It was back in 1963 that Ferruccio Lamborghini, the then owner of a tractor company, decided to start building his own range of high-performance cars. His car company, Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A., turns 60 this year, and to celebrate the company has released a video reminding us that it was the creator of the modern supercar.
Lamborghini’s first model, the 350 GT, was a grand tourer with its V-12 engine mounted up front. However, Lamborghini flipped the script just a few years later when it rolled out the bare Miura chassis at the 1965 Turin auto show. The Marcello Gandini-styled body would be added for the car’s next outing which would take place at the 1966 Geneva auto show.
This time, the V-12 was mounted in to the middle, albeit with a transverse layout as opposed to the longitudinal layout which is more common today. The engine was also effectively merged with the transmission and differential, due to the lack of space, something that other automakers would quickly adopt for their own flagship models.
Lamborghini highlights this in a video which shows a Miura driving together with an Aventador, as well as mid-engine supercars (and rear-engine in the case of the 911 appearing in the video) from rival brands.
Lamborghini plans a number of events to celebrate its 60th anniversary. The events will be hosted all over the globe and involve customers, as well as clubs and dealerships. In the U.S., the most important market for Lamborghini, a 60th Anniversary Giro road trip will take place in the summer. Details for the trip will be announced at a later date.
In the past Lamborghini has also traditionally celebrated such milestones with the unveiling of special editions, such as the previous 25th anniversary Countach, 40th anniversary Murciélago, and the Aventador LP 720-4 50° Anniversario and Gallardo LP 560-2 50° Anniversario that marked the company’s 50th anniversary. Lamborghini hasn’t said whether it plans to celebrate its 60th anniversary with a new special edition, but with a successor to the Aventador just around the corner we wouldn’t be surprised if something shows up.
