Miura, the original supercar

Correct, @ 10 years ago we sold it from Ron Edwards to a Silicon Valley California gentleman, and sold Ron a Ferrari F40 to replace it which he still has.

 

Indeed things are not always as they seem on the internet

 

Miura SV 5092 and a smiling man

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Our former 5064 imaged the other day, looking as good as when we sold it 15 years ago

This Miura SV is the last one brought in by USA Lamborghini concessionaire Alberto Pedretti's Modena Racing Car Co. of New York.

New to ex-WWII pilot George Rosen of White Plains, Rosen registered the car on New York plates and used it extensively, including on business trips to Florida, Missouri, Minnesota and Nevada, often seeing 165 mph on the dial along the way by his recount, of course you could do that in the mid-70s! By 1975 when the car was just 3 years old, he had already logged up over 32,000 miles.

This is the first Lamborghini I did a total restoration to @ 18 years ago.

I wanted to mention that Bobby Wallace built an amazing post-production engine for this car, with the following items on the invoice:

• Jota spec deeper sump
• Sump baffle modifications to counteract oil surge
• Teflon transmission isolating seal
• Separate transfer gear oilers
• Lightened reduction gears with reinforced pins
• Modified oil intake guides with Teflon seals
• A/C condenser changed to rotary type and relocated to the front of car by radiator
• Full-flow oil radiator located in A/C condenser prior location
• All wiring and cables near the engine sheathed in aircraft-spec thermal insulation
• Ignition replaced with breakerless electronic ignition
• Chassis seam-welded and reinforcing gusseting added
• Gas tank base sheathed in fiberglass to prevent corrosion

For some strange reason (the last time I ever did that) I deviated from the car's original factory color scheme and decided to restore the car in Verde Chiaro (PPG 2.465.070) and Pelle Bleu Le Mans leather. Of course this trippy period color drew crowds whenever the car was at standstill and exuberant responses from appreciative motorists on the road in our beachside town, but it wasn't original. After the complete restoration, it was not pampered, I drove this car multiple times a week. The highlight of it's post-restoration was a Lamborghini Club weekend that covered 600 miles of fairly hard driving along the California Coast that included keeping up with a few surprised Diablos at @ 130 mph

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Excellent picture Walter!

Interestingly, the house is Max Palevsky's, but the Miura is not, Palevsky never owned a Miura (although he was named on the Forbes 400 list of wealthiest Americans). This Miura belonged to his architect Craig Ellwood, who had it California-registered VRRRM or similar, all of which I'm saying from my faded memory, I'll check my archives and perhaps the chassis number will reveal itself, a Bob Estes delivered P400 if I remember correctly.

 

I came across this interesting image today.

Going back to when I met Bob Wallace in 2000 for the purposes of his rebuilding my Miura SV 4870 engine, the third and final encounter I had with him was to collect my newly-rebuilt engine. I owned him nothing as I had already sent the money in advance.

I looked the engine over and it looked the part, we chatted a little, and then I inquired of one final item, something he owed me.

He hefted the old scoured and heat-compromised original crankshaft on to his bench, ran his hands over it, and looked me dead in the eye with a typically serious expression and uttered just one word: "Junk".

I looked at him and smiled without saying anything, of course I wanted it back as part of the car's provenance and proof that a new crankshaft had been laid. He continued to run his hands over the piece almost lovingly, and then after a long silence and a long drag on his cigarette, he said: "I would cut that thing in half if I were you", that advice aimed at encouraging me to do my duty by making sure it never went into another engine with disastrous consequences.

It'll never go in another engine

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That's the one!

The 41st Miura built, to Bob Estes @ July 19th 1967, to Robert Miles Runyan a noted graphic designer famous for creating the Star Wars logo and the Los Angeles Olympic Games logo, to Craig Ellwood, noted modernist architect.

 

Thanks John.

Correct.

 

I'm not sure if he sourced his cranks from Lamborghini, but they were milled to Bob Wallace's exacting specs, IIRC he used a machining company called Moldex Crankshaft Co.