On 7 May 1967, shortly before the start of the Monte Carlo Formula 1 Grand Prix, His Highness Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, completed the lap of honour on the track in Lamborghini’s Marzal prototype, with its glazed gullwing doors offering an almost unimpeded view of the interior and the silver leather upholstery.
Princess Grace sat in the passenger seat, next to Prince Rainier. Photos of the couple in the Marzal traveled all around the world, turning this unique car into a legend.
Since then, the Marzal’s engines have mostly remained silent and hidden away from curious eyes apart from sporadic concours and show appearances – until now.
This weekend for the 11th edition of the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique with the support of Lamborghini Polo Storico, the Marzal celebrating its history by completing several laps on the same roads as in 1967.
The striking Marzal was first shown to the public at the Geneva Motor Show in 1967, just a few months before that appearance in Monaco. A concept car designed by Marcello Gandini, who was at that time working at Bertone, it was Lamborghini’s first attempt at creating a proper four-seater car.
It used a stretched Miura chassis with an in-line six-cylinder 2-litre engine mounted transversely at the rear. This was derived from the V12 unit in the Miura, effectively being the latter engine cut in half longitudinally.
The external design was dominated by the almost completely glass gull-wing doors and the transparent roof panel, and the noticeable lack of height, in fact the overall height was only 1100 mm.
Lamborghini didn’t like the design and so it remained a one-off and the company’s next attempt at a four-seater would the Espada.
Thus this weekend the Marzal is back after fifty one years in the setting where it became famous. In a further twist it is being kept company by an Espada, the 2+2 series car designed the next year and inspired by the idea and lines of the Marzal which would be produced in Sant’Agata Bolognese until 1978.
