Before sports cars, Lamborghini Trattori built tractors. Ferruccio Lamborghini founded the agricultural-machinery company in 1948 in Cento, Italy, years before he established Automobili Lamborghini.
Its earliest Carioca tractors famously used surplus military truck and vehicle components recovered after World War II. A clever fuel system allowed their Morris engines to start on gasoline and then run on diesel or petroleum fuel. By 1951, the L 33 became the first series-production tractor made almost entirely by Lamborghini, apart from its engine.
The tractor business financed Ferruccio Lamborghini’s later automobile venture, launched with the 350 GTV prototype in 1963. A common mix-up is assuming the famous bull badge identifies a company that began with sports cars; the agricultural business came first. Lamborghini Trattori later became part of SAME, while the car division followed its own corporate history.