Rovers and 450 SLC Mercedes—were disposed of at auction in
the 1980s, but the fiercely religious proponents of a strict Islamic
republic could hardly display the likes of a Lamborghini. So the
SVJ, along with others of his more esoteric and valuable motor
cars, gathered dust in a Tehran warehouse until the early 1990s,
when a final batch of 10 cars were sold to an anonymous buyer
in Dubai.I
t was in 1996, when I was curating my first solo car auc-
tion as co-founder of Brooks in Geneva and searching
for a cover lot, that a friend whispered the tantalising
words, “I know where the Shah’s Miura SVJ is.” I booked a seat
on the next plane to the Middle East, to be greeted on the runway
by a larger-than-life gentleman in full-length Arab robes, gold
Cartier glasses and a heavy gold watch, who embraced me as
“my brother” and drove me at high speed in his Mercedes-Benz
S class to an unmarked warehouse. The door rolled up, revealing
a dozen barefoot workmen squatting on the floor (“cheaper than
fitting alarm,” explained my new Arab friend) and those final 10
cars of the late Shah’s collection. These included the very first V8
Aston (the Shah loved to have the first of anything), the first Fer-
rari 365 GT4 2+2 (a gift from King Hussein of Jordan), two Rolls-
Royce Camargues and a Corniche, one of the first Lamborghini
Espadas—and, the crown jewel of his collection, the original
Lamborghini Miura SVJ.
For two days I enjoyed the Arab owner’s overwhelming hos-
pitality, before we shook hands, deal done, and the long-lost ex-
Shah cars were soon on a cargo flight to Geneva.
It’s hard to express the exhilaration of consigning these discov-
eries but our team had no idea how the buying public would react.It wasn’t until the night before the auction, when a fax churned
noisily into our office with a signed bidder’s registration form, that
the excitement really kicked in. It was from actor Nicolas Cage.
“And now, Lot number 10, Ladies and Gentlemen. The Lam-
borghini Miura SVJ built for the Shah of Iran, and never before
offered for sale. I’ll start the bidding at $100,000.” Hands shot
up one after another, then a telephone bidder entered the fray,
but Hollywood remained silent. A Frenchman dropped out at
$200,000. A German took the bidding to $300,000, three times
the reserve and a new record. Cage now entered the fray, with
competition from the son of a Macau casino owner on the other
telephone. Fifteen minutes of brinkmanship and suspense later,
the hammer came down at $497,500, the highest price ever paid
for a Lamborghini at the time. Applause, cheering and relief for
the entire auction team: our first sale would be in the world’s press
the next day. “Excuse me, Mr Cage, but could we mention you as
the successful bidder?” “Sure, just make sure you say ‘Academy
Award winner...’”
A few years later, when Cage had lost interest in cars, we bro-
kered the SVJ to an Iranian collector living in London, whose
father had been friends with the Shah. It broke the record again
when we sold it for a third time; and again for a fourth time in 2017,
to its current owner, a low-key European collector.
One lingering personal ambition remained: to see the Miu-
ra back in St. Moritz, outside the Shah’s winter retreat. When a
chance invitation arrived this February to the first ever “ICE” clas-
sic car concours d’elegance on the resort’s frozen lake, I knew who
to call and what car to suggest he should bring. Hearing the SVJ’s
V12 roaring into town almost half a century after its first arrival
was very special. The final touch? Studded Pirellis, of course...POWER PLAY
Clockwise from left: The Shah of Iran with his first
Miura in St. Moritz, 1968; the Shah in uniform; the Shah
with his family at home, 1972; the Shah pilots the Boeing
727 that flew him to exile, first in Egypt and then
Morocco, 1979; the Shah (right), holds his own next to
former World Water Ski champion Richard D. Pope, Jr.KID
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SEPTEMBER 2019 VANITY FAIR EN ROUTE
09-19Simon-Kidson-Lamborghini.indd 67 17/07/2019 13:25