Ferruccio Lamborghini (; 28 April 1916 – 20 February 1993) was an Italian automobile designer, soldier, inventor, mechanic, engineer, winemaker, industrialist, and businessman who created Lamborghini Trattori in 1948 and the Automobili Lamborghini in 1963, a maker of high-end sports cars in Sant'Agata Bolognese.
Born to grape farmers in Renazzo, from the comune of Cento in the Emilia-Romagna region, his mechanical know-how led him to enter the business of tractor manufacturing in 1948, when he founded Lamborghini Trattori, which quickly became an important manufacturer of agricultural equipment in the midst of Italy's post-WWII economic boom. In 1959, he opened an oil burner factory, Lamborghini Bruciatori, which later entered the business of producing air conditioning equipment.
Lamborghini founded a fourth company, Lamborghini Oleodinamica, in 1969 after creating Automobili Lamborghini in 1963. Lamborghini sold off many of his interests by the late 1970s and retired to an estate in Umbria, where he pursued winemaking.
Early life
Ferruccio Lamborghini was born on 28 April 1916 to viticulturists Antonio and Evelina Lamborghini in house number 22 in Renazzo di Cento, in the Province of Ferrara, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. According to his baptismal certificate, Ferruccio was baptised as a Roman Catholic four days later, on 2 May.
As a young man, Lamborghini was drawn more to farming machinery rather than the farming lifestyle itself. Following his interest in mechanics, Lamborghini studied at the Fratelli Taddia technical institute near Bologna. In 1940 he was drafted into the Italian Royal Air Force, where he served as a mechanic at the Italian garrison on the island of Rhodes, territory of the Kingdom of Italy since 1911, after the Italo-Turkish War), becoming the supervisor of the vehicle maintenance unit. When the Germans turned on their former Italian allies in September 1943 most soldiers either fled or were among the 30,000 Italians captured as prisoners of war. Lamborghini initially escaped capture but later returned to his former workplace in civilian clothes working several odd jobs and with the permission of the German forces opened a small vehicle workshop. When the island fell to the British at the end of the war in 1945 he was arrested as a collaborator, and was not able to return home to Italy until the following year. He married, but his wife died in 1947 while giving birth to his first child, a boy named Tonino.
After World War II
After World War II, Lamborghini opened a garage in Pieve di Cento. Lamborghini modified an old Fiat Topolino he had purchased (the first of many that he would own over the years) in his spare time he made tractors which would be the first Lamborghinis he would make. He made use of his mechanical abilities to transform the homely city car into a roaring 750-cc open-top two-seater and entered the car in the 1948 Mille Miglia. His participation ended after when he ran the car into the side of a restaurant in the town of Fiano, in Turin.
Beginnings of entrepreneurship
In 1947 Ferruccio Lamborghini recognized an emerging market in post-War Italy devoted to agricultural and industrial revitalization. Using parts from military vehicle engines and differentials from ARAR centres, Lamborghini built the first of his "Carioca" tractors, themselves based on the six-cylinder petrol engines of Morris trucks.
As petrol in Italy was prohibitively-priced, Lamborghini augmented the Morris engines with a fuel atomiser of his own creation, which allowed the tractors to be started with petrol, then switch to the cheaper diesel fuel. Based on the initial success of the Carioca, Lamborghini founded Lamborghini Trattori and began manufacturing tractors.
Involvement with boats
A Riva Aquarama Lamborghini (Hull #278) was registered and delivered on 7 June 1968 to Lamborghini. The boat was the first and only one fitted with two Lamborghini engines and it had special side railing for holding on to during water-skiing and record attempts. The engine compartment was modified to fit the engines and a special open exhaust was built to meet Lamborghini's demands.
He owned the boat for over 20 years until July 1988, when he then sold it to Angelo Merli, a close friend.