Sant'Agata De Bolognese near Bologna in Italy is Automotive Holy Land. It is of course home to Lamborghini where a farmer turned engineer called Ferruccio designed and built his own tractor and did such a good job that he thought he would try his hand at fast cars. In 1963 he opened his Lamborghini factory, pumping out the classic "Muira" (bottom photo, 1971 car made famous in the original film "Italian Job") and "Countach" (second photo from top shows John kissing the "Diabolo", successor to the Countach).
In 1973 Ferruccio had enough of constant worker strikes and sold his interest to private Swiss/Japanese buyers. By 1998, when Audi acquired 100%, the company had many owners including Chrysler and even an Indonesian maker! Audi has since invested heavily and now the factory produces eight V10 "Gallardo's" and three V12 "Murcielago's" per day (in 2005, 1,100 and 500 cars were produced respectively). The Murcielago is still totally hand-built (including engine, takes 560hrs) and sells for about 650,000AUD. The Gallardo is partly hand-built (takes 250hrs) and sells for about 450,000AUD. START SAVING!!! The engine is approx 30% of the total build cost. In 2005, USA comprised 40% of total sales with only 7% to Italy. Lamborghini now employs 700 with 30% of sales re-invested in product development. We were given a private tour of the musuem and factory by the lovely Christina Guizzard (bottom photo) and accompanied by the daughter of Jean Marc Borel who wrote two famous books on the Countach.
wow Lambo factory. I would have definately done the same thing. How did you managae to get a private tour... very nice.
ReplyDeleteHow was the french riviera, must have been spectacular. i remember that shot of the bay that you took, in monte-calro, very exquisite. anyway soak up the sun and rub it in you bludgers, here in syd (Bondi) the air tem freezes you fingers and frost bitten noses. No its not that bad, but its very cold, sometimes reaching 9*C at night, and the water temp at Bondi is currently 12*C
george is envious He wanted to go
ReplyDeletethere last year but we did not
manage to. he requests some more car and women photos
Hey guys, what's with the trousers? Are shorts forbidden? Chronia Polla to Paul.
ReplyDeleteisn't it obvious....they went in looking like prospective buyers....hence the private tour and the hope of getting a test drive period! ha ha
ReplyDeleteHey, have you seen any polizia in the donated lambo running the motorway?