History Of Lamborghini Models - Turning Back The Clock

A short journey into the Italian automaker's legendary history follows:

The oh-so-gorgeous Miura was produced between 1966 and 1973, and was the fastest production car in the world at the time of its launch. The Miura is said to have begun the trend of high-performance, mid-engined, two-seater sports cars.

The Marcello-Gandini-designed car received a stellar reception when it was launched at the 1966 Geneva Auto Show, with the car going on to sell an impressive 740 units during its seven-year production run.

This prototype's engine bay, oddly enough, was never displayed during the Geneva Auto Show because the engineers, in the rush of getting the car ready, had not previously checked to see if the engine would fit into the car. As a result, the car found its way to the prestigious show with ballast in the engine compartment! This did not stop the car from becoming the star of the show, and making Marcello Gandini world-famous.

The Lamborghini Espada was first displayed at the 1967 Geneva Auto Show and had a production run of 1,217 cars, making it the most successful model at the time. ‘Espada' means ‘sword' in Portugese, and referred to the sword that bullfighters used to kill the bulls.

The car was again designed by Marcello Gandini of Bertone, and was a true four-seater that featured extensively-rebodied bodywork of a Jaguar E-Type. The Espada had a 4.0-litre, 325 bhp, V12 engine with a manual or automatic transmission. The auto ‘box was one of the first available at the time capable of transferring the huge torque of the Espada on to the road.

The Urraco was the product of Ferrucio Lamborghini's ambitions to build a ‘compact supercar' in the 1960s. The latest from Sant'Agata was to be a rival to the Ferrari Dino 246 GT and the Porche 911, and seemed likely to perform well against them, with a V8 and 2+2 seating configuration that would pip the Dino's V6 and 2-seater format. However, the 911 was always going to be a tough competitor, with its higher volumes of production.

The Urraco eventually did not sell the numbers expected by Automobili Lamborghini, and was plagued by a two-year delivery period for customers and poor interior ergonomics. The car eventually sold fewer than 780 examples.

One look at the Countach and you'd know why it was the ultimate poster-car of the 1980s - it was unlike any car anyone had ever seen before. Standing just over 40-inches tall, with scissor-doors and angular styling that was far ahead of its time, the Countach was soon on the wishlist of the rich and famous.

The 455 bhp, 5.2-litre, V-12 engined-supercar was introduced at the Geneva Auto show in 1971, and stunned the world not much unlike the Miura in 1966. The Countach went on to sell an impressive 1,840 cars, and saw production between 1974 to 1990.

The Lamborghini Jalpa (pronounced "Hall-Puh") had a long list of in-house ancestry. It was based upon the Lamborghini Silhouette, which in turn was based upon the Lamborghini Urraco Silhouette, which in turn was based upon the Lamborghini Urraco of 1973.

Quite a star performer in its own right, the Jalpa was capable of hitting 60 mph from standstill within 7.3 seconds, and a top speed of 161 mph. It went on to become Lamborghini's most successful V-8 model, with total production of close to 420 units.

Quite a beast, wasn't it? Yes, Lamborghini did produce an SUV before the Urus Concept. Equally radical for the time, the ‘Rambo Lambo' was the first four-wheel-drive model produced by Lamborghini.

The LM002 is based on the "Cheetah" prototype, that Lamborghini produced in 1977, hoping to sell to the U.S. military. While the original car had a rear-engined layout, it was altered after much testing and modification to the more-traditional front-engine spec.

The mammoth SUV had huge, custom run-flat Pirelli Scorpion tyres and beefy, angular styling with tubular bumpers, but possibly the LM002's biggest claim to fame was that it possessed a Lamborghini Countach V12 under the hood!

Picture credit: Wiki Commons - Detectandpreserve

The Diablo was built by Automobili Lamborghini between 1990 and 2001, and was the first Lamborghini capable of attaining a speed in excess of 200 miles per hour. ‘Diablo' means ‘devil' in Spanish.

How the car was penned is an interesting bit of history. Marcello Gandini, who had designed many of the company's cars, was contracted to design the Diablo. However, when Chrysler took over the reins of the company in 1987, its management was not happy with the lines of the design at the time, something that Gandini was famously furious about. The car finally ended as a more subdued design to that of Gandini's but his original lines are said to be seen in the outrageous V16-engined Cizeta Moroder. That aside, the Diablo received rave reviews the world over and the famous car went on to sell over 2,989 units.

The Murcielago was the Italian automaker's first new design in 11 years, and also the first under new parent-company Audi, owned by Volkswagen. This Lambo was interestingly named after a valiant fighting bull whose life was actually spared by the matador.

The Murcielago was a two-seater, all-wheel-drive super-coupe that stood hardly four feet off the ground and featured a mid-mounted V12 engine that produced a jaw-dropping-572 horsepower. The car was also very technologically advanced, with active rear intakes and spoiler for high aerodynamic and cooling efficiency, and a rear differential that was integrated into the engine unit.

The Gallardo was by far the most successful model ever for Lamborghini, with the company producing 14,022 examples. The first-generation Gallardo came with a 5.0-litre, V10 engine and offered two choices of transmissions, a conventional six-speed manual transmission, and an advanced six-speed electro-hydraulically-controlled paddle shift or ‘E-gear' transmission.

The Lamborghini Gallardo was built between 2003 and 2014, with 2006 seeing the introduction of a Spyder model with a fully-retractable soft top. Gallardos were compact and looked purposeful, with large air dams, clean lines and short overhangs that made it look quick even at a standstill. But stand still they wouldn't for too long, with 2013 LP550-2 models putting out 550 horses...

The Aventador was revealed to the world in 2011, at the Geneva Motor Show, and was designed to be the replacement for the ten-year-old Murcielago. The car's lines are heavily inspired by the limited-edition Reventon and the Estoque concept.

The radical of the Aventador house a massive 6.5-litre, V12 engine that produces 690 bhp with insane performance figures like a 0-100 km/h acceleration time of 2.9 seconds and an official top speed of 350 km/h.

Most of the Lamborghinis featured in this article were certainly not for the faint-hearted. They did not have modern-day driving assists like ESP, ABS, or even automatic transmission, and one needed to be a talented driver to be able to fully realise the potential of these exotic machines.

Despite all the modern technological advancements of current models with paddle-this and auto-that, one can only dream of slotting a Countach into first, and experiencing the school-boy thrill of gunning it at the lights. Sad that the days of manual transmissions in supercars are soon going to be history...