• Year of manufacture 
    1968
  • Car type 
    Other
  • Lot number 
    133
  • Reference number 
    VE23_r0053
  • Condition 
    Used
  • Location
    Italy
  • Exterior colour 
    White

Description

  • A late first-generation example of Lamborghini’s game-changing mid-engine supercar
  • The fastest production car in the world at time of launch
  • Famed for its thundering 4.0-litre V-12 engine, factory-rated at 350 horsepower
  • Supplied via Bolognese Lamborghini concessionaire, Italcar Ferretti
  • Finished in Bianco Acrilico over a Gobi interior

Lamborghini caused considerable commotion when it first unveiled the Miura in Turin in 1965. At that point just a rolling chassis of ingenious mid-engine design, what began as an after-hours exercise for Bob Wallace, Paolo Stanzani, and former Ferrari man, Gian Paolo Dallara, had within a year become a reality. Showgoers were both impressed by the firm’s ambition and curious that it seemed poised to go racing. Such was the level of intrigue in the project—a fascinatingly compact marriage of transversely-mounted V-12 engine and five-speed transaxle—that order books began to fill shortly after the show halls opened to the public.

Jaws fully hit the floor the following year in Geneva, when the clever design was paired with arguably the most beautiful bodywork to ever grace a supercar. Low-slung, curvaceous and achingly cool, the Miura P400 became an instant icon thanks in no small part to Marcello Gandini, whose remarkable study paired delicate yet purposeful lines with headlamp surrounds resembling eyelashes and incredible doors that, when open, projected a striking silhouette of a raging bull’s horns. Excitement only grew once the prototype, finished just days before going on display at the 1966 Geneva Motor Show, was driven by Bob Wallace flat-out from Sant’Agata to the Monaco Grand Prix just a few weeks later.

While the Miura would enjoy a number of revisions throughout its life, it was the P400 model that cemented its reputation as the world’s wildest and most advanced supercar. Clothed in aluminium bodywork unlike anything seen before, the Miura was both beautiful and technologically advanced, with four-wheel independent suspension, disc brakes at each corner, and a thunderous 350-horsepower version of the 400 GT’s four-litre V-12 engine. Endowed with truly spine-tingling performance, the P400 was capable of reaching 100 km/h in just 5.5-seconds and of romping to a top speed of 288 km/h.

Chassis 3691 is a beautiful example of a late first-generation Miura P400, tastefully specified in Bianco Acrilico with a complementary Gobi interior. A home market example assigned production number 257, the Miura was delivered to its first owner on 12 August 1968 via Bolognese Lamborghini concessionaire, Italcar Ferretti. The car is believed to have remained in Italy until 2012, when it was acquired by the consignor. In June 2014, a restoration was commissioned at Marchesi & C. S.r.l of Modena, as detailed in an accompanying invoice amounting to €34,160. In 2019, Società Carrozzai Nonantola S.r.l was engaged to paint and assemble the car at a cost of €30,000.

Presenting today in restored condition and in its factory-correct colour scheme, this attractive Lamborghini Miura P400 is a fine example of perhaps the world’s first true supercar.
To view this car and others currently consigned to this auction, please visit the RM website at rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/ve23.


RM Sotheby's
5 Heron Square
Richmond
TW9 1EL
United Kingdom
Contact Person Kontaktperson
Title 
Mr
First name 
Augustin
Last name 
Sabatie-Garat

Phone 
+44-2078517070