Description
By: Richard Dredge .
When it comes to thrills on wheels, few companies carry it off like Lamborghini. Only supercar builders with even more precarious financial positions have ever come close to offering a similar blend of visual and dynamic excitement — products of more mainstream supercar builders such as Ferrari, Porsche and Aston Martin are ordinary by comparison. However, there have been many occasions during the first four decades of Lamborghini's existence when it appeared that the company had breathed its last. Its cars were so exclusive, so exciting and so unattainable, that the sums simply didn't add up. Indeed, it was only thanks to the success (and financial support) of his tractor-building empire that Ferruccio Lamborghini could even think about producing supercars in the first place.
While Lamborghini's V12 two-seaters have always featured jaw-dropping designs, they've frequently been highly innovative too. Although the Miura wasn't the world's first- ever production mid-engined car, it was the first time the configuration had been used for something so astonishingly fast — and so chingly beautiful too. When the Countach superseded the Miura, though, it was hardly a case of more of the same; this was perhaps the most aggressive — and least practical — supercar the world had ever seen.
By the time the Diablo appeared in 1990, the supercar world had moved on. With Lamborghini having relatively small amounts of money to develop the world-beater everybody expected, the car was fabulous but struggled to differentiate itself from some of its rivals — but that raging bull on the nose still counted for a lot. And while the initial Diablo may have appeared to struggle to distance itself from the pack, the model quickly evolved to ensure Lamborghini stole a march. Just when certain rivals thought they'd caught up again, the Murcielago of 2001 moved the goalposts once more. But in an increasingly politically correct world, and with power getting ever cheaper, Lamborghini has had to work harder and harder to stay one step ahead. If anybody is able to leave the rest behind, it's the company from Sant'Agata. Fascinated by the minutiae of motoring history, Richard Dredge is happiest when trawling through his library, unearthing long-forgotten snippets. Whether it's obscure concepts, low-volume production cars or something more mainstream, Richard will always dig something up!
