Miura, the original supercar

Despite all the very nice Miura we discover around year after year, there is one more than the others that still holds my breath, due to its particular color, but due also to the heritage it gives us with all the R&D it has performed into the hands of the pioneers : Dallara, Stanzani and of course Bob Wallace who made most of the mileage on its tacho... what a great Miura P400, one of the 3 prototipo, wonderfully restored by the Top French Team too... #0862 is the oldest Survivor since #0509 was destroyed by a truck at a trafficlight... #0862 has a quiet retirement in comparison...

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Isn't the Marriott Miura (0706) the oldest survivor?

 

That's a good question...

 

Well, there was a single Countach Prototype and a single pre-production LP400, why should they have made more than 3 Protos in case of the Miura?

 

correct

the 1st #502 / #509 has no roof trap
the 2nd #0862 and the 3rd #0706 have a roof trap
but the disturbing fact is the 4th #0961 had for the 1st time on the roof the 50x air vents/scoops, 2x 25...
and the 5th #0979 has the trap again...
the following Miurass have 46x air vents/scoops, 2x 23...
what to consider then ?

 

I had the pleasure of seeing this car at the factory museum and it is nothing short of stunning. No doubt my favorite.

 

Perhaps it just needs a proper driving to allow the springs to settle.

 

It is perhaps worth noting that all chassis numbers in the initial series, ending with 0997, had a leading zero...

 

There are two separate subjects here...

1/
The first series ie 0xxx all had leading zeros and comprised four digits. Logic suggests that the second series also had four digits and that the leading zero was not required ie 1xxx. However there may have been a misunderstanding when the Miura numbers were written down since the GT cars continued to have a leading zero ie 01xxx on the chassis plate. Consequently I would be interested to see an image of a second series Miura chassis plate as distinct from the riveted plate.

2/
Both series were allocated to the early Miura. Whether a Miura chassis received a first or second series number is simply a function of time. So indeed the very early cars had first series chassis number with the leading zero but in my view this in itself it does not guarantee it to be a prototype. The Miura Registry suggest that 0509 (0502) was a prototype, that 0706, 0862 and 0961 were pre-production cars and that the first production car was probably 0979. Arguably all the bodies made in the experimental workshop at Bertone were either prototypes or pre-production cars, which perhaps is the point that Alberto is making...

 

1066? i think you mean 1021?

 

Does somebody know the VIN and color name of the Miura S which is displayed at the Bertone collection?

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It looks like the same color on #3234.
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Alberto said "1021 did not come with a riveted plate"...."The earliest car that I have seen that has a riveted chassis plate is 1066 (car #14). The riveted plate for 1066 says 1066."

 

Most likely the Bertone Color of the Alfa Montreal.

 

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Dear Oliver,

Let me first thank you for your unexpected but very pleasing post with subject my beloved Miura S/N 0862. Coming from a connoisseur like you, I take your comments for great compliment!

By the way you teased me with your question regarding the number of prototypes once build by Lamborghini before they launched the production and I can positively answer they made 3 of them!

Let me quote Bob Wallace who once sent a letter to Bill Marriott back in 1983 providing him with some explanations about both Mr Marriott’s own car s/n 0706 and the 3 prototypes.

“Dear Mr. Marriott:

Your Miura P400, serial # 0706, is the second of three hand-built cars from the factory. It is one of two remaining, as the first car was destroyed in an accident in early 1968.

The proportions and lines of the car are completely different from the subsequent cars built on a production basis starting with serial # 0961. The overall dimensions are much smaller. The car is two inches lower and two inches narrower with completely different fender and front and rear hood lines. Numerous points on the body and chassis were revised after these three cars, as the whole method of casting the engine-transmission unit. “


This letter is pretty well known to the aficionados of the make and I must say that Bob’s explanations were pretty accurate although he forgot to mention a major difference between the production cars and the 3 prototypes:

The 3 prototypes were built over short wheelbase chassis and these frames were 2 centimetres shorter than the ones prepared for the production cars!

You can find hereunder expressed in very few words what I consider as the guidelines for the prototypes:


1) All three cars built, assembled and first shown in 1966.

2) All three cars fitted (at first) with engines of the early type running anticlockwise and showing apparent triple-plate clutch arrangement.

3) All three cars built over short wheelbase chassis showing 0.8 inch /2.0 centimetres less than the production cars.


Of course, there were many other specs which made the prototypes different from the following cars but the above-mentioned points make things easy to understand.

For your information and according to my research, a prototype such as S/N 0862 differs by at least 45 points from a production car and many of these differences are of importance!

I hope my explanations helped to put some light on this rather old and unclear debate !

Marc

 

#4425 I believe it was revealed earlier in this thread.

The car was originally "Bianco Miura", clearly dfferent from the color it has today.

 

Kevin is correct...

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Marc,

Your car is just awesome... as Public discovered it last year at Chantilly Concours of Elegance and this is year during all season at Lamborghini SpA Museo, which probably was not a coincidence...

Thank you for the clarification about the 3 prototypes...

I wrote/made a mistake, stating that #0979 has a trap on the roof, which is incorrect, a mistake from my files corrected by now... but clearly #0979 has on the roof the 50x air vents/scoops, 2x 25, like #0961 does...