Ok, so here's the thread. All you folks talking about various 350/400GTs out there, I'd like to see some chassis numbers etc. So far we have an upcoming 400 Interim purchase this weekend (details to come) and a friend's 350 w/factory 400 engine being restored. If we can get some of these frame/engine numbers going that would be great. I own #655 (engine #638) which is a 400GT 2+2. Chassis/engine number is on the plate smack in the middle of the firewall, also chassis number is welded to the frame just below the passenger-side dizzy, engine number stamped into the block in-between the heads (under the water pipe so hard to see) I've been keeping a list of 350/400s for a few years now, based on Glen's excellent list (with his permission) and if I can help with any info I will. My list goes from the GTV through 1354 and includes the Miuras produced at the same time. I don't keep track of owners or anything like that (unless it's somebody I know), just frame/engine numbers. They run pretty consistantly every 3rd number, so next car after mine is 658, etc. (first dozen or so 350s were sequential: 101, 102, 103 etc) Cheers, Fred
It seems appropriate to kick off this thread with what arguably could be described as "The Mother of all Lamborghinis" The 350 GTV. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
It is indeed the mother, and what a mother! Nice pix. I took a photo of a neat document up on the factory museum wall, where they have the old workbench and tools, etc. Describes the very first lambo engine starting up: http://www.400gt.com/articles/first_test/first_test.htm (I had it translated by somebody in an Italian Yahoo Group!) Wonder if it's the same engine that's in the GTV? Certainly, the GTV has Bizzarrini written all over it. Which is not necessarily a bad thing! Cheers, Fred
Compare how different the GTV has become from its original interior disposition to its restored state: steering wheel, shift lever, seats, door panels, dashboards. To hell with a sympathetic correct-for-period restoration! LOL. Very cool car though. Joe www.joesackey.com
Wasn't the GTV dry sump? Can't recall exactly...but that could explain the 3rd oil cap on the right Fred
I noticed the steering wheel right off. The swooping spokes were perfect for the car. It might be hanging on a nail in someones garage somewhere. When I look at the miserable picture of the car "unrestored" after sitting neglected in the back lot for years I wonder about the other opportunities that went overlooked. If only I had a "Wayback Machine".
Another pic -- I guess it's starting to be restored at this point...? Image Unavailable, Please Login
Unless the factory was restoring VW's, it looks to me that the factory did not do the restoration? Alberto
I understand Romano Bernadoni's EmilianAuto did most of the work. Autosport did the body and Paratelli the interior... Joe www.joesackey.com
Is`nt the 350GTV owned by a Japanese collector? If so, did he by the car unrestored from the factory?
Yes it is owned by a well known Japanese collector. Joe is correct about restoration by EmilianAuto with encouragement and assistance from Stefano Pasini. He did not buy it from the factory who were never interested in restoring the car
couple of notes from Stefano about the GTV restoration (from the VLG): >>I still regret having sold the GTV after the restoration....but I didn't decide, frankly. As Fred already said, no second GTV was EVER produced. Even the 'first' GTV (i.e. the one I restored) was not really a complete car, as you know. The origins of the mock-up that someone thinks as being the 'second GTV', I've been told weird histories.....it surely never was intended to be finished as a car, only as something to study panel modification on.<< >> the GTV restoration project was very interesting, and the best part of it was researching for the correct parts to fit. The worst was to find a meeting point between the ideas of so many people who, having been at Lamborghini in 1963-64, remembered a lot of things that didn't always match. The restoration of the Urraco 'Rallye' was easier: everything was there, and I found also one 4-valves engine to fit (eventually). The car didn't have to be lenghtened: the 350GTV engine fits quite easily in the bay without having to change the original Webers (vertical). In fact the bay was designed so that the dry sump engine sits way back and low: putting the engine so way back meant we had to cut a 350GT driveshaft as the production one was too long. The bulkhead/firewall had to be cut accordingly; the other tricky part was fitting the pedals, as they had never been installed. Frankly, it was everything more or less ready to be completed. Don't believe people who said (before the restoration, but someone is trying to say so even today!) that Ferruccio cancelled the GTV because it was impossible to build it. True those curved glasses were extremely expensive and a nightmare to manufacture and install, the trunk shape was weird, the position of the engine meant noise and heat in the cockpit, but the GTV could be completed in a few weeks and sold. Ferruccio told me at the time that the half-finished GTV was not the car he wanted. It really wasn't on par with the dramatic drawings that Scaglione had submitted to him at the beginning, so he decided to modify the styling quite radically following the ideas of some friends of him and, of course, of Bianchi Anderloni at Touring (who, incidentally, sketched a very credible idea of the body for the P400 chassis in fall, 1965). <<
To me it sounds like the "Ultimate Restoration Project" (but I like building things). It was never a "real" car in the beginning, just a partly done development exercise. The opportunity to "flesh it out" and finish the overlooked details must have been wonderful (also one big pain in the lower regions).
That car is awesome !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bella macchina Check out the 1st generation trick emblem.
Yes, 107 indeed. Here are more pix. That's just the sort of 350/400 that will be the first to sell for $500k: http://www.400gt.com/misc/marcel/350.htm - Fred
Hi Fred, Yes, nice to hear from our friend Marcel de Lange again! When you are digging in Lamborghini history, his name will pop-up everywhere, so he's still with us somehow.. The 350 GT #0107 was spotted in Maastricht in January 2007, on belgium dealerplates ZDB-800. The car was probably driven by Dutchman Paul Koot, who was involved in the restoration. I'm not sure if the car was actually sold to Belgium, but could be. Best regards, Marcel Wallenburg Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
some more of the same car and others Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
lol! Ralph, I have no control over that. Who knows, you may get your wish and things might drop right back down, like they did in 1992. I'm just saying that if the 350/400s selling this past year are any indication....watch out. Cuz they were not great examples (and selling for $250k-350k range) Cheers, Fred
Yes it is! Marcel was the best, I'm sure he's smiling right now. (You have some big shoes to fill) Fred