Originally presented by Lamborghini at the 1967
Geneva Motor Show, the Marzal Concept can be admired at the same event, 51
years later.
Designed by Nuccio Bertone and Marcello Gandini as a
potential four-seater Lamborghini, the Marzal never really caught on. Its
gullwing-style doors, made mostly from glass, weren’t to Ferruccio’s taste, as
he believed that a woman’s legs shouldn’t be there for all to see.
However, that doesn’t mean that some of its features
weren’t applied to some of Lambo’s next vehicles, including the Espada, which
came out the following year with similar exterior and interior cues.
The Marzal show car uses a 2-liter inline-six engine
for propulsion, which is basically half of the company’s 4-liter V12 unit of
the era, found in the Miura. It works together with a five-speed manual
transmission to feed 175 horses to the rear wheels.
The Lamborghini Marval was actually driven publicly once. It was
shortly after its Geneva presentation, during the Monaco Grand Prix, not as a
racer, but as a pace car, by Prince Rainier of Monaco and his wife, Princess
Grace.
The Marzal Concept is not resting in the Lamborghini
Museum, as it was sold at auction in 2011, for US$ 2 million, to a private
collector.
