Lamborghini Miura

The Miura grew out of the desire of Dallara, Wallace and Stanzani (the main designers at Lamborghini) to go racing. They developed a new chassis with a mid-mounted transverse engine in the hope of persuading Lamborghini to race it. That attempt failed, but the chassis was displayed on the Lamborghini stand at the 1965 Turin Motorshow and Lamborghini asked Bertone to design a body for it to use as a show car.

The work was carried out by Gandini and Giugiaro (both at Bertone) and revealed to the world at the Geneva Motorshow in 1966. Although having had no plans to produce it, Lamborghini took 17 deposits at the show and so production was go. Significant development was again necessary to turn a basic race car into a road car, the main problems being the heat and noise of the engine, being mounted directly behind the occupants heads. The wheelbase was increased slightly, a vertical rear window (double glazed) and lots of insulation inserted behind the occupants, a slatted cover replaced the window over the engine, extra air ducts forced air around the engine and and the front radiators were mounted vertically.

When the car entered production, it used a chassis comprising a central section, including the floor, given strength by the large sills and centre tunnel, and extensions front and rear for the suspension and engine and suspension respectively. The engine was basically a 400GTV unit, with the same vertical carburettors and 350bhp. A Sprint version was also available with (a claimed) 430bhp - probably nearer 380. The main difference was that the transmission housing was cast together with the crankcase, the gears being housed below the engine in the sump. The steering adopted a rack-and-pinion layout. The interior of the Miura reverted to the more traditional (ie rather poor) Italian style, rather than the plush trm of previous Lamborghinis.

The Brussels Show of 1968 saw Bertone reveal a spider version, the Roadster, but nothing came of that project. In 1969 changes to the production model included more power (up to 370bhp), a larger boot (due to a revised exhaust system), new seats and a slightly improved interior. In this form the car became known as the Miura S.

This continued in production until 1971 when the Miura SV was revealed. Using many of the features improved in the Jota (see below) the SV had 385bhp, a strengthened rear chassis, wider wheels and larger tyres, some suspension modifications and a variety of detail changes.

A total of  475 P400's, 140 P400S's and 150 P400SV's were built until 1973.

Lamborghini Jota