Lamborghini. In the footsteps of the movie about the legendary man
The Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend was released in 2022. It was directed by Robert Moresco, an American producer, screenwriter, director and actor. His other works include such films as 10th & Wolf and Crash, which won an Academy Award. His Lamborghini movie tells the story of one of the most audacious start-ups in the supercar world, Ferruccio Lamborghini’s trial and error and the transformation of a tractor farmer’s son into a legendary car builder. About the man who challenged Enzo Ferrari himself and even won, at least in the beginning. We begin our story in the footsteps of the movie. Beware: lots of spoilers!
The Man
Ferruccio Lamborghini is an Italian industrialist and businessman, founder of Lamborghini Trattori, Automobili Lamborghini and a number of other companies. He was born in 1916 under the Taurus sign. His parents were farmers. Ferruccio himself was interested in technology since childhood, studied the course of industrial technology at the Fratelli Taddia University. After the end of World War II, he modified military equipment for the needs of agriculture for some time, and then founded a tractor factory. Having launched his own production with his inherent energy and determination, Lamborghini has turned it into the main landmark of the industry. As a result, he managed to earn an impressive fortune. By the beginning of the 1960s, Ferruccio had become an influential and successful businessman who clearly understood what he wanted. But when Lamborghini announced that he was going to produce sports supercars that could compete with Ferrari, many thought that he had just lost his mind. The production of such models was seen as a risky step into the unknown, wastefulness with no hope of profit. But the capable, purposeful and strong-willed man founded the company and managed it in the early stages of its extraordinary history.
Movie
Speaking about biopics in general, it is worth noting that this is a very complex genre. It is not easy to fit a person’s whole life into a 1.5-2-hour movie. Plus, you still need to show their emotions, passion, convey their ideas to us… Few people can do it. We can immediately say that this movie will not receive an Oscar… since, in fact, the plot is actually a combination of fragments from Lamborghini’s life, richly flavored with quotes from Ferruccio himself. It would be more interesting to focus on a conflict with Ferrari, as was done in Ford vs Ferrari, or a long and difficult path from a simple farmer’s son to wealth and fame, showing the life of a person who ended up all alone, following the example of Bohemian Rhapsody… But, no. The movie just combines everything trying to please everyone… The result is a dull story about a great man.
Lamborghini respected Enzo and loved his cars, but found them too noisy and rough, more suited to a race track than a pleasant road ride. All the Ferraris (Lamborghini had three or four Ferrari cars) had clutch problems. Ferruccio said that when "you drive calmly, everything is fine, but when you press the clutch, it slips and does not work properly". The clutch problem did not disappear after the repair.
It would seem that the main idea was to show how Ferruccio Lamborghini created his own car brand with a whole range of unique hypercars. The movie could focus on the conflict between Ferrari and Lamborghini, demonstrating its importance and severity, rather than showing us the legendary conversation between Ferrari and Lamborghini. But the creators decided otherwise. We can understand them, because the great Ferruccio had a difficult journey, really experienced many shocks, lost his beloved, was a single father with a little child, established a family farm, a source of income for a large family…
One day Ferruccio decided to talk to Enzo Ferrari. After waiting for him for several hours and finally seeing him, Lamborghini gave way to his temper and said: “Ferrari, your cars are nonsense!” These words enraged Enzo: "Lamborghini, you can drive a tractor, but you can never handle a Ferrari!!!" This is the real conversation between two Italians...
We were shown not an Italian, but a purely ‘American’ story with the canonical statements of any business coach about ‘belief in yourself’, ‘striving for success’ and ‘moving forward against all odds’, ‘let nothing stand in your way’… No, that’s right, you need to believe that everything will work out in order to build a business from scratch. But the creators have failed to make us, the audience, believe that this is a living, suffering, doubting, worrying, thinking, emotional person. He doesn’t seem to be Italian at all…
The plot is based on the book by Ferruccio’s son. Therefore, in our opinion, it contains quite a lot of children’s grievances against the father, with too much focus on the father’s infidelity. The script is so subjective that it doesn’t even include Ferruccio’s beloved daughter from the previous marriage. One gets the impression that Lamborghini received his Order of Merit for Labor and the title of “Cavaliere del Lavoro” (the highest order of Italian entrepreneurs) not for hard work, creating a successful business and a huge contribution to the recovery of the economy of post-war Italy, but for “works” on field of marital infidelity. The movie also treats unfairly Lamborghini’s father, allegedly forbidding his son to ‘break away’ from the roots, leave the farm and build tractors. According to the plot, the father does not understand why Ferruccio would be so interested in technology and creating his own tractor.
From childhood, Ferruccio's parents supported his passion for technology, they even helped to set up a workshop on the farm, where the teenager cast the parts needed for farm equipment. After the war, the young Lamborghini started modifying military equipment for agricultural purposes, although, according to the plot, he senselessly spent his parents' money.
In addition, the movie lacks the very spirit of Italy where the most important thing is the family. Everything is very ‘Americanized’… Where are the Italian humor, family feasts, songs, dances, spaghetti, Chianti, Parmigiano? Love for life, finally?! Even the traditional sign language is missing… According to the movie, Ferruccio is some typical Anglo-Saxon nerd…
Lamborghini
As journalists of the automobile project, we could not help but rejoice that the director dwelled in a little more detail on the very process of creating the first Lamborghini model.
Lamborghini had only a few months from the birth of the idea to the official presentation, so the first model was created very quickly. The presentation was timed to coincide with the Turin Motor Show, which opened in early November 1963. Since Ferruccio had a fairly clear idea of what he wanted, he did not have to spend time looking for employees: he simply ‘took’ them from Ferrari. To create the best V-12 engine in the industry (and thus the best in the world), he turned to Giotto Bizzarrini, who had already designed some of Ferrari’s most advanced engines. To design all other components, Lamborghini hired two promising young engineers: Giampaolo Dallara and Giampaolo Stanzani. They faced a serious challenge, time was short. Nevertheless, the Lamborghini 350 GTV became a real masterpiece.
‘You buy a Ferrari when you want to prove something, and you buy a Lamborghini when you have nothing to prove’
The movie displays more or less vividly the process of creating the first-born Lamborghini. But why didn’t they show us the most interesting thing?! How the most beautiful car of the brand and the first truly iconic Lamborghini model, the Miura, was created… The movie shows it as an incarnated spirit, like a dream come to life… As a symbol of the eternal struggle with Ferrari and as the only child, truly loved by his creator.
Miura
The Miura’s unique chassis had a significant impact on the history of both the company itself and the automotive industry as a whole. Thanks to it, the Lamborghini brand has become a symbol in the automotive world, the epitome of growth, a breakthrough at any cost, superiority over competitors despite traditional restrictions and prejudices. The Miura’s design is the result of the incredible enthusiasm of two young engineers, Dallara and Stanzani, who proposed to prepare a slightly simplified version of a full-fledged sports car for public roads. Their development featured a 4.0-liter 12-cylinder engine from the 400 GT model, which was mounted transversely behind the cockpit. The gearbox and differential housings were made in a single casting with the main part of the engine. The chassis was made from bent and welded sheet metal with drilled holes to reduce weight. When Lamborghini saw the project, he immediately approved it, seeing how unique it was. He was wrong about only one thing, saying that such a supercar is an excellent advertisement for the brand, but the global sales volume would not exceed 50 units…
The chassis was made quickly enough and presented at the Turin Motor Show in October 1965. One of those who believed in it and in the ability of Lamborghini himself was Nuccio Bertone. As soon as the owner of the body shop from Turin saw this chassis, he approached Lamborghini and said: ‘I am the one who can make the shoe fit your foot!’ The handshake between Bertone and Lamborghini was the beginning of an incredible adventure. Bertone’s ideas were entrusted to Marcello Gandini, who created a unique body for the chassis assembled in Bologna. Thus was born Miura, offering a unique combination of aggressiveness, elegance, originality and luxury.
In 1962, while traveling through Spain, Ferruccio visited the ranch of the famous breeder of fighting bulls, Don Eduard Miura.
It is still not known for certain why the supercar was named like that. Although the movie has an episode where Lamborghini visits the artist’s exhibition and sees a drawing of a bull that inspired him to create a logo. It is not known whether this is true or fiction. Ferruccio himself did not want to explain why he resorted to the analogy with the mighty Miura bulls, a real legend among the Spanish fighting breeds. For someone who was born under the sign of Taurus and proudly used this sign as the logo for all of his creations, the very idea of naming one of his models after a fighting bull seemed quite natural. Anyway, the name is perfect for the model which was destined to become great. After all, the Miura bulls are extraordinary animals: the strongest among all fighting bulls, but most importantly, the most intelligent and ferocious in battle. Bullfighters often say that the look of a Miura bull cannot be confused with anything: it is the look of a real warrior. Such a name for a supercar was extremely accurate and instantly memorable due to its brevity.
According to Lamborghini's official website, on the day of the premiere, it was the fastest car in the world: the car accelerated from 0 to 100 km/h in 6.7 seconds, while the maximum speed was 280 km/h.
The Miura was built at great speed. Gandini later recalled: from October to February, everyone worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The main event was approaching, and everyone wanted to present a new model at the 1966 Geneva International Motor Show. And a miracle happened: the chassis, shown in the fall of 1965 as an experimental prototype, turned into the most amazing road model in the world in just a few months. The premiere of the Lamborghini Miura became the highlight of the Geneva Motor Show!
The newcomer aroused unprecedented interest, but Lamborghini attracted even more attention when he drove the Miura to the Monte Carlo Grand Prix, the most amazing weekend for sports cars in general and for the best Italian models in particular. The orange Miura he had parked outside the Hotel de Paris that Saturday afternoon attracted so many onlookers that they occupied the entire area in front of the casino. The interest grew and so did the number of orders. It was a meteoric rise that could have been a fantastic ending to the movie… but alas!
Legend
The movie shows us a forsaken hero, all alone, not only without relatives, but also without his great creations. It shows us a man who decided to start life anew and return to his roots. Lamborghini fulfilled his dreams by creating one of the best supercars on the planet, and forever inscribed his name in the history of the global automotive industry. He amassed a large fortune and surpassed Ferrari at the start of his automotive business. But in doing so, he lost the love of his life. He lost ordinary human relationships, his family, distanced himself from his son and never became a grandfather to his grandchildren. He traded family happiness for struggle and eternal competition with Ferrari. And in the end, he lost his favorite brainchild, the Lamborghini company.
In 1972, Ferruccio sold a 51% stake in the company to Georges-Henri Rossetti for 600,000 dollars. In early 1974, he parted with the remainder of his shares, selling them to René Leimer, a friend of Rossetti. And the tractor company went to the old competitor SAME DEUTZ-FAHR group.
And Ferruccio himself (according to the movie) begins to wonder if he was right, giving all his passion, his love and all his time to cars… And when he again finds himself at the start with Enzo, he does not even try to participate in the race. Ferrari drives off and Lamborghini stays behind. This scene not only reflects the loss of the company during the economic crisis, it symbolizes the unasked question: ‘Was it worth it to start?’ Ferruccio lost interest in racing with Enzo because he lost interest in car production. He moved away from the eternal race with Ferrari and returned to his ‘roots’, the rich land of Italy, which gives birth not only to the great creators of supercars, but also to the famous grape varieties. The aged Lamborghini is again a farmer and winemaker. And we hope, loving and caring father and grandfather…
Lamborghini didn't just grow grapes, he made award-winning wine, he traveled, he built a golf course on his land, and he made golf cars. In addition, he created a car for Pope John Paul II. Ferruccio suffered a heart attack on February 5, 1993 and died on February 20.
