Australia For Everyone

The mid-engined Miura was responsible for putting Italian tractor manufacturer Ferruccio Lamborghini on the map as a serious sports/exotic car maker. The term 'supercar' was in fact coined to describe the Muria, and is now applied to any ultra-high-end "exotic" automobile whose performance is superior to that of its contemporaries. The Muria's styling is both stunning and classically proportioned. The car is so well proportioned it is actually much smaller than it looks in photographs - the roofline in fact barely comes up to your belt.

Thanks to its astonishing shape which skews scale and perspective, the car looks impossibly long, low and wide, though in reality it is nowhere near as big as it appears in photographs. For many, the Miura is the sexiest car ever made, as evidenced by the fact that examples of it still turn heads whenever they are seen, which is rare these days as they have become highly sought after collector's items.

The Miura chassis was first shown at the 1965 Turin Auto Show. The setup was revolutionary for the time, as it consisted of a platform chassis made from sheet steel and drilled wherever possible for lightness. Additionally, the mid-mounted V12 engine, (originally designed by Giotto Bizzarrini for the first front engined Lamborghini, the 350GT), had been reconfigured by Giampaolo Dallara, Paolo Stanzini and New Zealander, Bob Wallace in such a way that the engine block, crankcase, transmission and differential housings were all incorporated into a single alloy casting. Although never intended to be a production car, the chassis attracted so much attention that Lamborghini was forced to further develop the concept and initiate production.

Bertone was hired to design the body and although Giugiaro did some of the initial design work, it was his successor at Bertone, Marcello Gandini, who is credited as the designer. The Miura was built in 3 series. The first in the series was the P400 with 350 bhp and a top speed of 170 mph. The next model, the P400S had ventilated disc brakes and minor body and cabin upgrades and a thicker sheet steel chassis. The third and final version, the P400SV , had more substantial changes including yet an even thicker gauge steel platform and additional gusseting, a positraction differential and four-link rear suspension, wider wheels which necessitated the rear body to be widened some 4 inches, new taillights and the removal of the iconic "eyelash" headlight surrounds of the previous two models. Horsepower was increased to 385 bhp and the top speed increased to 180 mph accordingly. A total of 764 Miuras were built.



Production numbers for each series:
P400 - 474
P400S - 140
P400SV - 150
The last 50 SV's were different from those that preceeded them. These last cars incorporated a factory installed split sump separating gearbox and engine oils.

Model Type: 2 Door Coupe
Body Designer: Bertone (Marcello Gandini)
Engine: Transverse mounted V12 (3929cc)
Horsepower: 385 bhp at 7850 rpm
Torque: 289 lb at 5500 rpm
Transmission: 5-Speed gearbox
Suspension:
Front- Independent, unequal length A arms, coil springs, telescopic shock absorbers, anti-roll bar
Rear- Independent, unequal length A arms, coil springs, telescopic shock absorbers, anti-roll bar
Top Speed: 180 mph