Magnifico! The Lamborghini 3500 GTZ Is the Coolest Lambo You Never Heard Of

Motor Trend

5 hours ago

[This story first appeared in the Spring 2011 issue of MotorTrend Classic] Ferruccio Lamborghini's firm was barely two years old when the 3500 GTZ broke cover in 1965. That makes the rave reviews of his first model, the 350 GT—the car upon which the 3500 GTZ was based—all the more remarkable.
The Lamborghini 3500 GTZ is a rare, custom coachwork car styled by Zagato in 1965, based on the 350 GT. With unique styling and impressive performance, it was nearly forgotten. Only two were made, showcasing bespoke coachwork and adding a unique chapter to Lamborghini's history.
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'The [350 GT] was a delightful experience from beginning to end,' Jerry Titus observed in his Sports Car Graphic road test. 'Acceleration is impressive, [and] it seems like nothing flat is the time it takes to get to 150 mph. The overall stability is really excellent…Fabulous is the only word for the brakes. Enzo, Orsi, and David Brown better look to their laurels!'
Since those impressions were typical—another tester proclaimed the 350 GT would 'give Ferrari a migraine'—why would anyone want to tinker with such success to make the 3500 GTZ?
The multifaceted answer starts with the 350 GT's alluring mechanicals. In March 1964, when the model debuted, the car's 280-horsepower, 3.5-liter V-12 featured four overhead cams, whereas Ferrari's engines only had two. A five-speed transmission was standard; Ferraris and Astons typically used a four-speed with electronic overdrive. A rigid axle was located at the rear of those competitors; the Lamborghini boasted four-wheel independent suspension. And, as Titus observed, superb stopping power came compliments of four large disc brakes with servo assist.
Probably the best argument for the 3500 GTZ was the 350 GT's controversial styling. Though the shape has aged quite well, Carrozzeria Touring had to use the Franco Scaglione-designed sharp-edged 350 GTV prototype as its starting point. 'Lamborghini had shown his car at the Turin Show in 1963,' comments Carlo Felice Bianchi Anderloni, Touring's former design head who oversaw the 350 GT's styling. 'It was important that our car not look completely different. You couldn't pass from the 350 GTV to the Miura, for example.'
Further fanning the flames was the period's prosperity, which coupled beautifully with the auto industry's creative yeastiness. During World War II, numerous coachbuilders such as Anderloni's father and key personnel found refuge from the ravages of war by focusing on what they wanted to design after the conflict ended. Once it did, that pent-up creativity and Italy's highly skilled but inexpensive labor force let loose with an expressive explosion of custom coachwork that lasted well into the late 1960s.'It was like a giant, compressed spring,' says Filippo Sapino, former head of design at Ghia. 'When the war ended, that spring released.'
Taking advantage of that fertile period were industrialists, heads of state, titled individuals, celebrities, and automotive manufacturers who flocked in droves to the numerous carrozzerie in Turin and Milan. One such custom coachwork patron was marquis Gerino Gerini, a well-connected Ferrari and Maserati Formula 1 and endurance racer of the 1950s. In the early 1960s, the nobleman was appointed commercial director of ASA, a Milan-based firm that built the diminutive four-cylinder 1000 GT under license from Ferrari. He was also a successful high-end car dealer—by the summer of 1965, his Lamborcar dealership had sold approximately 25 percent of the 350 GTs produced.
Gerini knew his way around the exoticar circles, and he was a father of the 3500 GTZ. 'There was no strategy of collaboration between us and Zagato,' notes Paolo Stanzani, one of Lamborghini's top engineers at the time who would later gain fame as father of the Countach. Rather, 'it was Gerino Gerini. Using his own initiative, he bought from us two chassis complete with the mechanicals and the wheelbase, shortened to 2450 mm compared with 2550 of the 350 GT of Touring. He then had Zagato do the bodywork.'
When Gerini came calling at Zagato, the carrozzeria was on a serious roll. Its Alfa SVZ, TZ1, and TZ2 endurance racers had dominated their classes for years, and limited-production models such as Alfa's 2600 SZ and Lancia's Flaminia 3C were highly regarded in the prestige marketplace.
Running the firm at the time was founder Ugo Zagato's eldest son, Elio, with younger brother Gianni one of his key lieutenants. Making their design vision a reality was the company's young chief stylist, Ercole Spada. Only 27 years of age when the 3500 GTZ project landed on his drawing board, Spada had joined the carrozzeria five years prior, shortly after finishing his military tour of duty.
So how did a former tank commander become an ace stylist in such a short period? 'Before the military, I was in a technical school for mechanical engineering,' Spada says. 'I have always sketched cars, and whenever there was some space on a piece of paper, I was sketching.' He recognized that passion early in his life, so following his military tour, he sent letters to Abarth, Zagato, and Alfa Romeo, 'asking if there was a job for me.'
Only Zagato answered, and soon after Spada was hired he found himself on the fast track to stardom. 'At the time,' he says, 'to build a new car was very simple. I made a 1:1 section, and then they would make a wire frame. Today, you see that frame in the computer; back then, it was real. They would make the frame and then weld. After that, with aluminum, the men would make the car.'
When Gerini's chassis arrived from Lamborghini, cars created by Spada under Elio's tutelage included Aston's DB4 GTZ and the aforementioned TZ1 and TZ2. Regarding the 3500 GTZ project, 'I was free to design how I wanted, with no restrictions or interferences,' Spada says. 'For a front-engine car with the Lamborghini's proportions, I felt it was necessary to relate it to other Zagato cars in the same period.
'I thus took inspiration from something I had already done in-house, the Alfa TZ2. The idea was to create a new, well-refined, and comfortable GT. Though I was starting from a race car, I wanted to keep similar volumes, design language, and styling cues.'
Stanzani confirms the 3500 GTZ was, in his words, a 'Zagato project.' 'There was absolutely no Lamborghini participation for the development of the GTZ,' he says. 'The design and body construction was done entirely by them. We had a technician who remained there to mount certain parts, and I personally visited Zagato a few times to verify that the layout of the mechanical components was true to Lamborghini specifications.'
For reasons neither Stanzani nor Spada recalls, the first 3500 GTZ (chassis number 0310) appeared at 1965's London motor show—rather than Turin several weeks later—where it was well received. 'The latest Lamborghini on the Zagato stand,' one commentator noted, 'is a lightweight version of the Lamborghini coupe and, if I may say so, is considerably better looking than the Touring version. It seems very purposeful with twin bulges in the bonnet and air extractor gills in the tail.'
London would be the model's only show appearance. A second 3500 GTZ, chassis number 0322, was made shortly after 0310's London debut, and one of the cars served as Stanzani's personal mount for several months. 'It was 100 kilos lighter than the standard 350 GT,' the engineer recalls, 'so it handled very well and had good acceleration. It had good visibility and interior space, but it was not very comfortable!'
Lamborghini's documentation shows that 0322 was delivered to Gerini's Lamborcar in late November 1965, while 0310 was sold off in September 1966. After that September entry in Lamborghini's record books, the 3500 GTZ model slipped off Lamborghini's radar into exoticar obscurity, known and recognized only by die-hard Zagato and Lamborghini enthusiasts.
My first personal contact with 0310 came some 20 years ago during one of my early stints as a chief class judge at Pebble Beach. One of my classes that year was Italian Custom Coachwork, and the GTZ fit the bill perfectly. I talked the Australian owner into sending it to the States, so after the show, it resided in Northern California for a period before being sold off to Europe. It ended up in Germany, where it stayed until it was sold at auction in 2003 to an American Zagato enthusiast. Following a total restoration that returned it to its original bianco Zagato color, 3500 GTZ 0310 went back to Pebble in 2006, where it placed third in its class.
Last November, I judged the Lamborghini from a different perspective, being the first journalist to test the car. On initial approach, it's easy to see Spada's TZ2 inspiration—especially from the rear. The 3500 GTZ has the same square-edged Kamm tail and overall proportions, though it looks as if a bit of Maserati Mistral greenhouse was injected into the design. The most intriguing (and subtle) external element is the exhaust—it's not out back where you expect it. Instead, it resides just below the back edge of the door, same as on the (you guessed it) TZ2.
The lightweight door opens easily with a traditional chromed handle, and once in the driver's seat, the first thing I notice is that shortened wheelbase and low roofline. A standard 350 GT fits my 6-foot-3 frame nicely; here I feel like a pretzel. Even with the seat all the way back and the backrest sloping rearward, I need to slouch and position my neck and shoulders at a strange angle. My knees wrap up around the glossy wood steering-wheel rim, and so tight is the fit that my left kneecap bumps against the window crank. I have to put the crank straight up or down to get my foot on the clutch! It makes for an intriguing first drive.
My overnight destination is Sedona, two to three hours and around 150 miles away. Fortunately, the fall weather in Arizona is fabulous, sunny and in the mid-70s, so the crank remains in a vertical position with the window all the way down. And that's a good thing, for this Lambo makes a banshee wail that's well worth the price of admission, and then some.
After giving the key a turn to activate the fuel pumps, I push it in to activate the starter. Its motor whirrs for a couple seconds, and the engine awakens like a prima donna who loves good drama. Initially the V-12 is fairly quiet, as if stirring from a deep slumber. Then everything instantly comes alive—six dual-throat carbs gulping air, 24 valves, four cams and two chains turning, the sound of a symphony of sewing machines working in perfect concert.
At low rpm ranges just above idle, the car is a pussycat. The medium-weighted clutch releases smoothly, and the Lambo glides without a hiccup, happily puttering along at 2500 rpm or less. The accelerator pedal has very long travel, so you need to stick your foot into it to feel what she'll really do. Once near and especially when the throttle is on the floor, this Lambo is a serious sprinter, surging ahead like Usain Bolt turning on the afterburners. There is one serious long pull to the 7000-rpm redline. The linear engine never seeming to hit cam like its Ferrari competition, as the acceleration simply gains more force the higher the tach spins.
As she rips through 4000 rpm up to redline, the noise bellowing from the engine and especially the open exhaust some 3 to 4 feet away from my shoulder is utterly delicious, perhaps the best sound this side of a 250 TR. Back in the day, the term 'ripping canvas' was often used to describe a Ferrari under hard acceleration. Well, this Lambo's canvas has at least a thousand-thread count, so smooth is the sound, so perfect the pitch.
The engine works beautifully with the five-speed transmission. The gearbox has a nice, tight feel, but the throw is a bit longer than I like; think of the old Borg Warner T-10 and add 75 to 100 percent to the travel to get an idea. Yet the precise way it slots into gear is just as exact as that fabled four-speed, and its lighter touch means you need only 50 percent of the effort.
Lamborghinis were well known for their suspensions, and the GTZ is no exception. It feels comfy and compliant around town, and only gets better on the open road. On this drive, it settles into a relaxed 80-90-mph gate, the engine humming ahead, the exhaust mellifluous, the suspension connecting to the road and easily absorbing most every bump, letting me know of any surface imperfection but never jarring. Through mid-range sweepers I feel the rear end plant as the suspension does the work, an interesting sensation in these days of super-grippy modern tires and computerized suspension wizardry. What's it worth? Anyone's guess, as it's such a rare duck. $750,000 seems like an easy get; perhaps a million on the right day at the right auction to the right buyer.
Four days and several hundred miles later, I am more than glad that Gerini commissioned the 3500 GTZ four-plus decades ago. Within three to four years, the custom coachwork era would draw to a close, and those two unique 350 GTs serve as a reminder of the time, all while adding a nice bit of overlooked spice to the Lamborghini mythos. Magnifico! Ask the Man Who Owns One
One of 0310's owners is a serious Zagato enthusiast. 'I became enamored with Zagato in college when I saw my first picture of a Zagato-bodied car, a Maserati A6G 2000. That was the start. Today, our collection has approximately 25 cars with Zagato coachwork.'
Why I Like It: The rarity, the way it drives makes it a super comfortable event car. And it is a Zagato.
Why It's Collectible: Custom coachwork is hot, and Zagato is one of the best names. And only one other exists.
Restoring/Maintaining: Look for subtle lines other restorers might cover up. For instance the crease line on the top of the rear fender. Mechanically it has been incredibly sound, but tuning the carbs is a bit like tuning a piano.
Beware: It is a seller's market!
Expect To Pay: This car is not for sale.
Join The Club: Lamborghini Club of America (lamborghiniclubamerica.com), Lamborghini Owners Club (lamborghiniownersclub.com), Lamborghini Club of Los Angeles (LamborghiniClubLA.com), lamborghiniregistry.com Our Take
Then: 'It's a limited production Grand Touring machine that's built to give unlimited driving pleasure!' —Jerry Titus on the production 350 GT, Sports Car Graphic, March 1966
Now: Lamborghini's first custom coachwork car based on a production model adds some forgotten spice to the company's history. Had Lamborghini desired to make a front-engine sports car beyond the original 350 and 400, the 3500 GTZ was a great place to start.