Miura, the original supercar

I have never understood the flexible chassis concern about the P400. The chassis on my unrestored P400 feels stiffer than my Ferrari 328 GTS. Nobody ever complains about the Ferrari. Agreed neither of them are as stiff as a modern car but perfectly acceptable. I do however believe the Miura is susceptible to rust in the chassis and I believe it greatly effects the stiffness of the Miura chassis. I think corrosion is the main driver of the early Miura reputation of being flexible and I believe the early cars are affected more by it. I don’t doubt the later cars are stiffer, I just don’t believe a solid rust free early car is anywhere near as horrible as people make out. My car is rust free, I have not experienced the flexibility being any different than other cars of that era.

Cheers Jim

 

My Father-in-law owns 4256. Unfortunately he passed away last month. This is the one that was seized by HMRC, it wasn't for drugs.

He always believed it to be a factory made RHD but when some experts came to look a few weeks ago we found out it had been converted very early on, but it's been a RHD for longer than it was a LHD.

It is due to be sold soon, either at auction or via private sale. We have had a few offers but are unsure of the actual value.

I sent this picture to Joe the other day, it's my father-in-laws Countach and I didn't realise I had caught the reflection of the Miura too! (The number plate is going up for sale too!)

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I presume your father in law was Melvyn Farrar? I remember him very well having had dealings with him regarding a Miura when I was 14 years old in 1978 through to 1980. I also remember the Miura he bought.

 

No his name was Mal Bishop, he used to trade in classic cars and has had 15-20,000 cars through his hands over the years. He had three cars in his private collection a Corvette Stingray ZR2 which he's owned since the 70's, a Lamborghini Miura P400S, which sounds like Mel used to own from reading on here and a Lamborghini Countach from 88. He also has some amazing cars through his old business including an El Camino and a Blackhawk Stutz

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Thank you. I was told that Melvyn Farrar of Sheffield, who had owned Miura P400S #4256, died recently. He bought the car around 1978/1979 from the previous owner, Alastair Laurie, who personally converted the car himself from LHD to RHD.

Do you have any pictures of the engine bay, particularly the left hand side?

 

I'll message you

 

Great photos LAM80, thank you for sharing.

 

The Miura is around 14k miles and the Countach is around 6k

 

Any idea if any of the unsolds are still unsold? thanks Nick

 

Spotted in Salzburg yesterday. Any info on this one?

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P400S #4518.

 

Would this be one of the would-be SVJs, responsible for fuzzying the numbers? (Hahne delivery, near-period modification)

 

No. It's not been stated anywhere that #4518 was factory modified, even though the car was said to have been seen at the factory with modified bodywork.

 

Apparently it is a fact that the early Miura chassis warp/twist in the middle. Whether this was rectified by the time the SV was in production I do not know, but we all know that the Miura chassis later used thicker gauge steel and was reinforced with extra bracing as it progressed through production.

 

All chassis in all cars warp and twist when torqued. Modern chassis are stiffer than older chassis. The question is it acceptable. In my personal experience with a rust free late P400 it is perfectly acceptable. I would not expect the thicker metal of the later chassis to make a major difference in the stiffness, but rather a small improvement. However it is my opinion that the Miura chassis is very susceptible to corrosion and that corrosion has a major affect on the chassis stiffness. I think chassis corrosion drove the the reputation of the early cars being unacceptable in their chassis stiffness. The later Miura chassis were clearly stiffer, the changes made also reduced the impact of corrosion on the chassis. The thicker metal bought more time before the chassis corroded through. The addition braces were located where corrosion was minimal. I’m not saying the later cars were not an improvement I am just saying I think the reputation of the early cars is blown out of proportion if you look at a chassis that is not corroded.

Cheers Jim

 

Miura P400S #4256.

George Drummond did post in this thread himself and state that neither of his Miuras were impounded for drugs, or anything else in his 2011 post #9040 here.

 

The first RHD P400 #3198, and 1967 London Motor Show Miura has now been sold. See here.

 

I'm not sure about the drugs, but I was told counterfeit cash. By all accounts Drummond was using quite a lot of money to fund a racing team/project and his father put paid to this and in order to move some counterfeit cash it was hidden in the Miura and moved and this is how HMRC got the car.

Once i've had a look through all the docs then hopefully I can offer the full/real story - this was just the story Mal told me a few months ago.

 

Finally moved the Miura back to the workshop today and thought people may like this

 

Do you remember the name of this film?