1968 Lamborghini

This 1968 Lamborghini Miura is one of approximately 750 total examples built between 1966 and 1973, and is an early P400 model. Chassis 3357 was completed on March 6, 1968 and sold new in Italy, and reportedly spent time with a longterm owner in California before being acquired by marque specialist Bobileff Motorcar Company in 2014. The current owner purchased the car from Bobileff and commissioned a two-year restoration which included repainting the Bertone-styled aluminum body in Verde Miura, re-trimming the interior in blue leather, and rebuilding the original 3.9L quad-cam V12. An updated split-sump lubrication system was added during the restoration and provides separate oil feeds for the engine and five-speed manual transaxle, which has been rebuilt as well. The car has been shown several times since the work was completed, and won awards at the 2016 Concorso Italiano and 2019 Vancouver Concours d’Elegance. It also earned invitations to the Miura’s 50th anniversary at The Quail in 2016 and to the 2018 Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance. This Miura P400 is now offered on dealer consignment in Victoria, British Columbia with a driver’s handbook, photos from the restoration, service invoices from current ownership, awards from show participation, and British Columbia registration. The Miura was developed by Lamborghini engineers Gian Paolo Dallara, Paolo Stanzini, and Bob Wallace, and was first introduced as a bare chassis at the 1965 Turin Motor Show. Bertone’s Marcello Gandini was then tasked with styling the bodywork, and the resulting P400 GT prototype was driven by Nuccio Bertone to its debut at the 1966 Geneva Motor Show. Named after a line of Spanish fighting bulls, the Miura featured a steel box-section frame that was perforated for lightness and wrapped in aluminum front and rear body sections. Chassis 3357 originally left the factory finished in Bianco, and was repainted in red during previous ownership. Restoration work performed by Bobileff included stripping the body to bare metal and welding in new aluminum around the headlight openings, lower valence, and front hood badge. Areas of the chassis were also repaired and strengthened, as pictured in the gallery below. The exterior was then repainted in its current shade of lime green. The front hood was repainted again in July 2019 by Coachwerks Restoration of Victoria, British Columbia, who was enlisted by the current owner to maintain and freshen the car as needed following its completion of 2,500 miles of driving to participate in the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance in 2018. Closeups of the finish, trim, and lenses are presented in the photo gallery. Campagnolo 15” alloy wheels incorporate ducting designed to draw air away from the brakes, and are secured by three-eared knock-offs. Michelin XWX tires are mounted, including on a matching spare housed in the front compartment. The Miura’s exterior design includes louvred intake vents integrated into the rear edges of the doors, as well as intakes on the sills for brake cooling and louvers over the engine bay. Headlights are electrically raised along with their eyelash surrounds, and the headlight motors were repaired and adjusted by Coachwerks in July 2019. During the restoration Bobileff reupholstered the bucket seats, console, dash, and door panels in Bleu leather, which was the original color according to copies of handwritten Bertone records attached in the gallery below. Gray carpeting lines the footwells, sills, and bulkhead. The latter is also trimmed in blue leather, and a window separates occupants from the engine bay. A set of gray herringbone Coco mats has been added by the current owner. The Miura’s rear trunk allowed for 5.1 cubic feet of storage space behind the engine. The wood-rimmed steering wheel features a raging-bull horn pad and frames twin dash pods housing a 200-mph speedometer and a 10k-rpm tachometer. The five-digit odometer shows 29k miles and was repaired in 2019. Additional Jaeger instrumentation is arranged in the center dash and includes gauges for coolant temperature, oil temperature, oil pressure, fuel level, and amperage, as well as a clock that was rebuilt in 2018. The 3.9-liter V12 is mounted transversely ahead of the rear wheels and features an aluminum block and cylinder heads, along with dual overhead camshafts for each cylinder bank. Induction is through four triple-choke Weber 40 IDL 3C carburetors fed by an electric Bendix fuel pump, while the ignition system incorporates two Marelli distributors and dual Bosch coils. The original lubrication system fed both the engine and transaxle, but this car has been modified with a split-sump system similar to the one introduced on later Miuras. Number 1702 is stamped on the engine block and matches the engine number on the chassis tag, which is shown in the gallery below. Braking is from Girling hydraulic discs all around, and the four-wheel independent suspension system consists of unequal-length A-arms with coil springs, tubular shock absorbers, and anti-roll bars at front and rear. Additional underside images are provided in the gallery below. Images from the restoration carried out by Bobileff can be seen in the gallery below. The interior was trimmed in tan leather prior to the restoration by Bobileff, as visible in the photo above. The car’s entry in The Lamborghini Miura Bible and the Miura Register indicate an original trim color of Senape, though Bertone records were more recently supplied to the current owner by a historian and note “bleu” as the trim color. The car is shown above participating in the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance in 2018, and additional images from the event are provided in the gallery. Trophies included in the sale are for Best Interior Miura at the 2016 Concorso Italiano and for first place in the European Post-War Sports category at the 2019 Vancouver Concours d’Elegance. Also included and shown in the gallery are awards commemorating the car’s participation in the Tour d’Elegance as well as the 2016 Quail Motorsports Gathering celebration of the Miura’s 50th anniversary. Videos below include driving footage and a walk around with additional information about the car.