LAMBORGHINI

Miura

The Lamborghini Miura was born almost in secret, conceived by Lamborghini's young engineering team of Gian Paolo Dallara, Paolo Stanzani and Bob Wallace, who designed the car in their spare time against the wishes of company founder Ferruccio Lamborghini, who preferred refined grand tourers to race-bred machines. Their radical idea was to mount Lamborghini's 3.9-litre V12 transversely amidships, directly behind the driver, a layout that had only ever been seen on racing cars. The rolling chassis stunned the crowds at the 1965 Turin Motor Show, and when the finished Lamborghini Miura, clothed in a breathtaking body penned by Marcello Gandini at Bertone, was unveiled at the 1966 Geneva Motor Show, it became an instant sensation and effectively invented the supercar template that endures to this day. The original Lamborghini Miura P400 produced around 350 horsepower, enough to make it one of the fastest road cars in the world. In 1969 the Lamborghini Miura P400 S arrived with more power and improved details, and in 1971 the definitive Lamborghini Miura P400 SV brought 385 horsepower, wider rear track, revised suspension and the deletion of the famous "eyelash" trim around the headlamps. A handful of ultra-rare specials, including the SVJ, capped the line. Sensuous, dramatic and technically revolutionary, the Lamborghini Miura defined an era and remains the most coveted of all classic Lamborghinis.