Miura, the original supercar

In May this year i had the chance to see #0862 at the factory. What a stunning example... Many congrats Marc!

I took the photo to see the mechansim of the trap, but unfortunately the glass was too dusty.
Interestingly all 3 prototyps had the inner frame painted in the exterior color.

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a 24, post: 145689661, member:

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Thanks for your question.

I take it as a positive comment as it's always possible to perfect little details on any car.

In the present case, the fact 0862 seems to sit high in the rear as seen on the image taken at the museum and posted by Olivier, comes from the reflection of light out of the flashes against the tires. This and the angle choosen did hide part of the top of each tires!

Remember, the early cars were originally fitted with Pirelli CN 72 in 205 VR 15 while nowadays most Miura P400 and P400s are equipped with Michelin 205/70 VR 15. Michelin tires show an overall diameter of 669mm versus 707mm for the original tires by Pirelli.

When it comes to ground clearance, the fact a car like 0862 may look sitting too high versus most Miuras comes to the fact that people in general are now accustomed to see these cars fitted with low (er) profile tires.

The devil often hides in the details !

This is my opinion that all P400 and P 400s look better when fitted with their original tires, IMOH!

Remember when a car is designed, the designer takes the diameter of the wheel in consideration and reduce it makes a huge change
in the overall look of any car!

Have a look between the two pictures above, one shows 0862 in 1966 with the other right after its win at Chantilly in 2016 !
Not very different in truth !

Marc

P.S: take in consideration the two fotos above were not taken with the exact same angles

 

Attached two articles about #862.

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Having owned a number of Miuras in my lifetime, I'll hold to the opinion that there were, in fact, 741 prototypes.

 

This is hilarious. I agree with this statement 100%. I have seen so many so-called "prototype" cars that I lost count around 6-7.

 

Interesting answer...but not very accurate !!!

At Bertone, they prepared a built sheet for each every prototype they built up !

Production cars were just listed with both body and interior colours (leather or skaï) and some other (little)détails specified on each car .

For example, there were as many as 6 Alfas Montreal built at the riparto prototipi, with some gifted to Alfa-Romeo
and some others invoiced to the manufacturer. Some were complete cars and some were delivered as shells only!

Other example, there were 4 Alfa Sprint 2000 coupes(1960) prepared before the production run was launched.

Speaking about Miuras, there were only 3 prototypes ever built with the 4th car being the first production Miura !!!

That's it , it's a matter of fact and I guess you'll soon discover that kind of documented information in some books to be released
in 2018!

By the way, I love the books of Simon Moore explaining and documenting in details the life of most Alfa-Romeo 8Cs.
Simon spent his all life researching about his beloved Alfas and the good thing with him is, when he doesn't know about something
he just says: I know nothing about....or this is my guess but never "I know" when he can't prove it!


In my opinion, that's the way to behave for all of us (including myself) if one pretends to be a specialist and that's why
speaking about the number of prototypes once built at Bertone I can tell:

I know !

Marc

 

I'd venture to say that the original first 300 Miura buyers were akin to "Beta testers" of the model.

There's a reason few owners have ever restored a Miura to precise factory stock for the given serial number, including myself. More typically, anywhere from a little to * A LOT * of upgrades go into the restoration, depending on the chassis build date -- "Some chassis bracing here; a little engineering there; add a few lubrication points over on this part; additional suspension components on that part" and so forth. It's currently just accepted that the earlier cars receive most of the late car modifications, plus a few upgrades that the factory never got around to introducing.

The Miura is such a hauntingly excellent and refreshing design exercise, but just based on my experience with my cars, I feel the model could have used a few more actual "prototypes" worth of engineering design to fix some pretty basic shortcomings, some of which ended up in enduring through the entire production cycle. Thankfully, they look so good just standing still.

 

[QUOTE="joe sackey, post: 145697068, I have stated the proverbial "I don't know" here @ Ferrarichat many many times, We are all always learning.[/QUOTE]



I have stated the proverbial "I don't know" here @ Ferrarichat many many times



Speaking about the fact the ID plate of 0862 was placed on the frame side-member

Joe Sackey May 9 2015

Bill Marriott's 0706 (the most valuable of all the prototypes as the only original remaining example) does not have the chassis ID plate on the frame side-member, neither does Steve M's 0979.

Joe Sackey May 9 2015

Yes of course, 0706's welded chassis ID plate exists in the traditional place on the frame member fore of the battery. The same is true of Prototipo (It’s not a prototype. MC ) 0979, and I will get a couple images of it next time I'm with Steve

Corsalfa May 9, 2015

The question why the ID plate location was moved from a side to a front position before any delivery of any very (very)early car ever happened is quite easy to solve as Lamborghini had to issue some official documentation in order to have their cars newly homologated in any country. At the beginning of the official model production and for their own convenience they decided to have the ID plates located on the front upper frame-rail and so they wrote on the official documentation. Therefore and before any car would leave Sant'Agata in order to be newly registered, they unwelded/welded the original ID plates of a handful of their very, very early cars and relocated them above the front rail.

Joe Sackey May 9, 2015

the ID-plate placement fact about 0T706, and some of the other prototypes is actually well-known to many people.

Joe,

Your answer here was no less than most pathetic and you would have been well inspired to answer “Thank you, I didn’t know”!

I understand you’ve learned a great deal since that time hence the reason I'm sure you'll help me not to make any further commentaries of that kind in the future!

Please consider some people are just more knowledgeable than you are about some very precise subjects even though you’re in my opinion very knowledgeable about most subjects discussed here in the Lamborghini chat!


to quote you: We are all always Learning.

Bests,
Marc

 

here is the Miura Off Shore offered for sale at 2016 RM Milano sale... now in the hands of a top collector in France...


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I read in Autocar today that Gian Paolo Dallara recently bought his first Miura. He said he couldn't afford one when working for Lamborghini. It's currently being restored by Lamborghini Polo Storico and will be ready soon. Does anyone here know which Miura or version it is?

 

Thanks, Joe.

 

Dallara wanted an early car.

Chassis number was in original link you posted along with body number 68 and engine 1400. Thanks for posting the pictures. Have you witnessed the standard of the restorations by Lamborghini Polo Storico? If so what do you think?

 

How cool is that?!

 

Just in case anyone is confused by the various identification numbers, their locations and the nomenclature:

The ID plate [ the riveted plate], adjacent to the fuel pump, provides a summary of the three essential numbers that are also stamped separately on the three major components.
The chassis number. The actual chassis number is located on the front cross member.
The engine number. The actual engine number is located on the top of the block between the V
The body number, [shown on the ID plate as 'type" xxx]. The actual body number is located on the top edge of the front bulkhead and also on the various body components.