Miura, the original supercar

Exactly.

The Miura was built as a ROAD car, and where production cars conceived originally and solely for the road are concerned, the Miura is the original Supercar.

The term Supercar itself is a moniker coined by the late LJK Setright circa 1970 to describe a road car he had just spent some time in. That car, was a Lamborghini Miura.

I think its well-established by now that when the term "Supercar" is used, the reference is towards a ROAD car.

If we wish to get into the discussion of mid-engined RACE cars, the GT40 wasn't anywhere near the original mid-engined race car, and lets be clear: the GT40 was designed and produced essentially is a race car although some were produced for road use.

In fact, the 1923 Benz Tropfenwagen was the first race car with mid-engine, rear-wheel drive layout. The Benz Tropfenwagen was designed by Ferdinand Porsche along with Willy Walb and Hans Nibel. It raced in 1923 and 1924 and was most successful in the Italian Grand Prix in Monza where it came in fourth. Later, Ferdinand Porsche used mid-engine design concept towards the Auto Union Grand Prix cars of the 1930s which became the first winning RMR racers. They were decades before their time, although MR Miller Specials raced a few times at Indianapolis between 1939 and 1947. In 1953 Porsche premiered the tiny and altogether new RMR 550 Spyder and in a year it was notoriously winning in the smaller sports and endurance race car classes against much larger car - a sign of greater things to come. The 718 followed similarly in 1958. But it was not until the late 1950s that the mid-engined racecar reappeared in Grand Prix races in the form of the Cooper-Climax (1957), soon followed by cars from BRM and Lotus. Ferrari and Porsche soon made Grand Prix mid-engined attempts with less initial success. The mid-engined layout was brought back to Indianapolis in 1961 by the Cooper Car Company with Jack Brabham running as high as third and finishing ninth. Cooper did not return, but from 1963 on British built mid-engined cars from constructors like Brabham, Lotus and Lola competed regularly and in 1965 Lotus won Indy with their Type 38.

All quite a bit before the GT40...

 

Yes very similar. Also the windscreens.

By the way the metallic black SV is 4894.

 

A pair of P400S' owned by the two Jeffs!
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Bob put some on a few cars, and there are a few cars that have them applied post-production. Yes, they are a high-speed application item.

 

Indeed. No its not a barn find and its existence/availability is about as old as the hills too.

 

I think so!

 

Enjoy!

 

Correct.

Personally I think the SV is a vastly improved car, even in the looks department. Witness how much more muscular and appealing it looks compared to the earlier car below. The earlier car looks a bit weak in the rear. However, you only notice this when an SV is in the presence of an earlier car.

Having said all that, I can see why some prefer the earlier car for its original purity.

FWIW the SV in this pic is completely original.
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Perhaps a good time to point out (yet again) that Ferruccio's own 5028 is the only known genuine SV with 'eyelashes' fitted.
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