Museo Lamborghini (MUDETEC)

In 1963, after making a mint building tractors, Ferruccio Lamborghini decided it was time to realize his dream of founding a company to build luxury cars capable of competing with the likes of Ferrari. People scoffed, but he went ahead and purchased land in Sant'Agata Bolognese, 25km north west of Bologna, built a state-of-the-art factory, and produced the first 350 GTV in time to show it off at the Turin Auto Show.

In 1966, his two young engineers, Giampaolo Dallara and Giampaolo Stanzani, came up with a new concept for a high-powered touring car. The now-famous designer Marcello Gandini made his name by creating an eye-popping body for it, based on the racing cars of the era.

Lamborghini named the new beast the Miura, after the Spanish fighting bulls of Seville (and Ferruccio Lamborghini's Taurus birth sign), and it became a sensation. From then on, all the cars would have names associated with Spain and bulls, with very few exceptions, notably the Countach, an expletive in the Piedmontese dialect—according to company legend, the first word uttered by stylist Nuccio Bertone when he laid eyes on the model's prototype.