Sold 1967 Lamborghini Miura P400

Cool story, many years ago Jay Leno purchased a group of cars from someone and a non-running Miura came free!

 

Leno has Dean Martin's Miura too.
There were 2 in the garage when I went.

I cannot recall which is which.
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The yellow P400 is Dean Martin's son's car, he drove it to high school!

The orange car is a P400S.

 

Following the auction of our Enzo https://www.sackeyandco.com/ the Miura https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/1967-lamborghini-miura-p400.652172/ goes Live next week Monday the 20th.

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I watched a great video by Tyrrell's Classic Workshop about Miura's. He talked about the 0.9mm chassis then going to 1.0mm. Learning about the team that made Lamborghini is always a treat. I personally love all Miura's but the early ones I like just a bit more. Same with the early Countach examples. Same with the early Murcielagos. The early versions of each model are so pure. Of course I love ALL Lamborghinis!

If anyone wants to watch an interesting video here you go.

 

A couple more of the ex-Briggs Cunningham 3249.

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During it's full restoration the ex-Briggs Cunningham 3249 received a few mechanical upgrades:

The engine was rebuilt with the sump split to SV spec.

Gussets were welded onto the front frame members to increase chassis strength and impede frontal flexing of the chassis to S & SV spec.

Additional welding was made to the chassis to strengthen it to S spec.

An aluminum fuel tank was installed with a new fuel sender to operate the gauge, and a fuel return system was installed.

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When I restored 3249, not only did the S style gussets get welded in, but the entire chassis was stiffened, which makes the chassis immensely strong, as compared to any Miura, including SV models. None of these structural modifications are visible, when viewed or compared to a regular P400. The car can be jacked up on any corner, and the doors open and close perfectly, because of it's strength and rigidity , unlike a regular P400.
Gary Bobileff

 

3249 has a thin chassis with steel of 0.9 mm gauge whereas later P400, P400S and P400SV have steel of 1.0 mm gauge. I'm not knocking the car but it can't be quite as stiff as a late P400S that has the extra bracing or a P400SV due to it having a thinner 0.9 mm gauge steel chassis.

Or is it a myth that the first 125 Miura chassis are 0.9 mm gauge steel?

 

Thank you for elaborating on this.

It might be as stiff because there's less weight to support, either way it's better than a standard P400 without the gussets.

 

The early cars are only lighter because of the thinner gauge steel chassis and the absence of the extra chassis bracing that didn't start until the later P400S which was not present on the earlier P400S.

 

Let's assume that's correct, still, as Gary points out, the gussets welded in to stiffen the chassis is an excellent improvement for driving.

 

Miura 3249 goes Live tomorrow morning, Monday December 20th for online auction at https://www.sackeyandco.com/

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Agreed, but not original or correct for an early thin chassis P400 as neither is the later SV like split sump.

 

True, but they're all improvements suggested by factory development engineer Bob Wallace for the P400 and often sought after and regarded as an upgrade by those who wish to use the cars on the road, which is the same reason the Lamborghini factory went on to implement them in the later variants.

 

Polo Storico removed the SV chassis upgrades on the ex Rod Stewart P400S #4863 to make it as original when they restored it, although being a late P400S it would have already had much of the extra chassis gusseting and steel of 1.0 mm gauge as original.

 

Well, truth be told, every early Miura that i have restored with a " 0.9mm" chassis has in actuality been 0.028", or equivalency to 0.7mm. This has been measured out in many Miura's. The only area where 0.8mm was used were the lower front frame rails only. 3249's chassis presently uses 0.042" or the equivalency of 1.08mm.
Secondly, in all Miura's produced, the welding technique is referred to a stitch welding, which in the earlier cars are welded approximately 1", skip 3 inches, weld another inch, so on and so forth. Later cars had a bit more welding, where as the 3" lack of weld has been reduced down to about 2" to 2.5" for more strength. At Bobileff Motorcar, we continuous welded up the entire chassis. So, the ultimate outcome is an extremely stiff chassis, so when the car is driven hard on twisty roads, the driven can really feel the difference of a rigid chassis. Some may feel that this is sacrilege, when it comes to the chassis and adding a split sump and other enhancements to early Miura's, but in reality, these are all safety improvements which should have been included on every Miura since inception. Case in point, if you were a Miura owner, how would you like to know that every time you drive your car, it might catch fire, burn to the ground, and you may be injured as well. I add fuel system modifications on every car to prevent this. So, are these car saving modifications good or bad? They may not be original, but if they are nearly undetectable, and save your car from Miura death, would you hesitate installing these preventative items all for the cause of "originality"? I feel it is necessary, you may differ, as that is your right to your opinion. So, I strongly disagree with the comment above that states that #3249 can not be as stiff as a S or SV model.
Gary Bobileff

 

To add to this, I can only imagine that anyone who wants to actually use a Miura in today's world is not too concerned about what was "correct" for 1967 under-the-skin, and desires or appreciates the aforementioned functional upgrades that make the car safer, more reliable, and more enjoyable.

 

Bidding is underway on the Miura with 5 bids so far and 10 days to go.https://www.sackeyandco.com/

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i believe these are the original style seat belts that miuras had.
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Our 1967 P400 3249 would have been delivered without seatbelts as they weren't mandatory yet, the parts book makes no mention of them (below) and a few original cars survive without them (also below).

However, they were obviously added in many cars over the years, the brand I have seen the most often is Britax, Klippan and on some occasions Irvin.

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Of particular note is the fact that this Miura was delivered new to Briggs Cunningham in California, spent the majority of it's early years here, was restored here, and has never been outside the USA yet.