What if we told you that Lamborghini was founded because of one man’s frustration with Ferrari? Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it?
Here’s the epic story behind the Ferrari and Lamborghini rivalry.
Where it all began
Who out there wouldn’t want a show car like the ones manufactured by Ferrari and Lamborghini? Both representing wealth, luxury, and speed, it’s no wonder there was a clash of egos when they’re so similar.
Ferruccio Lamborghini was born into a family of grape farmers. The only difference was, unlike the rest of his family, he wasn’t as passionate about the whole farming thing and was much more interested in mechanics instead. Typical ay, there’s always one. After serving in the Air Force during World War II, to help with agriculture supplies, he took it upon himself to repurpose military machines into tractors. What a legend! This went down a treat, which then led him to do what every man only dreams of back in 1958 and he bought himself a Ferrari.
It was obvious that this was the start of Lamborghini’s taste for expensive cars, and eventually, he found himself driving a different one every week. One week it was a Mercedes-Benz 300SL, the next a Maserati 3500 GT, whatever tickled his fancy really. With Ferrari’s though, they seemed to drive him up the wall. Funny really, but it was the noise and how rough they were on the road that really got his back up.
In his eyes, he saw Ferrari’s as repurposed race cars, which often had crappy designed interiors. The main issue for Ferruccio though, that really ground his gears were the clutches. When they did break, he found himself having to travel to Maranello to get them fixed, imagine how much of a paint that must have been. As time went by, they became more and more frustrated with Ferrari’s services, with repairs taking hours, etc. he decided to tell Ferrari exactly what he thought about them and the imperfections he found with their cars.
Ferrari and Lambo comes to blows
Bearing in mind Enzo Ferrari’s car was top-of-the-line in terms of luxury sports cars, hats off to Ferruccio saying it how it is to Enzo, he’s got some balls, we’ll give him that one. The top dog of the car business, Enzo, wasn’t interested in listening to Lamborghini and dismissed his concerns arrogantly. In Enzo’s eyes, Lamborghini was just a young tractor mechanic complaining about his cars, and who didn’t really have a clue about his cars or cars in general.
When Ferrari told Lamborghini, he didn’t want his advice, that was it. Battle lines had been drawn and the rivalry had begun. If anything, this motivated Lamborghini even more and before you know it, he had a passion for cars, who’d of thought it ay. He started out small fry by tinkering with his 250GT, and before you know it, the Lamborghini 350 GT was here, and the rest was history.
Full steam ahead for Lambo
By the end of 1964, Lamborghini had sold his first 13 cars and he was a full-on competitor for Ferrari. He was a wealthy man before he was 50 and by the early 1960s, he was almost as powerful as Ferrari. You’d think he was crazy for wanting to build a sports car, but it turns out it went pretty well for him. Of course, Ferrari was well ahead of the game, and you’d think that anyone trying to compete with this would be way out they’re depth, but clearly, Lamborghini didn’t think this was that risky.
He decided to buy a plot of land, where he built a new, large factory for his business. It looks like his tractor experience paid off as he was able to set up one of the best facilities for his newly launched car company. When the plans for his first model were released, he was very specific and choose the best pieces for his cars. He even chose an engine from Giotto Bizzarrini, the one who designed some of Ferrari’s engines during that period. Talk about being competitive.
It’s madness to think that Ferrari’s own ego and arrogance would go on to create one of the largest rivals in the luxury car industry. Both Ferrari and Lamborghini are two of the greatest Italian car manufacturers and it’s crazy to think that one of them might not exist today if the other had been a little more kind.
If Ferrari were to take anything from this rivalry, you’d think it would be that you shouldn’t underestimate your competition.
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