Miura, the original supercar

Blu Notte
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+ 1.

And he can tune a carburetted Lamborghini V12 like few can, as I'm sure you know

 

Thanks for taking time for this response Antonio. If you don't mind I will get my notes out of my archives & chime in later.
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Claudio is a good resource when it comes to corroborating factory period happenstances that have also been corroborated or documented in other ways or other people. I have found him extremely useful like that, besides the wealth of technical knowledge of Miuras he possesses.

 

Great comments!

Here is what I have found for interior notations on the factory production register:

- Nero (black) covers anything from that charcoal-gray vinyl to black leather. In the case of 3216, you can see the charcoal vinyl, but the cloth seats were not mentioned as they were done to special order. The man who ordered it, Nick B (who still owns it) had to order it through an Italian dealer even though he was standing there in the factory ordering the car face-to-face with the Sales Manager! Maybe something to do with Sales Quotas to favored dealers. He has all the paperwork and it is all with the car. Go figure.

- Senape (mustard) interiors often had a brown dash/console because Senape was too light and caused glass reflection so that's the obvious logic there.

Nero, Senape, Rosso, when it comes to Lamborghini of the period, color names were all loosely-descriptive assignations!

 

Antonio, I hope you dont mind my sharing old communications & notes because in reading them I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed working with you on establishing the heritage of some Spanish-delivered cars.

I can verify that you are someone who is an enthusiast who simply follows the trail. I think in this instance, I followed the trail a bit further.

But as is often the case, one must leave room for received wisdom. We have done this with the book and are able to make amendments (as we have already done in the 2nd edition).

I should point out that my quest on this topic began 8 years ago, but it wasn't about 0961 at all, it was about my own Miura SV 5038! You can see that below, and the desire to establish what the Don Miura connection was with Lamborghini. These were my first steps at dong some corroborating myself.

You kindly directed me to Ben Heiderich and I called him the same day! We spoke for about an hour and I took notes. We spoke 2-3 more times also.

I had been told by a Lamborghini Club President and a Miura owner both of whom knew Ferruccio that Eduardo Miura and Ferruccio were friends and that he compensated Eduardo Miura for the use of his name and symbol of the marque with not just one car, but, several cars.

Later, I read an Automobiles Classiques article in which Ferruccio affirmed that he was friends with Eduardo Miura even before he started the Lamborghini car factory.
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I called Ben Heiderich on the 13th of April 205. We had a nice but short conversation as he was out the door. He requested I call back a few days later for a lengthier conversation. As he did not use e-mail, I sent him a fax (below) to memorialize our brief conversation and ask a few questions in readiness for our next talk. Highlighted in red are salient points to remind myself to bring up in conversation.
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Because I was already prepping chapters for the book by then, I wrote up a Bio on Ben Heiderich and added some of our first conversation. You can see my focus was on 5038.

Her I must point out to Antonio: "No mention of Eduardo Miura" is quite different from actually posing the question and receiving an answer.

I specifically asked the question and he clearly stated YES, Eduardo Miura had several Lamborghinis given to him by Ferruccio, including a silver early Miura (perhaps not 0961?), and the lime green Barcelona show car (5038). Ben stated that he was instructed by Ferruccio to make that car available to Don Miura at cost. Miura never took the car for whatever reason.

My thought process has always been, what would Ben have to gain or lose in corroborating (not proving, just corroborating) Eduardo Miura's Lamborghini ownership? Also, we spoke Porsches and I found Ben Heiderich to be of typical Germanic efficiency and everything he told me about Porsche which I ran by my friend Jurgen Barth at Porsche Ag absolutely checked out to the letter. So I have always felt I should believe him.

In recent years I have heard Eduardo Miura's son say 2 things:
- That the use of the Miura name was never authorized. I believe this is true. All the more reason why Ferruccio would compensate him with a nice car or two.
- That his dad never owned a Miura or was never offered one. We all know the stories of men from that era who kept their automotive mistresses in big cities for periodical visits away from home. The 365 GTB/4 owner in England comes to mind. So too, many aristocrats of the era made sure their names were nowhere near the car's title or registration documents.
So, his son's comments don't convince me he never owned a Lamborghini, in the face of a (reliable) insider who knew both Eduardo Miura & Ferruccio quite well who says that he did.

A factory worker the assistant to the Sales Manger for the Miura period who I contacted also say Don Miura got Lamborghinis including a Miura, although they cant specify which ones.
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On another subject, these are the raw notes given to me by Karl Ludvigsen that resulted in some of the material on pages 49 & 50 of the Miura book!
http://joesackey.com/the-lamborghini-miura-bible/
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2 questions I get asked regularly about the book http://joesackey.com/the-lamborghini-miura-bible/ are:

- Did you choose this title? Answer: Absolutely not!! In fact I resisted it fiercely, but those of you who have ever published a book will know that it is purely a commercial endeavor to the publisher and they call most shots once the manuscript & material are delivered.

- Is this most/all the material you have gathered on Miuras? Answer: Not even 1/10th!! Almost half of the material is cut out of publication for logistical reasons, and the material presented was limited to a set guideline so I had to choose what I thought would appeal the most.

Of course, other books will be written with different viewpoints about certain things, and that is ok, life goes on . Actually, the book has been out for 4 years and I'm surprised there have not been 2 or 3 others, but that just underscores how much effort goes into writing & publishing a book! Definitely a labor of love.

 

The red Miura was likely Seller's own car.

In Roger Lewis' book "The Life & Death of Peter Sellers" he says: "........in part exchange for a red Lamborghini Miura....." clearly suggesting that Sellers owned a red Miura. What his sources or evidence for this is, I don't know, and hat is the first time in almost 30 years of following these cars that I have heard anybody suggest that Sellers owned a Miura.

But, it stands to reason because he was a know car-guy. His ownership of his Ferrari 275 GTB/4 was more widely reported and many images exist of him with that car.
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Apologies for the brief excursion off-topic, but, another of Sellers & 275. Somewhere there are images of him collecting a Ferrari at the factory.

Given the LHD red Miura, I have no idea if he collected his Miura (assuming the red car was in fact his!) at the Lamborghini factory or if he ever went to Sant Agata.
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2 more of Sellers & Ferraris, the first in the late 60s in Spain and the second at the Ferrari factory collecting a Dino 246 in the early 70s.
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Excellent.

A little digging show that the car in question is Miura 3483.

1967 Miura P400
Chassis #3483
Engine #30378 (originally 1908)
Prod. #183
Completed 27th of April 1968

First owner was Dottore Giusto of Padova, Italy.

Originally Green/Mustard. Now has engine #30378.

Lancashire, UK-registered PHR 68 F.