Google Street View Races Around Lamborghini Museum

By Nathan Eddy

You’re looking out the windshield of the first production model built by Ferruccio Lamborghini in 1964, the 350 GT. When it hit the market, the car retailed for $15,600. That may not sound like a lot, but in today’s dollars, that equals just under $120,000. These cars were always expensive machines.

One of the first cars you’ll see inside the museum is a Miura S, notable for its unique central-rear V12 4.0-liter engine and sharply stylized curves. Built between 1966 and 1972, the car is considered to have begun the trend of high-performance, two-seater, mid-engined sports cars.

Marcello Gandini’s sleek styling as well as the car’s revolutionary design brought Lamborghini accolades from the Turin and Geneva auto shows, and was the company’s flagship model until the Countach arrived in 1974.

The Countach, which debuted in 1974, went on to define the excesses of the 1980s as more outrageous colors, scoops, exhaust vents and gigantic spoilers started to appear on the car. This early version of the supercar is not as over-the-top as later versions, though the green is hard to miss, for sure.

One doesn’t typically think SUV when hearing the name “Lamborghini.” The LM002, also known as the “Rambo Lambo,” built between 1986 and 1993, didn’t skimp on luxury accouterments, such as full leather trim, tinted power windows, air conditioning and a premium stereo mounted in a roof console. This V12 beast also came equipped with custom Pirelli run-flat tires.

On the left side in champagne gold is the Diablo (Spanish for “devil”), which was Lamborghini’s replacement for the Countach. Crouched on the right is the Aventador, named after a bull that fought particularly valiantly in the bullring of Saragossa, Spain, in 1993. Production of the Aventador was limited to 4,000, so this is probably your best chance to see one.

Things start to get seriously over the top on the second floor of the museum, with custom-designed models, concept cars and roofless roadsters stuck to the walls like exotic insects. The company has never been one to shy away from eye-catching colors, either.

In 2008, Lamborghini presented the Italian police with three Gallardo LP 560-4 sports cars, capable of reaching speeds of 200 mph. Outfitted with a video surveillance camera, gun racks, GPS, an organ transplant cooler (in the luggage compartment) and a defibrillator, Lamborghini police cars also recently showed up in Dubai—but this time it was the Aventador model, sporting a green and white paint job.

See the birthplace of the most prestigious and sought-after super sports cars by booking a guided tour of the company’s production lines at the Lamborghini plant in Sant’Agata Bolognese—but this one you’re going to have to do in person, unless Street View gets there first.

Once entering the factory, visitors will see the assembly line of the Gallardo LP 560-4 and follow, step-by-step, the making of the supercar—from the body shell to the interior and the mounting of Lamborghini’s monster V10 engine. Tickets may be a little pricey—about $55—but it’s the closest you’ll come to owning one.