Model featured:

Lamborghini Miura

The Miura adopted a mid-engined layout that had been used successfully in competition, including by the Ford GT40 and Ferrari 250 LM at Le Mans.

De Tomaso had produced a road car with this layout, the Vallelunga, but otherwise cars designed for the road were almost uniformly front-engined, rear drive vehicles. The Miura was a trendsetter, the one that made the mid-engined layout de rigueur among two-seater high performance supercars. It is named after the Spanish ranch Miura, whose bulls have a proverbial attack instinct.

Inspired by the Ford GT40, the Miura astonished showgoers at the 1965 Turin motor show where only the chassis was shown, with multiple orders being placed despite the lack of an actual body. Later, Marcello Gandini from Bertone, who would later go on to design almost all of Lamborghini's cars, was chosen to design the body.

Both body and chassis were launched five months later at the 1966 Geneva show. It was a sensation, with its flamboyant bodywork and unusual engine and clam-shell opening hoods on both the front and rear of the car. There was a small boot located in the very rear of the tail behind the engine.

Early Miuras were notorious for being a fire hazard (as witnessed in the opening sequences of the original "Italian Job'!). The problem was caused by Lamborghini's decision to use Weber 40 IDL 3C1 carburettors which were designed exclusively for racing applications and weren't suitable for road use.

The problem occurred when the car sat idling (e.g. at a stoplight), the area above the throttles filled with fuel which often ignited when the car accelerated away from the stop. One of Lamborghini's engineers devised a modification for the carburettors which created a fuel-return.

Ferrari, who used these same carburettors in one of their cars, and suffered the same problems, were able to use Lamborghini's modification to solve it.

Some other interesting details: the position of the fuel tank is at the front causing the vehicle to have less weight at the front as the fuel tank gets lighter (closer to empty), thus making the car more difficult to handle at 150+ MPH. Another detail is that the doors resemble a bull's horns when it is opened wide (Lamborghini's logo itself depicts a raging bull).

In 2004, Sports Car International named this car number four on both the list of Top Sports Cars of the 1960s and Top Sports Cars of the 1970s. The car was ranked number four on the list of the Top Sports Car of All Time.

Performance

1. power: 385bhp
2. top speed: 300km/h | 188mph
3. 0-100 kmh: 6.1 seconds

Engine

1. capacity: 3929cc
2. cylinders: 12
3. configuration: V12

Other

1. production dates: 1966-1972
2. total produced: 764
3. variants: S, SV, Roadster
4. Note: also designated P400