page_title: History of Lamborghini
section_title: 1969 - Espada and union trouble
hierarchical_section_title: History of Lamborghini / 1963–1972 - Ferruccio Lamborghini / 1969 - Espada and union trouble
caption_attribution_description: English: 1968–1978 Lamborghini Espada coupe. Photographed in Taren Point, New South Wales, Australia.
context_page_description: Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. is an Italian brand and manufacturer of luxury automobiles. Lamborghini's production facility and headquarters are located in Sant'Agata Bolognese, Italy. Italian manufacturing magnate Ferruccio Lamborghini founded the company in 1963 with the objective of producing a refined grand touring car to compete with offerings from established marques such as Ferrari. The company's first models were introduced in the mid-1960s and were noted for their refinement, power and comfort. Lamborghini gained wide acclaim in 1966 for the Miura sports coupé, which established rear mid-engine, rear wheel drive as the standard layout for high-performance cars of the era.
  Lamborghini grew rapidly during its first decade, but sales plunged in the wake of the 1973 worldwide financial downturn and the oil crisis. Ferruccio Lamborghini sold ownership of the company to Georges-Henri Rossetti and René Leimer and retired in 1974. The company went bankrupt in 1978, and was placed in the receivership of brothers Jean-Claude and Patrick Mimran in 1980, who purchased the company for US$3 million, renaming it Nuova Automobili Lamborghini SpA.
context_section_description: Bertone was able to persuade Lamborghini to allow them to design a brand-new four-seater. The shape was penned by Marcello Gandini, and a bodyshell was delivered to Ferruccio for inspection. The businessman was less than pleased with the enormous gullwing doors that Gandini had included, and insisted that the car should have conventional doors instead. The car that resulted from the collaboration was debuted at the 1969 Geneva show with the name Espada, powered by a 3.9-litre, front-mounted evolution of the factory's V12, generating a power output of 330 PS (240 kW; 330 hp). The Espada was a success, with a total production run of 1,217 cars over ten years of production.
  In 1969, Automobili Lamborghini encountered problems with its fully unionised work force, among which the machinists and fabricators had begun to take one-hour token stoppages as part of a national campaign due to strained relations between the metal workers' union and the Italian industry. Ferruccio Lamborghini, who often rolled up his sleeves and joined in the work on the factory floor, was able to motivate his staff to continue working towards their common goal despite the disruptions.
  Throughout that year, Lamborghini's product range, then consisting of the Islero, the Espada, and the Miura S, received upgrades across the board, with the Miura receiving a power boost, the Islero being upgraded to the "S" trim, and the Espada gaining comfort and performance upgrades, which allowed it to reach speeds of up to 260 km/h (160 mph). The Islero was slated to be replaced by a shortened yet higher-performing version of the Espada, the Jarama 400GT. The 3.9-litre V12 was retained, its compression ratio increasing to 10.5:1.
caption: The Espada was Lamborghini's first truly popular model, with more than 1,200 units sold during its ten years of production
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