Ferruccio Lamborghini once imagined a four-seater grand tourer for drivers “passionate about beautiful, powerful cars, but bound by the need for space and comfort”. His answer was the Lamborghini Espada, unveiled at the 1968 Geneva Motor Show. The Espada delivered exactly that brief: a low, sleek fastback with room for four adults (and their luggage) without sacrificing Lambo performance. Over its ten-year run, nearly 1,200 Espadas were built – making it Lamborghini’s best-selling model up until that time. Its name, Spanish for “sword,” continued Lamborghini’s corrida-inspired naming (alluding to the bullfighters’ weapon) and reinforced the brand’s fighting-bull motif.
As Lamborghini’s first true four-seat GT since the 400 GT, the Espada wasn’t just another supercar; it was a statement that a raging bull could also pull a family. Customers got every shiny luxury (even a bespoke “VIP” version with an in-car bar and TV), but Lamborghini never forgot style. Ferruccio himself put it best: “The Rolls-Royce is a good car. It is quiet and comfortable and quite fast, but it is too upright and stodgy… In Italy we need a car with every luxury… but it must have style and it must be beautiful. That is even more important than convenience.”. The Espada embodied that ethos – every bit as lavish as a continental GT, but cut with a daring wedge shape no Rolls could match.
From Marzal and Pirana to Espada: Bertone’s Bold Prototypes
Lamborghini’s quest for a 4-seater began with concept cars from Carrozzeria Bertone. In 1967 Bertone’s young star designer Marcello Gandini debuted the Marzal – an outrageous four-seat concept with a glass roof and enormous gullwing doors. The Marzal was pure space-age fantasy: its interior looked like a chrome-lined spaceship, and its gigantic glass panels let in light from every angle. The company loved the publicity, but Ferruccio had a reality check in mind. He’d once owned a glass-doored Mercedes 300 SL and quipped that “such doors offer no privacy, a lady’s legs would be there for all to see”. In short, gull-wings and girdle lines were dropped for the production car.
Undeterred, Gandini refined the idea. Later in 1967 Bertone built the Pirana, a more sedate yet still futuristic four-seater on a Jaguar E-Type chassis. Pirana kept the fastback theme but ditched the crazy Marzal elements like the see-through gullwings and mirrored leather “space-age” trim. In fact, Nuccio Bertone sent Gandini back to the drawing board with the Pirana’s brief: reuse Marzal’s wedge but make it elegant and roadworthy. The Espada’s final shape is often described as a blend of these show cars: its long, low front and sweeping windshield owe much to Marzal, while its chopped fastback and clean glasshouse echo the Pirana.
“It was quite the show-stopper at the time,” one historian notes of the Espada’s debut, and indeed Gandini had plenty of previous Lamborghinis to inspire him – after all, he’d given us the Miura and Countach. “He drew inspiration and cues” from those earlier concept cars when penning the Espada. The result kept Lamborghini fans buzzing: spacious-yet-sporty, with a completely new look for a four-seater.
Gandini’s Wedge: Styling the Espada
Gandini’s design for the Espada was pure 1970s Ferrari-wrath in GT form. The car presents a long, pointed nose and a wide, almost horizontal hood. Four round headlights nestle in the rectangular front grille, while twin NACA-style ducts feed air to the 4.0L V12 under the bonnet. The greenhouse is set far back: a steeply raked, almost wraparound windshield and a tall fastback rear filled with a giant glass tail panel for visibility. In profile the Espada is extraordinarily low – only about 112 cm from road to roof, making it one of the lowest production cars of the era – yet it still manages rear headroom for full-size adults.
The body is taut and angular, and it introduced a visual theme that Lamborghini would use throughout the 1970s. The official Lamborghini heritage site even boasts that the Espada was the first production Lambo to use hexagonal shapes – look closely at the dashboard vents and light grille panels – a motif that became a brand signature. The large rear glass tailgate (with a vertical panel below) was also a neat trick: it could be opened along with the rest of the “hatch” to access a deep 280‑liter luggage bay without blocking rearward view. Overall, Gandini’s Espada is a “study in contradictions”: it’s at once sleek (low and long like a coupe) and practical (with four seats and a hatchback rear). Some say it’s so wedge-shaped it looks like a “bread van” – but even critics admit that its form is highly functional for rear passengers.
Inside, the Series I Espadas really showed their concept-car roots. The cockpit was opulent by late-60s supercar standards: four deep leather buckets (more like plush armchairs) and a console-heavy dash. In fact, early Espadas even featured octagonal instrument pods inspired by the Marzal concept. Those quirky gauges were soon replaced by a more conventional layout, but they underscore how much Gandini and Bertone treated the Espada as a working prototype-to-production testbed.
Crafting the Car: Bertone and Lamborghini
Under the skin, the Espada was as much a product of Italian coachbuilding tradition as any 1920s touring car. It used a semi-monocoque steel chassis designed by the firm Marchesi of Modena. Marchesi – which had built the Miura and Islero chassis – pressed and welded the basic frame, then shipped “bare chassis” to Bertone’s workshop in Turin. There, master craftsmen (the scoccai, as Domus magazine explains) built a wooden buck to shape the body panels. Each steel skin was beaten and fitted over that frame, then painted and trimmed before the rolling shell was sent back to Lamborghini’s Sant’Agata factory for final assembly.
In other words: the Espada’s skeleton was built by Marchesi and Lamborghini, but its flesh was created by hand at Bertone – a true coachbuilt collaboration. Even the prototype car illustrates this: for the first Espada mock-up, Bertone reused the wooden “buck” from the Jaguar Pirana show car. The result was a fusion of design flair and engineering muscle. As Bob Wallace (Lamborghini’s legendary test driver) later noted, the Espada “was a very, very good concept of car” – lighter and faster than Ferrari’s big 2+2, despite being a luxurious GT.
That doesn’t mean the manufacturing was flawless. Aluminum was used for the hood, but elsewhere the body and chassis were steel, which meant rust could become a problem (journalists noted visible corrosion on a 1972 Espada with just 10,000 miles). Still, rust or not, the craftsmanship was impressive. As one design historian put it, Lamborghini/Bertone managed to create “another feather in their cap” – the Espada drew stares anywhere it went.
Under the Hood: The Mechanicals
Power came from an established source: Lamborghini’s 3,929 cc V12 (developed from Bizzarrini’s original 350 GT engine). In Series I form it was tuned to 325 hp at 7,200 rpm. The engine was front-mounted (like the 400 GT before it), driving the rear wheels through a five-speed manual gearbox. (By the early 1970s a Chrysler Torqueflite 3-speed auto became available for the Espada S3, though purists rarely took it.) This potent V12 gave the Espada the performance of a true supercar: 0–100 km/h in about 6.5 seconds and a top speed approaching 250 km/h (155 mph) for early cars. Lighter than a comparable Ferrari 400, it really did deliver “power to back up the bite,” as enthusiasts put it.
The rest of the chassis was also up to grand touring snuff: independent double-wishbone suspension and four-wheel Girling disc brakes (vented disks arrived with Series II). Pirelli Cinturato tires wrapped the wire-spoked or Campagnolo wheels, and early cars even hid dual fuel fillers behind scuttle vents in the C-pillars. Notable options included power steering (added mid-life) and, especially, Lamborghini’s rare Lancomatic hydropneumatic suspension – a high-tech (and seldom-ordered) system that kept the car extra-level on the highway. And just because it was an Italian touring car, air conditioning could be had (again optional at first, later standard on the Series III).
The Three Series: Iterations and Refinements
Over a decade, Lamborghini kept the Espada fresh with gradual updates. The Series I (1968–70) was the prototype stage trimmed for production. It had round twin headlights, Marinella wire wheels with knock-offs, and that odd Marzal-derived dashboard with hexagonal cluster surrounds. Only 186 S1 cars were built. The chassis, engine and roofline stayed the same as the prototypes. Performance was strong, but amenities were sparse by modern standards: no power steering or automatic transmission, and A/C was extra.
The Series II (1970–72) brought the first big changes. It gained 30 extra horsepower (350 hp total) thanks to a higher compression ratio. The wheels switched to five-stud Jarama alloys (no more knock-off hubs), and vented brake discs replaced the old solid rotors. Most obviously, the vertical grille covering the rear glass on the hatch was deleted, and the interior was overhauled with a new wood-trim dashboard and centre console. The chunky Nardi wheel and dashboard were redesigned for more driver comfort. About 575 Espada Series IIs were built – by far the bulk of all production – making it the most common Espada you’ll see at classic rallies.
In Series III (1972–78) form, the Espada became the ultimate edition. Power steering and air conditioning came standard on all cars. The dash was restyled again (this time with brushed aluminum trim) so that every control fell easily to hand. U.S. spec cars got huge rubber bumpers in 1975 (the classic “murdered out” look that ruins many 1970s exotics) to meet safety laws, but beneath the plastic, the mechanics were similar to late SII. A Chrysler automatic remained a (controversial) option. The headlight arrangement stayed as twin round lamps, but the front grille switched from hex mesh to a square pattern, and new Alfa Romeo rear lamps were installed. 456 Series III cars were sold. By the late ’70s, with demand falling and new designs on the horizon, Lambo quietly ended Espada production in 1978. In total around 1,217 Espadas were made, a remarkable number for a hand-assembled exotic.
Throughout its life, the Espada was never meant to sprint laps at Le Mans – it was a Grand Tourer through and through. Yet it handled well for a big front-engine car, especially with Wallace’s development touches. The Espada’s marriage of high power, four seats and luggable comfort was unique: “Arguably [it] remained the only (really) practical Lamborghini until the release of the Urus in 2017,” notes one modern tribute. In practice, though, most buyers saw it as a “luxury sports car” – it even outsold the more famous Countach during the years both were built.
The Men of the Espada
Behind the Espada’s creation were some legendary figures. At its heart was Marcello Gandini, the Bertone prodigy who had already sketched the Miura and would soon pen the Countach. Gandini loved clean, purposeful lines, and the Espada shows it (he later said he cared more about architecture and mechanics than pure styling). Meanwhile Lamborghini’s trio of engineers – Giampaolo Dallara, Paolo Stanzani and Bob Wallace – were busy under the skin. Dallara stretched the Miura’s tubular chassis by about 120 mm to fit four seats, and adapted the Islero’s V12 for the task. Bob Wallace, Lambo’s go-to test driver, praised the finished product: “As for the Espada… it was a very, very good concept of car,” he later recalled. “It was lighter than a Ferrari 400, handled better, and it was a lot quicker,” Wallace noted – high praise from the man who flogged them all.
Ferruccio Lamborghini himself was also influential, if hands-off. He insisted on building a four-seat Lambo and on using a Lamborghini-manufactured gearbox, but otherwise let the engineers decide. Even his famous streak for perfection had some comic edges: he reportedly grimaced at the Marzal’s gullwing design and demanded it be toned down on the Espada. In fact, Wallace quipped that Ferruccio was “not a quick driver” and let his engineers do the racing work – while he focused on the styling vision. Today collectors also weigh in: one classic-car reviewer marvels that the Espada was a “snarling bull living in the shadow” of the Miura and Countach, but argues it was just as formidable, “had the bark to back up its bite,” and has “perhaps been living in the shadows of [its] higher profile siblings for too long”.
Cultural Context: Rolling Bar, Big Screens, and Fashion Shoots
The Espada’s era was the late Sixties and Seventies – a time of jaw-dropping excess. Naturally, the Espada appeared in films and celebrity life. Lamborghini notes it “featured in several films of the time” and frequently turned up in glossy fashion magazine shoots. (One of the more famous appearances was in an Italian comedy with Bud Spencer – further proof that the Espada was the ultimate suburban-bully-busting GT.) Only the richest of clients got the top-spec “VIP” editions: just twelve cars were clothed in garish two-tone paint and fitted with in-car televisions and a minibar. Imagine James Bond in polyester and white suit ordering a martini from the Espada’s fold-out bar – that was the level of 1970s panache at Sant’Agata.
Color also followed the times: bright blues, bold reds and greens, often contrasted with black roofs or stripes. The Espada wasn’t shy – it was proud of that flamboyant Bertone bodywork. Lamborghini even joked that if any segment of society needed a Rolls-Royce–level luxury ride to travel far and fast, it was the Italians, but “above all it must have style.” With that in mind, the Espada packed in comforts (laminated windshield, leather seats, head rests, wood trim, AC) that weren’t common in most Italian exotics. Still, as Wallace pointed out, Lamborghini’s modest factory budget meant the creature comforts never matched a Mercedes-Benz of the day. Even so, for buyers who wanted “every luxury for those who can afford it,” the Espada delivered on style and luxury in true Italian fashion.
Love It or Hate It, It Left a Mark
Today the Lamborghini Espada is a cult classic with a polarizing design. As one writer mused, you “think you hate it now, but wait ’till you drive it” – by which he meant its sheer presence and performance can win you over. Indeed, opinions run the gamut: some call the car “downright ugly” or “boxy,” others praise its bold elegance. But nearly everyone agrees it was effective as a luxurious GT. Paradoxically, the Espada’s very unorthodoxy is part of its charm. Dyler magazine notes that while the Miura and Countach are universally lauded beauties, “the Espada’s four-seat coupé design garners acclaim for its bold and sensational style,” even as it prompts some to call it “uniquely unorthodox”.
What cannot be denied is the Espada’s success. Lamborghini moved over 1,200 of them, making it the company’s best-selling model for years. In fact, in the 1968–78 period it sold far more 4-seaters than it did Countaches (fewer than 200 Countaches were built then). Its platform even spawned the 2+2 Jarama (introduced 1970), which used a shortened Espada chassis to replace the ageing Islero. After the Espada ended, no true four-seat Lambo appeared until the modern Urus SUV in 2017 – so in a sense, it defined the company’s mainstream GT capability for half a century.
The Espada’s influence also lives on in design language. Its clean wedge profile and angular details anticipated 1970s styling, and that glass hatch idea was revisited by others. Even today, when Lamborghinis do appear in films or music videos, the Espada often pops up to remind us that Lamborghini wasn’t all raging bulls and scissor doors; sometimes it meant refined excess on four wheels. As one canny observer put it, the Espada was “the Italian Rolls-Royce” – a luxurious grand tourer with a Lamborghini heart.
In recent years Espadas have become coveted by collectors who appreciate their uniqueness. Good examples now fetch healthy sums (roughly six figures in USD), reflecting a belated respect for this “sword” of a car. In recent years Espadas have become coveted by collectors who appreciate their uniqueness. Good examples now fetch healthy sums (roughly six figures in USD), reflecting a belated respect for this “sword” of a car. The legend even persists: in 1978, coachbuilder Pietro Frua unveiled a one-off four-door “Faena” sedan based on Espada mechanics, and rumors have periodically surfaced about reviving the Espada name (so far, only in renders). In any case, the original Espada remains a standout chapter in Lamborghini history – proof that even a supercar maker can build something classy and roomy. Love it or loathe it, the Espada earned its place as one of the most surprising – and charming – Lamborghinis ever built.
