Like Henry Ford, Ferruccio Lamborghini was an expert mechanic. And like Henry Ford, Lamborghini left a career of prominence to take a chance on an entirely new venture when he was well past 40 years old. In the end, like Henry Ford, Lamborghini was far more interested in producing cars for the street than for the race track.

However, at that point, the parallels between the two automotive legends begin to fold, because the cars Lamborghini brought to market under the sign of the bull were about as distinct from a Model T Ford as an F-16 is from a Piper Cub. Sure, they both fly but… Read more . . .

Speaking about hardship, they say whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. In the late Sixties, Ferruccio Lamborghini was enduring a string of hardship, despite the fact that his Miura was the darling of the automotive press. Though once honored by Italy’s president as a “Knight of Labor,” a  label that brought with slightly more esteem than being named a “Kentucky Colonel,” his manufacturing plants were plagued by ruinous and long strikes. Communist agitation was everywhere, and the streets were often blotted by the chianti red of rioters’ blood.

Infancy concerns

Closer to home, the Lamborghini Miura seemed a victim of its own victory, like a precocious child that can’t quite adjust to adulthood. Read more . . .