<< Prev Page 3 of 3 Gandini had completed the design in time for the Geneva show, but it was still missing a name. Feruccio Lamborghini was born under the astrological sign of Taurus and always had a fondness for bulls. He decided to name his new car 'Miura' after a Spanish fighting bull. The Miura started the tradition upheld to this day of naming Lamborghinis after bulls. Now with the body and name in place, the Lamborghini Miura P400 was ready to make its debut. Few visitors of the Geneva Motorshow expected the exotic Miura to ever roll off Lamborghini's production line, but Lamborghini was being approached by many potential buyers.
By the end of the year, the Miura production commenced. Amazingly the final examples were almost identical to the initial prototype, underlining the quality of Gandini's design. With 350 bhp available from the transverse V12 engine, the Miura provided unmatched performance figures. Its handling complimented the engine's performance, but was not as predictable as that of its front-engined counterparts. One of its rare flaws was the front lift created at very high speeds. For a company without experience in racing, Lamborghini came remarkably close to producing a race car for the road.
After the Miura launch, Lamborghini continued developing the chassis. Dallara had moved to DeTomaso and was replaced by his former assistant Stanzini as chief engineer. Stanzani's work resulted in two revisions launched in 1969 and 1971, the Miura S and Miura SV respectively. Both versions featured more powerful engines, the SV having 385 bhp. At the end of the production run around 800 examples of the car few expected to be built at all, were completed. In 1974 the Miura was replaced by the Countach, which featured a more conventional longitudinally mounted mid-engine layout. << Prev Page 3 of 3
Ultimatecarpage.com
> Cars by brand
> Italy
> Lamborghini
Miura P400 Roadster
Gandini had completed the design in time for the Geneva show, but it was still missing a name. Feruccio Lamborghini was born under the astrological sign of Taurus and always had a fondness for bulls. He decided to name his new car 'Miura' after a Spanish fighting bull. The Miura started the tradition upheld to this day of naming Lamborghinis after bulls. Now with the body and name in place, the Lamborghini Miura P400 was ready to make its debut. Few visitors of the Geneva Motorshow expected the exotic Miura to ever roll off Lamborghini's production line, but Lamborghini was being approached by many potential buyers.