It all started with an argument between a simple farmer turned tractor manufacturer named Ferruccio Lamborghini, and the high priest of performance cars, Enzo Ferrari. Lamborghini was a successful businessman and car collector, who owned cars from Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Mercedes, and eventually Ferrari.
He purchased his first Ferrari in 1958, but was unhappy with both the interior and the clutch. In his opinion, Ferrari built track cars that were modified for the street, and he became especially annoyed at the amount of time the car required for service. Being the type of person he was, Lamborghini brought his complaints direct to Enzo Ferrari, who arrogantly informed him that the problem was with the driver, not the car, and that as a tractor manufacturer, Lamborghini, didn’t understand real engineering.
That, according to legend, was when Lamborghini decided to build cars, and more specifically, cars that were better than Ferrari. The company started by creating Bizzarrini designed Grand Tourers, which were a hit with the critics, but slow sellers in the showroom. Eventually, the designers created a new car, working nights, against Lamborghini’s wishes. The car they designed was a 2 seat, longitudinally mounted mid-engined car, using a new V12 that merged the engine, transmission and differential. This design started the trend in high performance sports cars, and became the father of the modern day supercar.
The Lamborghini Miura is still astonishing, and the Marcello Gandini body is as beautiful a piece of sculpture as anything created by Rodin or Bernini. Unfortunately, the car also had its faults, including a front end which housed the gas tank, that made the car go light as the gas was consumed. However, the Miura was radically different from anything else on the roads, and its pantomime shape and colors would draw crowds everywhere it went.
The Miura was stunning, right down to its eyelashes, a design cue that hid small vents for the brakes. Named for a style of bullfighting, the car was low and sleek, with the horns of a bull being a prominent feature when both doors were opened. Wholly impractical, but utterly fascinating, the car is a true work of art.
Long before pictures of the Countach graced every boy’s bedroom, this car was the sexiest thing in the decade of free love and bohemian hipness. This autumn, the Miura will celebrate 45 years since the unveiling of it chassis, and 44 years since its production, and yet it still remains one of the most collectable supercars ever made. For me, this is the ultimate Lamborghini, a car that defined the company, and a car that started my love of European exotics.
