MOTOR CARS | 247‘But step back for a minute and work out what makes the Miura so
special. In 1966 there was nothing like it. Only racing cars and the
obscure little French Bonnet/Matra Djet had mid-mounted engines.
Ferrari’s road-going mainstay was the traditional front-engined
275GTB. So when tractor magnate Ferruccio Lamborghini stole the
attention of the Geneva Salon crowd with the Miura, people were
shocked as much by its audacious mechanical layout as they were
by its era-defining and stunningly gorgeous styling.’ – Classic Cars,
July 2004.
Ferruccio Lamborghini’s bold challenge to Ferrari had begun in
1964 with the 350GT but it was the arrival of the Miura - arguably
the founder of the supercar class - that established Lamborghini as
a major manufacturer of luxury sporting cars. Prior to the model’s
official debut at the 1966 Geneva Salon, Lamborghini cars were
respected for their impressive mechanical specifications but they
somehow lacked a distinctive persona. All this changed with the
arrival of the Miura, named after Don Eduardo Miura, a famous
breeder of fighting bulls. The Miura project first surfaced as a rolling
chassis displayed at the 1965 Turin Motor Show but was not
expected to become a production reality. Nevertheless, by the time
of the Geneva Salon the following year, the first completed car was
ready for unveiling to an awe-struck press and public.
The car’s technical specification was breathtaking in its sophistication
and complexity. Designed by Gianpaolo Dallara, the Miura carried
its transversely mounted engine amidships in a box-section platform
chassis, the latter clothed in stunning coupé coachwork styled by
Bertone’s Marcello Gandini. Like the contemporary 400GT, the Miura
used the 4.0-litre version of Lamborghini’s Giotto Bizzarrini-designed
four-cam V12. With 350bhp available, the Miura was capable of
shattering performance, a top speed of 180mph being claimed.
Production examples were independently tested at more than 170,
confirming that the Miura was the world’s fastest production car.Early in 1968, after the 125th car had been completed, the steel
used in the chassis was increased from 0.9 to 1mm in thickness,
while from April that year customers could specify a leather interior.
Initial development had concentrated on chassis strengthening,
these improvements being consolidated in the more powerful
Miura ‘S’, for spinto (tuned), introduced in 1968. Production of the
original P400 effectively ended when the successor ‘S’ version was
introduced, by which time a little over 470 of these wonderful cars
had been produced.