Lamborghini Miura turns 60
Yesterday, 10 March, marked 60 years since the Geneva motor show witnessed the moment that rewired the automotive world. A young and hungry Automobili Lamborghini pushed the Miura into the spotlight, and what appeared was not merely another sports car. It was the world’s first true supercar.
The Miura was not born from market research or committee thinking. It came from passion, nerve and a certain kind of youthful insolence. Engineers Gian Paolo Dallara and Paolo Stanzani built its chassis in secret after hours, chasing the dream of putting racing technology onto an ordinary road, though there was nothing ordinary about the result.
A revolution mounted behind the seats
The Miura’s biggest technical shock lay in its engine layout. Rather than stuffing a vast 3.9 litre V12 under the bonnet, Lamborghini placed it behind the cabin, mounted transversely. That sort of architecture had previously belonged to racing cars, not road going exotica, and it gave the Miura both its impossibly low silhouette and its beautifully balanced stance.
Yet the mechanical ingenuity was only half the seduction. The body, designed by Marcello Gandini at Bertone, looked almost surreal by the standards of the day. At just 105 centimetres tall, it crouched like a predator waiting to pounce. The famous eyelashed headlamps and the black slats over the rear window became instant style signatures, and half a century later they still look wonderfully self assured.
Three evolutions, one legend
Over seven years of production, from 1966 to 1973, the Miura evolved from raw provocation into something closer to polished perfection.
The original P400, launched in 1966, produced 257 kW, or 350 hp. It reached 280 km/h and covered 0 to 100 km/h in 6.7 seconds. At the time, it cost about 7.7 million lire (€4,000).
The P400 S followed in 1968 with 272 kW, or 370 hp. Top speed remained 280 km/h, but the sprint to 100 km/h dropped to 6.4 seconds. Its price rose slightly to around 7.8 million lire (€4,100).
By 1971, the P400 SV had become the most coveted version of all. It delivered 283 kW, or 385 hp, reached 290 km/h and cut the 0 to 100 km/h run to 5.5 seconds. It also cost more, at roughly 8.6 million lire (€4,500). Those euro figures are simple conversions from period lire, without inflation, which says more about historical scale than modern value.
The SV, short for Super Veloce, remains the connoisseur’s choice. Lamborghini removed the eyelashes around the headlamps, widened the rear track for better grip and, more importantly, separated the lubrication systems for the engine and gearbox. That last detail sounds dry until you realise what it prevented, gearbox metal particles circulating through an expensive and delicate V12.
Birthday celebrations on Italian roads
The anniversary celebrations will reach their peak from 6 to 10 May with the Lamborghini Polo Storico Tour, an exclusive drive through northern Italy open only to authentic Miuras from around the world. Which feels entirely right. The Miura was never a car meant to sit still for long.
Sixty years on, it still does not look like an old masterpiece. It looks like the moment the supercar first understood what it could become.
