Miura, the original supercar

Do you have any more pics of the white RHD SV with registration RYY 161K? This is the car that Elton John allegedly owned. See above.

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GutBppcwev0[/ame]

Great SV Video in the link above. Same exterior colours as the Elton John car. I wish I could understand Japanese.

 

Great video especially the driving shots at the end, but the guy cant seem to make up his mind whether to drive on the left or the right!! I hope he knows which country hes in.

 

This is the car, pictured in 1994, that Jay Kay owned, before he owned it of course, with the black around the headlamps. A LHD converted to RHD car. It was sold to a Mike Lee in Japan in 1996 when I worked for Mark and John Pullicino of Pullicino Classics. The car later came back to the UK obviously. I'm sure that must have been stated before on here though so my apologies for posting what may be old news.
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[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSj7GFLDhew[/ame]

You can see the car here at about 4 minutes into the video with Jay driving Richard Hammond in it and the surrounds are now red.

 

Hi, thanks for the link to the white SV Miura. The Japanese video is fantastic, with some really good camerawork. Haven't seen that one before.

 

Also read post 8527. I answered your question about the Elton John SV with a link to the history of it. I've only today found this thread and I've found a pic posted by R33 who took a pic of the car when it was owned by Charlie Chong who owned it after my father. He had the plate CCC 1 on it. He must have taken NGM 100M off it to put his plate on. When he sold the car and took CCC 1 off it must have reverted back to RYY 161K.

 

Hi miurasv,

Yes, I saw your other post. Didn't previous owners names appear on the Log Book back in those days? Does your father have a copy of the old Log Book?

A car reverts back to its original registration number when an owner removes a private plate, so presumably RYY 161K was the original number.

If you live in Cardiff, I'm about 20 miles from you! Wish I'd seen the Miura when it was owned by your father.

 

My father is sadly no longer with us. When he owned the SV (1976 -1978) he lived in Pontneathvaughan, near Glyn Neath, Neath. He drove it quite a lot between Aberdare, Neath and Swansea. Where do you live? I vaguely remember the old log book and I don't think Elton John's name was in it. I do remember there being a Lord recorded as a previous keeper. It was an absolutely fantastic car. No other car has had such an effect on me.

 

Hi

I'm twenty miles West of Cardiff. In '76 - '78 I lived in Porthcawl, although I did know a couple of people from Glyn Neath.

Is it possible that Elton had the car registered in someone else's name, i.e. someone who worked for him? I think something similar happened with the Twiggy Lime Green Miura which allegedly was owned by her manager/boyfriend and not by her.

What really hits me whenever I see a Miura, is how low the car is.

Sab

 

Justin De Villeneuve was Twiggy's manager who drove the lime green Miura. I remember looking for Elton's name in the old type log book and also Reg Dwight but I'd have remembered it if it was there. Perhaps it was registered to one of his companies.

I remember going to Porthcawl in about 1977, with my father of course, in the SV and there was an orange Uracco parked in the car park not far from the Fairground. I don't know if it was a local car.

I think anyone who lived in Glyn Neath at that time would remember the car so if you're still in contact with any of them ask them if they remember it.

Yes, they are extremely low but very imposing and truly awesome car with an unsurpassed beauty. The lowness of the car isn't captured in many pictures and is very apparent and stunning when you see the car in the flesh. The SV, with it's wide rear haunches and fat steam roller rear wheels is just amazing. When I first saw a Miura I had my breath taken away, literally.

 

...and many thanks to you, Joe for all the Miura information that you share. I'm going to buy your book within the next few days. There is something about a Miura SV that no other car in the world has. It is completely beautiful and I can stare at one for hours and be excited and mesmerised the whole time.

 

Yes, could very well have been registered in a company name.

Never saw a Urraco in that car park but saw an Espada in there once. If the Urraco had been a local car I would probably have heard about it. There were two other Espadas that were around here for a short period, both red, and one had CD plates on it. A wine red Jarama was also around here back then. Seeing a Lamborghini in that period was very, very rare.

It was an ex-girlfriend that lived in Glyn Neath and I haven't seen her or any of her friends for years now.

 

Yes, it was a very rare sight to see a Lamborghini in that period. Probably had the same effect on me as a UFO would.

The first Miura and Lamborghini I ever saw, apart from Matchbox and Corgi toys, was on the telly. It was Cade's County with Glenn Ford and it was a two part episode called Slay Ride. It was amazing. I was about 8 years old. My father at the time had a Ferrari 330 GT 2+2 which was a great car but no Miura.

I'd always loved cars but when I saw the Miura my true passion to the pont of obsessiveness for mid engined super cars began. I saw a white Dino 246 GTS parked oppositte my house in a place called the Tara Club in Pontneathvaughan a few weeks later. Somebody from Swansea had just bought it. It was parked there all day and I was there looking at it the whole time. I dragged my father away from his garage where he was potching with the 330 to come and see it. After that I bought Exchange & Mart every week to see if there were any Dinos I could persuade my father to buy. Some time later we saw the Italian Job on TV and the next day my father bought the SV. It was a truly magical day.

 

Yes, all Miuras are truly wonderful but once you've seen an SV the passion and desire is out of control. You see the beautiful face of the front end and windscreen combined with the bulbous and curvaceous rear haunches and fat rear wheels and tyres bursting out of those arches (here is the animal magnetism you talk about, Joe) and knowing that this is the most properly developed Miura with stronger chassis, split sump etc and I understand why the values are as they are.
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Nice story about buying the Miura the day after seeing The Italian Job! Fantastic!

By the way, AutoArt do a lovely 18 scale white Miura SV with gold sills and wheels.

Sab

 

Thanks, Sab. Yes, I actually ordered one in that model shop Antics in High Street, Cardiff when they came out. I remember telling Simon Kidston about them in an email years ago. Antics never came back to me. You've reminded me to get one. Must get the yellow one too. I think they're over £100 now but worth it. I have a Minichamps white with gold but it's nowhere near as good as the Auto Art ones. The details are fantastic. From the pics I've seen the only thing it slightly misses is the way the rear wheels fill out the arches on the SV. I think Kyosho do a good 1/12 model. I have a Kyosho Jota SVR 1/18 which is great.

 

It's a shame no one does a Miura with a blue interior . Kyosho's SV is a beautiful model, a more accurate shape than the AUTOart in profile, but the rear wheels are too inset - considering how much difference it makes to the stance of the real SV in comparison to the inset wheels of the P400 and S, this is a major flaw. The 1/12 adresses this but it could do with branding on the tires, especially in such a large scale.

In an earlier post you made the observation that Jay Kay's Miura doesnt have the black surrounds around the headlamps - is this because it has been repainted?

If so, I wonder why the black satin finish (or black plastic inserts) around the headlamps have been omitted? Not good, if you ask me......

 

I used to buy a lot of my models in Antics. I've got the white SV and two of the Kyosho SVRs and a black SV with silver sills. They are all great models. I think you should be able to get the white SV for well under £100, in fact I've seen one recently but not available as of now. I think it will rise to well over £100 as it's quite a rare colour.

I tried to buy a Minichamps white Miura about a month ago but that went for over £100. Just before that I managed to get both red and black ones which are also quite rare.

Sab

 

Good information here about the models, thanks. Yes, Jay Kay's car doesn't or didn't have the black around the headlamps due to being repainted. Previously the surrounds were black on that car as in the pic on the front of the Classic & Sportscar magazine. This is how we sold the car at Pullicino Classics to the Japanese buyer in 1996.

 

I was quite surprised Antics never came back to me as I pestered them by going into the shop and calling them to get me the Auto Art cars. I bought quite a few cars in there including the Kyosho Jota SVR in red. As well as the white and gold Minichamps (1200 Ltd) I also have the yellow yellow Minichamps Auto Bild (3000 Ltd). I think the Minichamps models use bodies that are found on much cheaper models but I may be wrong. I have some much cheaper models which look almost exactly the same.

 

I'm not aware of Minichamps using shells found on cheaper models. I've always thought that, considering the scale, they were very good and reasonably accurate in shape and detail. I think that some of the more expensive Looksmart models aren't as good as Minichamps. AutoArt have some 43 scale Miuras coming soon, and to me, they just don't look right.

If I find another white AutoArt SV I'll let you know.

Sab