Today, Lamborghini is famous for producing exotic sports cars. However, back to 1964, its first car 350GT was actually a Grand Tourer (GT). In order to establish the reputation of the new company, Ferruccio Lamborghini was serious to adopt as much sounding technology as possible in his first car. Therefore, all-independent suspensions, aluminium body and quad-cam V12 were incorporated in this car, thus gave it an advertising advantage over contemporary Ferraris.
Surprisingly, 350GT was more refined and quieter than the Ferraris, if not faster or wilder. Production was very limited, only 120 cars were made. Since the aluminium panels were more complex and costly to produce, they were replaced by conventional steel panels 2 years later. This added 150 kg so that the engine had to be enlarged to 3.9 litres. As a result, it was renamed to 400GT. Although less advanced than its predecessor, 400GT was even more refined and practical, at least it got 2 tiny rear seats instead of the strange 2+1 layout in the 350GT.
Both 350GT and 400GT were far from being the classiest Lamborghini, but they really helped Ferruccio Lamborghini’s dream came true : beating the Ferrari.
Model
350GT
Year of production started
1964
Total no. produced
120
Layout, gear box
Front-engined, Rwd, 5M
Chassis
Space frames
Engine
V12, dohc, 2v/cyl.
Capacity
3464 c.c.
Power
280 hp
Torque
232 lbft
Weight
1150 kg (dry)
Year of production started
1966
Total no. produced
273
Layout, gear box
Front-engined, Rwd, 5M
Chassis
Space frames
Engine
V12, dohc, 2v/cyl.
Capacity
3929 c.c.
Power
320 hp
Torque
261 lbft
Weight
1300 kg (dry)