Miura (P400 / P400 S / P400 SV)

A chassis before a car

Lamborghini's engineers designed the Miura without a brief. Gian Paolo Dallara, Paolo Stanzani and Bob Wallace developed the transverse mid-engine layout as a side project; Ferruccio Lamborghini, whose interest was in refined grand tourers, allowed it to proceed largely because the bare rolling chassis drew crowds at the 1965 Turin show. Bertone clothed it in time for Geneva in 1966, and the finished car overshadowed everything else there.

The transverse V12

The engineering conceit was packaging. By turning the four-litre V12 across the car and casting the gearbox and differential in the same unit, the engineers produced a machine only about 105 cm tall. It also meant engine and transmission initially shared their oil — elegant, and the source of decades of expensive lessons.

Three steps of development

The P400 gave way to the S in 1969 with more power, better brakes and improved trim, and to the SV in 1971 — wider at the rear, shorn of the headlamp 'eyelashes', and on the final cars given a separated oil supply for the gearbox. Production ended in 1973 as the Countach took over, by which point roughly 763 cars had been built.

Reputation, then and now

Contemporary road tests praised the drama and criticised the discipline. Heat, noise, indifferent ventilation and aerodynamic lift at speed were all noted at the time. None of it has dented the car's standing: the Miura is now among the most valuable series-production cars of the post-war era, and the shape is the reason why.

The shared engine and gearbox lubrication on P400 and P400 S cars is the defining mechanical weakness, resolved only on roughly the final 96 SVs. Weber carburettor set-up drifts and causes hard starting and rough running. Corrosion appears in areas difficult to see without dismantling. Brake calipers seize and discs corrode on unused cars, which describes many Miuras. Suspension bushes perish and make the car feel unstable. Wiring is fragile and any electrical fault is labour-intensive to trace. Above all, running costs are exceptional: every significant job requires specialist knowledge and there is no cheap way to own one.

Establish exactly what the car is before anything else: SV specification and genuine SV are different things, and the price gap is enormous. Chassis 4834 to 5113 covers the SV run. Rust hides in places a casual inspection will not reach, and almost every car has been repainted at least once, so paint depth readings and a lift are the minimum. On P400 and S cars, ask specifically how the shared engine and gearbox oil has been managed — metal from the gearbox circulating through the engine is the failure mode that destroys these. Expect some oil consumption between changes; blue smoke is not acceptable. Check for crunching synchros and difficulty selecting gears. Seized calipers and corroded discs are common on cars that have sat. Weber tuning is a specialist art and a badly set-up car runs poorly and starts worse. Budget for a specialist inspection by someone who knows Lamborghini V12s specifically.

The Miura sits firmly in the seven-figure bracket, with SVs the clear top of the market and well-documented cars carrying a very large premium over stories. Provenance work matters more here than on almost any other car of the period, because a meaningful number of Miuras have been rebuilt, re-shelled, or upgraded to a higher specification than they left the factory with — SV-specification P400 S cars are a recognised category in their own right and are described as such by the serious auction houses. Chassis-number research through the marque registers is not optional at this level.