Freewheeling with Mitja Borkert: Into the house of the raging bull, Lamborghini

It all started with his disappointment with the Ferrari 250 GT he bought in 1958. He found the interiors basic, clutch unrefined and after sales service substandard. A letter to Enzo Ferrari did not get the desired response. He modified one of his 250 GTs to outperform the factory-built ones and voila, he had found his calling. He would build a grand tourer that would move lightning fast, stick to the road and, be plush inside.

With the money he made from selling tractors, he founded the eponymous motoring badge in 1963. On his visit to the ranch of Don Eduardo Miura, a renowned breeder of Spanish fighting bulls a year back, he had decided that the image of a raging bull would sit on the nose of the grand tourer he would make!

Since putting together the 350GTV in four months just in time for the Turin Motor Show in October 1963, Automobili Lamborghini has been one bull run all the way till now, with the usual ups and downs of a hectic fight in the arena.

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On August 14, 2021, the marque announced the relaunch of the iconic Countach as a hybrid-electric to commemorate its 50 years, limited to only 112 units as a tribute to its first model code of LP 112.

Freewheeling could not think of a better way to pay its tribute to this automotive marvel than have a chat with Mitja Borkert, the chief of design at Lamborghini and the man who designed the Countach LPI 800-4!

Read all the other articles in the Freewheeling series here.