990 (no ISBN), p. 236.
  23. ↑ Elvio Deganello, in: Auto Italia (magazine), issue 227, January 2015, “Italian Coachbuilders - Carrozzeria Sibona & Basano ”, pp. 50–54 (53) (English), available on the web portal porschecarshistory.com .
  24. ↑ a b Wolfgang Blaube: Green Star. 50 years of Lamborghini . Presentation of the 350 GTV in: Oldtimer Markt, issue 7/2013, p. 249.
  25. ↑ a b c Anthony Pritchard: Lamborghini. The history of the supercars from Sant'Agata. Heel Königswinter 2006, ISBN 3-89880-574-3 , p. 15.
  26. ↑ a b Wolfgang Blaube: Green Star. 50 years of Lamborghini . Presentation of the 350 GTV in: Oldtimer Markt, issue 7/2013, p. 252.
  27. ^ A b Decio Carugati: Decio Carugati: Lamborghini. Mondadori Electa, 2010, ISBN 978-88-370-6763-2 , p. 59.
  28. ^ But so Pritchard (Lamborghini, p. 18). This cannot be reconciled with the name of the later production model, the 350 GT, which also had a 3.5 liter displacement but only made 280 hp. The further development of the 350 GT had a 4.0 liter engine and was called the 400 GT.
  29. ^ A b Hans-Karl Lange: Lamborghini. All sports cars since 1963. Verlagsunion Pabel - Moewig, Rastatt 1991, ISBN 3-8118-3063-5 , p. 11.
  30. ↑ a b c Wolfgang Blaube: Green Star. 50 years of Lamborghini . Presentation of the 350 GTV in: Oldtimer Markt, issue 7/2013, p. 251.
  31. ↑ a b c Hans-Karl Lange: Lamborghini. All sports cars since 1963. Verlagsunion Pabel - Moewig, Rastatt 1991, ISBN 3-8118-3063-5 , p. 14.
  32. ↑ Hans-Karl Lange: Lamborghini. All sports cars since 1963. Verlagsunion Pabel - Moewig, Rastatt 1991, ISBN 3-8118-3063-5 , p. 16.
  33. ^ Restoration history of the Lamborghini 350 GTV in: Motor Klassik, issue 10/1991.
  34. ↑ The technical data was taken from Wolfgang Blaube: Grüner Star. 50 years of Lamborghini. Presentation of the 350 GTV in: Oldtimer Markt, issue 7/2013, p. 252.
  35. ↑ In the magazine Motor Klassik, the name of the author is incorrectly given as “Passini”.
This article was added to the list of excellent articles on September 17, 2013 in this version .