What You Need To Know About The Ferrari And Lamborghini Rivalry
By | April 5, 2018
Mauro Forghieri, Alex Soler-Roig, Niki Lauda and Jocken Mass at Zandvoort, (1972). Forghieri designed cars and engines for Ferrari and is best known for the 312 series of cars. (Photo by National Motor Museum/Heritage Images/Getty Images)
If you live anywhere in the civilized world. You probably know what a car is. A car is defined as “a wheeled vehicle.” Since the invention of the car, there have been many people who are enamored by them. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and taste and appreciation for different cars, varies.
That being said, a sports car is in a class all its own. They really shouldn’t even be called cars. They are definitely so much more than just “a wheeled vehicle.” Most sports cars are exquisitely engineered, high tech machines. They are not built for transportation. They are built for speed and status.
Ferraris and Lamborghinis were two Italian Supercars that became household names in the 20th century. They are both synonymous with wealth, luxury, and speed. The horse and bull have long been rivals, ever since two Italian men from Emilia-Romagna had a clash of egos.
All of that being said, most car enthusiasts out there know the difference between makes and models. Everybody has their favorite. However, there are so many manufacturers out there that it is nearly impossible to know it all.
Of the sports car genre, Ferrari and Lamborghini are among the names that most people recognize. The average person will most likely never have the opportunity to get behind the wheel of one of these babies, but many would love to.
Like any industry, car dealers experience a rivalry within their industry. They are always trying to one-up each other to gain the favour of the consumer. Ferrari and Lamborghini are two dealers with an epic and historic rivalry; much like the Hatfield's and the McCoy's. That rivalry is still alive today.
What is the history between the Ferrari vs. Lamborghini rivalry?
Ferruccio Lamborghini was a skilled mechanic.
Ferruccio Lamborghini was born into a family of grape farmers. Unlike the rest of his family, he did not have a passion for the family business. Lamborghini was, instead, more interested in mechanics. He had served for a time in the Air Force during World War II. When he left the Air Force he had used his interest in mechanics to take old military machines and began recycling them as agricultural machines like tractors.
Lamborghini was very successful with his efforts, which caused him to become very wealthy by making tractors. He was no different than any other person who has a healthy amount of disposable income, he humored himself with expensive toys, including several luxury cars. One of those cars was a Ferrari.
Lamborghini had a passion for cars. His passion was so overwhelming that he began racing some of his “toy” cars. Being a mechanic, he endeavored to think that he could tweak them, thereby making them better. When it came to racing his Ferrari, he decided that it was far too noisy and too rough on the road. Another issue Lamborghini had with his Ferrari was that the interior clutch didn’t last long enough, needing to be replaced too often.
During the 1960’s, Enzo Ferrari’s cars were known to be the top of the line in luxury sports cars. Unfortunately, Lamborghini wasn’t as impressed as the rest of the sports car world. He made it is business to let Ferrari know about his perceived imperfections.
Enzo Ferrari at the wheel of a racing car.
Ferrari 250 GTO
Enzo Ferrari was insulted by Ferruccio Lamborghini’s criticism of his top of the line, luxury sports car.
Since he was such a skilled a mechanic, Lamborghini decided to tell Ferrari about the imperfections he found in his cars. Considering Ferrari was considered to be the top dog of the car business, he didn’t appreciate the young tractor mechanic being critical of his automobiles. Ferrari was of the opinion that Lamborghini didn’t know a thing about his cars, or even cars in general. He thought he should stick to tractors.
When Ferrari told Lamborghini about his shortcomings, the rivalry had begun. This historic event would start Lamborghini’s passion for cars. It had been merely a hobby for him before, but this turn of events only fueled his appetite for cars. Lamborghini had decided to turn his hobby into a passion.
Ferrucio Lamborghini wanted to prove Enzo Ferrari wrong that he could build his own sports cars.
Lamborghini considered Ferrari’s dismissal of his advice as the driving force for engineering his own type of luxury car. He began designing different models of his own brand. In only four months, he revealed the Lamborghini 350 GTV at the Turin Motor Show in October of 1963. By the end of 1964, Lamborghini had sold his first 13 cars. The name had eventually changed to the 350 GT.
Lamborghini purposely and purposefully challenged Ferrari’s brand.
After Lamborghini brought competition to Ferrari, he decided to pursue other businesses and he became a very wealthy man before he was 50 years old. By the early 1960s, Lamborghini had become almost as powerful and wealthy as Ferrari. Many people believed that he was misguided and foolish for attempting to build a sports car to directly compete with Ferrari. Ferrari had years on him and was already quite wealthy by the time the Lamborghini had been built. People believed that wanting to build a car as great as Ferrari’s was impossible, they believed it was too risky.
Automobili Ferruccio Lamborghini was founded in May of 1963.
Lamborghini had begun his ambitious adventure in 1962. By May of 1963, he had officially founded his own company, Automobili Ferruccio Lamborghini. He decided to buy a piece of land in Sant’Agata, Bolognese. He used this piece of property to build a new, large factory for his car business. With the advantage of his experience of his successful tractor company and because he was such a successful businessman, he was able to set up one of the finest facilities to operate his car company.
From the Countach to the Aventador, Lamborghini is certainly an advocate for attractive design.
Lamborghini’s factory was so impressive and such a functional, rock solid structure that it was unrivaled. The manufacturing plant was the main building. Adjacent to the plant was the office building, allowing the management to be constantly monitored. This was the perfect thing for Lamborghini, since he preferred to go work on the cars personally when he saw something that wasn’t being done right.
Lamborghini was a “hands on” car manufacturer.
1965 Lamborghini 350 GT
Ferrari and Lamborghini both used the same engine designer for some of their cars.
After plans for the first Lamborghini model were released, the new car manufacturer had a few months to build the factory and set a date for the first presentation of the first model. Being a zealous mechanic, he had chosen only the best pieces for his cars. He had chosen the engine from Giotto Bizzarrini, who had actually designed some of Ferrari’s recent engines during the time period. For the other car parts, he had hired two young engineers named Giampaolo Dallara and Giampaolo Stanzani. With the team’s hard work, they released the 350 GT at the Turin Motor Show.
Ferraris and Lamborghinis were two Italian Supercars that became household names in the 20th century. They both synonymous with wealth, luxury, and speed. The horse and bull have long been rivals, ever since two Italian men from Emilia-Romagna had a clash of egos.
While this historical rivalry might be considered unpleasant to the two car manufacturers, it seems to have worked our just fine for consumers. They successfully pushed each other to test the limits of their ability and creativity.
