After amassing a fortune in Italy’s tractor and heavy equipment business after World War II, Ferruccio Lamborghini entered the automobile industry with the singular goal of challenging Enzo Ferrari’s supremacy as a manufacturer of exotic grand- touring cars. He began by hiring ex-Ferrari engineer Giotto Bizzarrini to design a new engine according to Lamborghini’s own parameters: a 60-degree V-12 with four overhead cams, short stroke/big bore architecture, dry-sump oiling and as low a profile as possible to allow for use in both road and racing cars. The completed prototype surprised Lamborghini and his engineer by pushing the dyno to 360 HP at 9,800 RPM, but when Lamborghini ordered the engine detuned for initial road applications, Bizzarrini balked, leaving further development to 24-year-old Giampaolo Dallara, a talented aeronautical engineer with experience at both Ferrari and Maserati. Paolo Stanzini, a graduate engineer from the University of Bologna, and New Zealander Bob Wallace, a former Ferrari and Maserati test driver, teamed with Dallara to design a new chassis for the new V-12, but the initial prototype, the GTV, was dropped after it failed to impress at the 1963 Turin Auto Show. When a revised chassis design cloaked in gorgeous Carrozzeria Touring coachwork appeared at the Geneva Salon in 1964, orders began pouring in, launching the Lamborghini 350GT. Production had barely commenced, however, when Lamborghini’s three young amigos presented him with a design for a sensational midengined berlinetta, the likes of which had only been seen in such purpose-built prototype racers as the Ferrari 250-330P series and Ford’s fledgling GT40. Lamborghini gave his enthusiastic blessing to the proposal, and the resulting Bertone-bodied P400 Miura shocked the automotive world, redefining the very concept of the grand-touring automobile. The Miura’s transversely mounted 4.0L/360 HP DOHC V-12, gate-shifted 5-speed manual transmission, all-independent double wishbone suspension with coil springs and shocks and Girling 4-wheel disc brakes proved a sensational combination, all wrapped up in the most beautiful shape ever conceived to that point—but Lamborghini was not finished. Introduced in 1967, the Miura S (for “spinto”, Italian for “pushed”) featured numerous refinements to the fit and finish, the interior accommodations and the drivetrain. The transversely mounted 4.0L V-12 employed increased intake porting and improved combustion chambers, pushing output to 370 HP and the top speed from 168 to 173 MPH. Significant revisions were made to the formerly austere interior including more elegant upholstery and paneling, Ducellier power windows, console-mounted wiper controls, rocker switches in place of the original toggles, and improved ventilation. Chrome exterior window trim replaced the original matte black pieces. Running changes continued through S production from 1968 to 1971, including changes to the ignition, carburetors and charging system and the introduction of vented brake discs. One of just 762 Miuras produced from 1967 through 1973, this 1970 Miura S, Chassis No. 3685 and Engine No. 30491, is one of only six examples finished in bold Verde Miura paint, here complemented with a superbly finished blue leather- trimmed interior featuring the signature leather-wrapped aluminum steering wheel, gated shifter and full Jaeger instrumentation. The Miura is equipped with Pirelli Avon tires on Campagnolo three-ear knock-off wheels, Carello headlights and fog lamps, and rear window louvers, and it’s restoration was completed in 2011 by marque experts Bobileff Motorcar in San Diego, California, after which it was displayed at the famed Concorso Italiano in Monterey in 2011. Offered with the owner’s manual and an odometer reading of 52,974 kilometers, it is a magnificent example of the revolutionary automobile from Sant’Agata Bolognese that elevated the grand-touring machine to greater heights than ever before.
