>>Lamborghini 350GTV

Lamborghini 350GTV

Lamborghini 350 GTV

Manufacturer	Carrozzeria Sargiotto, Turin, for Lamborghini
Production	1963
Successor	Lamborghini 350 GT
Class	Prototype sports car
Body style	2-door grand tourer coupé
Layout	Longitudinal front-engine, rear-wheel drive
Engine	3.5 L V12
Transmission	5-speed ZF manual
Wheelbase	2,450 mm (96.5 in)
Length	4,370 mm (172.0 in)
Width	1,760 mm (69.3 in)
Height	1,050 mm (41.3 in)
Kerb weight	1,292 kg (2,848 lb)

The Lamborghini 350 GTV was the prototype and forerunner of the later 350 GT -Lamborghini's first production model. The car was presented to the public on the 1963 Turin Auto Show.

Rejection for production and preparation for show

The 350 GTV featured a controversial semi-fastback body designed by Franco Scaglione and built by Carrozzeria Sargiotto in Turin. Giorgio Neri and Luciano Bonacini built the tube frame chassis in Modena. Giotto Bizzarrini developed a 3.5 litre dry sump racing-specification V12 engine, with an output of 255 kilowatts(347 PS; 342 bhp) at 8,000 rpm, and torque of 326 newton metres (240 lbf·ft),using the DIN measurement standard, for use in the car.

Ferruccio Lamborghini was dissatisfied with several design features of the 350 GTV, and with the state of tune of the engine. He commissioned Carrozzeria Touring to redesign the car to be more practical and had the engine detuned to 270 brake horsepower (201 kW; 274 PS) at 6,500 rpm for use in the production car.The new body and retuned engine resulted in the first production Lamborghini, the 350 GT.

Lamborghini continued with the 350 GTV as a show-only car. Upon assembling the car, however, the workforce discovered that the body panels would not fit around the engine. Since he had no further plans for the 350 GTV beyond being a show car, Lamboghini had the engine bay ballasted with bricks and kept the bonnet shut throughout the Turin Auto Show. The incomplete show car also had no brake calipers, foot pedals, or windshield wipers.

After the show

With lights up

The show car was then stored by Lamborghini, remaining in storage until the mid-1980s, when car dealer Romano Bernandoni and his cousin, Lamborghini expert Stefano Pasini, convinced the management to sell it to them. Bernandoni and Pasini did not receive the gauges and steering wheel with the car. They did, however, receive several proposals made to modify the car into running condition; these were used to do so. The colour was changed from its original pale blue to metallic green at the new owner's request.

Rear view

The car was then sold to a Japanese collector, who placed the car in the Noritake Collection. Several years later, the car was on display at the museum at Lamborghini's factory.