Everybody knows the Lamborghini Miura, arguably the world’s first proper supercar, but how about the story behind it?
Our favorite storyteller Harry Metcalfe got his hands on a lovely lime green Miura S and decided to share some little known information about how Ferruccio Lamborghini greenlighted the project and kickstarted his car company as the world knows it today.
In 1965, Ferruccio tasked his top three engineers -Gian Paolo Dallara, Paolo Stanzani and Bob Wallace- to develop a mid-engined race car for the road. All three of them were under 25 at the time and they had some pretty crazy ideas of what the Miura could be like.
The first idea was to build a three-seater mid-engined car with the driver sitting in the middle and the V12 mounted longitudinally. Does this setup ring any bells? The problem they faced though was packaging, as the car would end up being too long for the road. So they looked at what Mini did and decided to mount the V12 sideways instead.
Problem was that they didn’t really know how to do it but Lamborghini himself loved the idea and ordered a concept to be displayed in 1966 with Gandini responsible for the design. The car was an instant hit and Lamborghini started taking deposits and put it into production before it was actually ready.
Lamborghini instead developed the Miura as it was in production, which sounds bonkers for the industry’s current standards. Harry Metcalfe shares more interesting facts and background on the iconic Miura on the video that follows.