FERRUCIO LAMBORGHINI
LAMBORGHINI MIURA
by David Gidman
In the latest part of the Lamborghini story, following on from the last issue, 1964 was
an extraordinary year for Lamborghini, but it was 1965/1966 which really cemented
Lamborghini’s place in the history books.
At the 1965 Turin Auto Show, Ferrucio Lamborghini presented a seemingly
extravagant chassis which was destined to have a profound impact on the history of
Lamborghini and ultimately on the entire automotive industry. The design of this
chassis can be traced back to the enormous enthusiasm of the two young engineers
hired by Ferrucio to head the technical research department of his factory. Dallara
and Stanzani were both relatively young, very passionate and extremely enthusiastic.
Ferrucio placed his trust in them by putting them at the head of this new and
extraordinary operation and it quickly spawned new and more advanced ideas in the
minds of the two engineers. These ideas were based on the state of the art race cars
during this period, namely the two-seater sports cars. The concept of the two young
engineers from Bologna was to put a barely tamed version of a full-fledged race car
on the road, rather than a reinterpretation of the classic traditional GT.
Their first project was provisionally codenamed 400 TP, this had the 4-litre 12
cylinder engine from the 400 GT transversely mounted behind the cockpit. The story
goes that when Ferrucio saw the project for the first time he immediately approved
it. This shocked the two very surprised designers, who certainly didn’t dare dream of
such a happy ending to their radical proposal. For once, however, Ferrucio was wrong
in his prediction: he declared that a car like this should be built because it would be
good advertising for Lamborghini, even though it would clearly never sell more than
fifty worldwide! Hey, even the best people make mistakes.
One person who believed in that chassis, and above all in Lamborghini’s vision was
Nuccio Bertone. The Turin based coach-builder was an expert on cars and engines,
and as soon as he saw the chassis he approached Ferrucio and said, “I’m the one
who can make the shoe to fit your foot”. The two shook hands, and this marked the
beginning of an extraordinary adventure. It was left to Marcello Gandini to interpret
Bertone’s ideas, creating a unique and sensational body for the Bologna-built chassis,
something that – in its blend of aggressiveness, elegance, originality and class – was
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to prove unrepeatable: the Miura was born. Work to ready the Miura immediately
proceeded at an astonishing pace. Marcello Gandini later recalled in an interview
that from October to February, everyone worked around the clock, seven days a
week, like complete madmen. The most important event of the year was coming up
and no one wanted to miss this opportunity to present this new ground breaking
model at the 1966 Geneva Motor Show. The team then performed a miracle. The
chassis which was presented as a completely experimental prototype in the autumn
of 1965 at the Turin Auto Show had become the most stunning and iconic road car
in the world – in just four months. As had happened three years earlier at the debut
of the 350GTV, an ill-fitting engine meant the prototype’s engine bay was filled with
ballast, and the hood kept locked. Sales head Sgarzi was forced to turn away members
of the motoring press who wanted to see the P400’s power plant. Despite this setback,
the car was the highlight of the show, immediately boosting Marcello Gandini’s
reputation. The Miura’s layout and styling would become the industry standard for
mid-engine two-seat high-performance sports cars that still continues to this very
day.
Enthusiasm for the Miura was extremely high and in a sensational coup, Ferrucio
managed to raise it even higher by taking the Miura to the Monte Carlo Grand Prix,
the most exciting weekend for sports car enthusiasts and in particular for top-level
Italian ones. The orange Miura he parked in front of the Hotel de Paris that Saturday
afternoon attracted that many admirers that they completely jammed the square in
front of the Casino, generating even more enthusiasm, interest and orders. It was,
quite simply, a runaway success.
Lamborghini now had a model range that positioned the fledgling automaker as
a leader in the world of supercars. By end of 1966, the workforce at the Sant’Agata
factory had expanded to 300, and enough deposits had been placed by prospective
buyers to begin final development on the Miura in 1967. The first four cars produced
were kept at the factory, where Bob Wallace continued to improve and refine the car.
The earliest Miura (P400) was powered by a version of the 3.9 Litre Lamborghini
V12 engine used in the 400GT at the time. The engine was mounted transversely
and produced 345 hp. Exactly 275 P400 were produced between 1966 and 1969 – a
success for Lamborghini despite its then-steep price of $20,000. That’s equivalent
to $151,097 in 2017. Taking a cue from the Austin Mini, Lamborghini formed the