Miura shades of red and orange

Most definitely not an expert, but I do have some answers from you based on my own research.

The question is not an easy one to answer, because the factory referred to some colors by many different names. Take "Rosso Miura" for example, which was also referred to as "Rosso" or "Rosso/Arancio" by the factory and in some records. It is a reddish/orange color. Then there was a different color, "Arancio," which was just orange, but was written as "Rosso" for some earlier cars in the records, for reasons unknown. But, it was definitely just Arancio or orange because we know, from period photos and records, that these cars were in fact Arancio (a name which does not appear in the records until much later).

Rosso Miura is indeed reddish orange.

Then there is Alfa Red and some other reds that were used which were bright red.

I think Arancio and Arancio Miura are not the same.

I think Rosso, Rosso Miura, Rosso Arancio and Arancio Miura are the same.

Hope this helps. After re-reading my response, I think it may make matters more confusing. That would be appropriate though, given the nature of Italian record keeping at the time.

One good thing to do is cross-reference the build sheet references in Joe Sackey's book with the photos of original cars on the Miura Registry. That will help to answer some of your questions.

For what it's worth, Simon Kidston's upcoming Miura book is supposed to speak authoritatively as to this issue. It should be released later this year. Cheers!

 

People always want a definitive answer, but sometimes there isn't one.

That said, reading your post, I think you are on the right track.

When we restored our Miura SV 4884, we discovered that Bertone had @ 17 different shades of red that they could have used circa 1971!

As has been posted before, PPG paints in Milan would mix a color for a manufacturer and give it a name, and then, they would market the exact same paint to another manufacturer using a different name.

Paint during the era of the Miura wasn't an exact science, and sometimes the best representative of the car's color is traces of original paint found in crevices and under seals such as the windshield. The 17 shades of red be damned, in the end, using traces of original paint is how we made an exact paint match with Miura SV 4884, and that's what we did with the Mimran Countach Downdraft GLA12997, the car speaks the truth if you know where to look. I know some the best restorers of these cars often do it this way.

Hope this helps.

 

IMO you are an expert.

 

Again, I think you have a good grasp of what transpired, just remember, in that era, paint names were loosely applied!