(first posted 7/12/2013) In 1967 I was fourteen, and perhaps one of the earlier exponents of the eighties’ teenage tradition of having a Lamborghini pinup on my bedroom wall. And there it is again thanks to Google images. You’re so familiar; every detail, line and curve of your body is etched in my memory, how often I rode you off into my dreams…
The 1967 Marzal was a breakthrough car, at a time when there were so many. It’s purpose was to create a true four passenger mid-engined sports coupe, as a follow-up on the groundbreaking Miura mid-engined super sports car. Built on a lengthened Miura chassis, the Marzal had a 175 hp two-liter six tucked between the rear wheels, essentially the Miura’s V12 cut in half.
The Marzal’s body design was by Marcello Gandini, who also takes credit for the Miura. It’s brilliant, and surprisingly practical to boot.
The Miura pioneered and popularized rear louvers, and the Marzal took them to the next level, or two. This was seriously hot stuff in 1967. Think of some American cars from 1967 for perspective.
I don’t want to rub it in for you younger ones, but living through the sixties was a treat. Just about every day, something radically new appeared, whether it was music, clothes, drugs, ideas, or cars. And the era really hit its peak from about 1966 through 1970 or so. The Marzal was a serious early high point in one of the most creative eras ever. Nobody had done anything like this before.
Especially interiors and dashboards like this.
It wasn’t just that it was cool, but the Marzal really grabbed me because it was a very early exponent of the “unibody” look. By that I’m not referring to the usual use of that word, but how the sides, and especially the rear quarters form a continuous plane from bottom to top, a unified whole.
The other new car of 1966 that also espoused that design was the Toronado, with its integrated rear quarters-C Pillar. Everybody else was mostly still stuck with putting a greenhouse on top of a lower body. Not these two. As handsome as the Toro is, the Marzal’s proportions have it beat by a healthy margin.
Of course, this quickly became a major design trend, especially apparent on AMC’s 1968 Javelin and even more so on the AMX.
And the 1970 Camaro owes more than a passing tip of the hat to the Marzal. As do many others.
Well, it’s bed time for me now, and I can think of worse things than having the Marzal in my head as I drift off….now if I could only sleep as soundly as I did in 1966.
That car is unreal. All that glass. It still looks modern today.
I built a model of this back in the day (from a Tamiya kit?) I recall that egg-crate sunshade over the rear window.
Lovely car, but all that glass surrounding the interior wouldn’t work very well in Texas, I’m just sayin’.
Now thats an airy “greenhouse”. I wounder if that style of window louver had became popular instead of the slated one , would it still be popular today?
“If you can remember the sixties, you weren’t there.”
Beautiful car, and agree about the creativity that came out of the latter half of that decade.
Lamborghini day at CC? Cool.
Being a few years younger than Paul (ahem) I can’t say I remember that poster. And I was also unfamiliar with this car, but it is really something for 1967. I particularly like those doors with the lower windows. All the better to watch the blurred dotted lines in the road at high speed. Probably not a good design for passengers inclined to carsickness.
I am surprised that nobody ever picked up that intricate rear window louver design. I do have to say that the general proportions of this car come off a little better here than in the production Espada.
And it has a an opening vent window!
Yes, transferring the Marzal’s body unto a front-engine chassis with the big V12 resulted in it looking a bit like it got stepped on, in order to keep the height at the same/similar level. And the Espada is probably wider too. The Espada works best looking at it in profile, or the rear-quarter, but from some other angles it is a bit challenging.
I think the Espada’s compromises with respect to exterior proportions were worth the 4-passenger capacity. That was ambitious and the car certainly found its market, remaining in production for a decade.
As for remembering the 1960s, I can say exactly when I started noticing Italian exotics: when I saw the March 1967 Road & Track with the DeTomaso Mangusta and Maserati Ghibli on the cover; I was 10.
Yes, I still have a copy.
Thanks ! I never thought I could compare my 1969 Mopar to a classic Lambo.
That makes this Chrysler A-body a true “Unibody-Unibody”
Almost…there’s still a bit of shoulder on your very handsome ‘Cuda. Love those.
I see….well, “coke bottle style” doesn’t sound very Italian when you think about it.
The concept sketches for the 67 Barracuda are very similar to the 1968 GM A body coupes. The big difference in production is the shared Valiant windshield posts the compel a more vertical greenhouse.
The 1970 Duster has more curve in the side glass so the bodyside rolls in a continuous curve from rocker to roof, broken by the stamped arrow on the bodyside (which picks up the stamped creases in the carryover door).
It reminds me of my ’67 383 Barracuda fastback, even though that was metallic blue.
Well, it’s not really Coke bottle either, although does have a touch of a bulge at the hips. The greenhouse is a bit narrower than the body where it meets at the C pillar, so there’s not an unbroken plane along its flanks and up into the roof. Just a different approach, and a very common one.
It’s interesting to note how many styling studios were moving towards this next wave of styling trends at the same time, this car, the Toronado, the Alfa Romeo Montreal is part of it too, the big 71-73 Mustangs were influenced by it too.
It’s not really a ‘Cuda either (sorry, I couldn’t resist 😉 ) but a Formula S.
In 1969 the ‘Cuda performance package was released, technically fully based on the previous Formula S package.
Gorgeous car, still looks futuristic. If someone said it was an ’87 rather than ’67, I would not have known any better. Nothing like this could ever get built today, too fragile. Airbags and side impact protection and all…
Technically nothing like this was built back then either, this was a show car.
The Dr. Evil silver suit is so necessary to drive this. I wonder if there’s room for a giant fricken laser inside the front storage compartment. ; )
Wow, still looks modern today. I have this in Matchbox form, one of “our” top 10 or so in mint condition, sitting on my son’s shelf. I miss those smaller diameter wheels, with those big, fat high profile tires. And, now that I think about it, I miss seeing interesting wheels with something other than multispokes with big openings.
I had that Matchbox car as a kid-mine was a vivid pinkish orange! It was my favourite and I was completely facinated by those glass doors.
I have one of those Matchbox cars too–a gift from my folks when I was a kid in the mid ’90s. Mine is bright pink with the ivory interior–still has the box as well!
It looks just like this one (image from mbxforums.com):
Thought I had one, but it turned out I had two in the metallic cherry red. A stunning design and a favourite of the time.
For some reason, creativity were particularly vibrant in the decade of ’60.
I knew the Marzal but I’ve never saw its tail and interior, i’m blown !
I never realized the real car had the integrated vent wings. Cool!
The photos’ glimpses of the interior made me want to see that hexaphilic dash in more detail. Zowie!
If the HAL 9000 could get a driver’s license, this is what it would drive.
While the V8 powered Lamborghini Urraco was developed as an alternative to the Ferrari Dino, could Lamborghini have produced a smaller or alternate Urraco model powered by a Lamborghini V12 derived inline-6 (as in the Marzal) or V6?
Ferrocio Lamborghini did everything on a whim to suit his fancy, it seems.
Him with his brilliant engineer Bob Wallace could and did anything they wanted to.
Oftentimes successful, and oftentimes not. But never afraid to break from the mould.
I think I read they considered doing just what you proposed, but never did.
Either way, you can bet they thought of it.
Do you recall where you read about Lamborghini looking into what I proposed?
In theory the Lamborghini V12 could have also potentially spawned an inline-4 of up to 2-litres, akin to the ASA 1000 GT Coupe “Ferrarina” whose inline-4 engine was derived from the Ferrari Colombo V12.
Then again if the Lamborghini V8 was capable of being enlarged to 4-litres, they could have probably developed a 2-litre Slant-4. The same goes for the Ferrari Dino V8 though both the former and the Lamborghini V8 never grew beyond 3.5-3.6-litres.
I rennet sitting in the Marzal in 1994/95 when I was working at Bertone. They had just finished restoring it… The feeling of light and space is unique and the detailing, just wonderful…. I agree with Paul about this period of creativity in design and the purity of the “monocoque” or no shoulder planar forms used. Especially contrasted with the current baroque forms on everything with wheels….
Paul, I was 11 in 1967, and I agree that in the late 60’s, each new day could bring something amazing.
And, like you, I slept much better then, too…
“You’re so familiar; every detail, line and curve of your body is etched in my memory, how often I rode you off into my dreams…”.
ummm, which silver body were you referring to…..?
Another mind-blowing Gandini masterpiece. His work over the next, what, 10 or so years rocked every corner of the automotive world to no end. The sheer audacity of the man’s brilliantly creative mind never ceases to amaze.
Extraordinary automotive design. A timeless work of art… design vocabulary of curves and angles, terrific proportions, and energy-loaded sense of movement are both restrained and exuberant. Especially admire the horizontal character line running stem to stern, around which all other components revolve. Window mass, normally a negative attribute, is so large that it becomes a positive feature, beautifully balanced with the solid body pieces. The word stunning, so overused, here, genuinely fits.
The car’s not bad either 🙂
Such an interesting and futuristic car design. I honestly believe this is the car that turned me on to hexagons years ago. Lamborghini clearly likes them as they have been used in several models throughout the years. The Aventador and Huracan use multiple variations them extensively in the interiors and exteriors. When Mother Nature comes up with such a beautiful design it only makes sense to use it.
Giants Causeway being one of my favorite examples.