About 10 minutes’ walk from my office, there’s a small garage specializing in enthusiast cars hiding on a back street. It’s obviously an ideal and favourite destination for a lunch walk, and I try to pass by there at least every two weeks or so as there is usually something special to admire. Boy was I happy to do so earlier this week and discover a car I’ve never seen before and had no idea what it was! Seeing it at first from the side, I noticed the nicely stretched body, which at the C-pillar and backwards reminded at least this old Swede of the Volvo P1800. Next it was the very special windshield that caught my eye, literally bulging out over the bonnet. The badge gave away that I was looking at a Lamborghini but even then, I had no clue how exclusive this piece of automotive history really was!

I was actually especially happy running into this street find since I may not have been kind to the Lamborghini Gallardo in last week’s post on the Ferrari F430. I’m not going to lie, I’m really no fan of the Gallardo and in choosing between it and an F430, I would go for the latter every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Obviously however Lamborghini have a wonderful history and have built some amazing cars through the years, so it’s nice being able to pay tribute to that this week. After some googling and research, it was clear that what I had been looking at was a Lamborghini 400 GT 2+2 (a name that somewhat confusingly was applied to other Lambo models as well).

What is then a Lamborghini 400 GT? To find out we need to go back to the late 60’s, more precisely 1966-1968 when the team in Sant’ Agata built no more than 273 of these beautiful cars. The 400 GT was the successor to Lamborghini’s first ever car, the 350 GT, of which only 120 cars were built between 1965-1967. The 350 was a two-seater, but thanks to a slight adjustment of the roof line such as to create more space, the 400 was a 2+2. Otherwise the cars are really very similar, not only visually but also mechanically. The stretched, typical 60’s body was designed by the Italian coach builder Carozzeria Touring, and they obviously put a lot of emphasis on the driver and passenger not hitting their heads against the windshield in the case of an accident! The headlights are a bit peculiar, but that’s where the complaints end.

Both the 350 and the 400 GT were modern for the time with notably independent suspension and disc brakes on all wheels. The 5-speed gearbox was linked to the most interesting part of the car, namely the V12 engine. As long-term readers of the blog will remember, this is indeed the V12 originally developed by Giotto Bizzarrini for Ferruccio Lamborghini and also featured in other Lambos such as the Miura (where it was transversally mounted) and that I’ve written about several times (see for example my post on Bizzarrini, the one on the Miura, or of course the one on the Countach). As the name suggests, originally the engine was at 3.5 litres in the 350, putting out 280 hp. In the 400 it was increased to 4 litres with power increasing to 320 hp and the torque by 20% to 365 Nm. The car weighed no more than 1300 kgs meaning the power was enough for a top speed of 270 km/h and a 0-100 km/h time around 6-6.5 seconds. Not bad for a 55-year old lady!

The 400 GT in question was not in mint condition and as I learnt from a chat with the garage owner, also not for sale. It belongs to one of the garagist’s clients, reason for which he wasn’t willing to share many details, but the garage is basically performing a mild restoration on it. I learnt all this a couple of days later at which time the car had moved into the back of his workshop, squeezed in between an XC120 Jaguar and a Ferrari 456, with a 550 standing a bit further away. I guess that’s what you call a nice work environment!

After the 350 and 400 GT, Lamborghini would move on to the Isolero in terms of GT cars and to more well-known things in terms of supercars, such as the Miura and the Countach. The V12 would be further developed over the years, but this is really where it started and in that sense, the beginning of a true legend. The cars themselves, even though produced in very low numbers, are arguably less legendary, which doesn’t mean they’re cheap. As we all know by now, limiting supply, be it of cars or of Russian oil is a good way to drive the price up, so if you’ve fallen in love with the Lambo 400, prepare yourself for a long search to find a good one and when you do, to part with at least EUR 400′. That buys you a wonderful automobile, a legendary engine, and guaranteed uniqueness!