Lamborghini Miura Turns 60: Retracing The Journey Of The World’s First Supercar

Lamborghini unveiled the Miura at the Geneva Motor Show on 10 March 1966. The company marks 60 years since that event in 2026. Engineers Gian Paolo Dallara and Paolo Stanzani worked on the project. They placed a 3.9-litre V12 engine behind the driver in a transverse layout. Ferruccio Lamborghini approved the idea after seeing the chassis at the 1965 Turin Motor Show. The chassis weighed 120 kg and featured four white exhaust pipes.

Marcello Gandini at Bertone designed the body. The car measured 4360 mm in length and 1050 mm in height. Production started with the P400 model, which had 350 bhp at 7,000 rpm. It reached 100 kmph in 6.7 seconds and topped 280 kmph.

The P400 S followed in 1968 with 370 bhp at 7,500 rpm. The P400 SV arrived in 1971 and produced 385 bhp at 7,850 rpm. It hit 100 kmph in 5.5 seconds and exceeded 290 km/h. Lamborghini built 763 units from 1966 to 1973 at its Sant’Agata Bolognese factory.

The Miura faced rivals like the Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona. That front-engined car offered similar speeds. De Tomaso Mangusta competed with a mid-engine V8. Maserati Bora entered later with 306 bhp. US muscle cars from Pontiac and others matched quarter-mile times.

Engineers built the prototype in secret. Lamborghini had opposed a mid-engine road car at first. The crankshaft turned anticlockwise. The engine shared lubrication with the transmission in early models. Bertone created one Miura Roadster in 1968 but that was that.

The Miura appeared in the 1969 film The Italian Job. It won awards at Pebble Beach and Villa d’Este. Around 400 examples survive today. Values reach millions at auctions.

Lamborghini design chief Mitja Borkert stated that no new Miura production model plans exist. Rumours of a revival persist, but the company focuses forward. The Miura set the mid-engine standard for supercars. Its legacy continues in models like Countach and Revuelto.