Back in 1963, Lamborghini wasn’t a household name. The 350 GTV prototype was its opening salvo—a statement that said, “We’re here to play with the big dogs.” Styled by Franco Scaglione at Bertone, the car married sharp Italian design with engineering muscle.
Under the hood sat a 3.5-liter V12 engine. Giotto Bizzarrini, an ex-Ferrari engineer, crafted this beast to pump out around 280 horsepower. For the early ’60s, that was serious firepower. Coupled with a five-speed manual, the 350 GTV promised speed and precision.
But it wasn’t perfect. Test runs revealed quirks—carburetor hiccups and some reliability issues. Those early growing pains were expected for a groundbreaker. Still, the 350 GTV sketched the path for Lamborghini’s first production car, the 350 GT, which arrived a year later.
What makes this prototype special isn’t just the spec sheet. It showed Lamborghini’s fierce will to build something unique. The bold lines, the rumbling V12, the ambition baked into every curve—they all shouted that this wasn’t a run-of-the-mill GT.
That early prototype may have had its flaws, but it set the tone for everything Lamborghini would become: loud, fast, and impossible to ignore.
