The Reunion: 1973-2013

He’s been the public face of Lamborghini, at least to many of their visiting clients and journalists, for decades through good times and bad. The factory even named a car after him, and he’s still doing what he does best: test driving Lamborghinis. His name is Valentino Balboni and on 5th September 2013 he celebrates the 40th anniversary of his first ever official test drive. There’s another man who is less well-known in motoring circles but his family name adorned hundreds of thousands of vehicles in post-war Italy, from Lambretta scooters to Minis built under licence. For his own transport Gianfranco Innocenti’s father consented to gift him something rather less humble, and as chance would have it, it was that very same car which, on that morning 40 years ago, the young Valentino Balboni drove out the factory gate for the first time. The Lamborghini factory employees who built the car are now old men, but over the past 18 months they have carefully preserved it for the next gen