“SUPERCAR” IS BORN

It is legend that “supercar,” the title bestowed upon all of today’s highest-performance automobiles, was first applied in print to the Lamborghini Miura, by L.J.K. Setright in a 1967 Car story regarding his 1,000-mile drive of the new Miura from Modena to London. He never used the word, but he said it in more elegant prose: “The exultant whoop of a thoroughbred V12 is like nothing else in motoring. It is immediate, urgent, peremptory. The Lambo idles at about 800 rpm and a gentle blip up to 2,000 produced a sort of instant quickening of everybody in the square, like a WO calling parade to attention…It might develop 87.5bhp per litre, but from ridiculously low revs it would pull as smoothly and inexorably as a Silver Ghost. Clearly this was going to be an astonishing motor car.”

And it was. Setright summed up his review with one of the best capstones in automotive journalism: “Free-fall parachuting probably gives the same sensation at a fraction of the cost, but driving the Miura is more comfortable and the terminal velocity is appreciably higher.”

If Setright loved the original mid-engined, Bertone-sculpted Miura, then he would have adored the car in its ultimate production iteration, the SV, introduced at Geneva in 1971. Available by special-order only, it was extensively re-engineered with a reinforced chassis, rear suspension improved with wider wishbones, larger wheels accommodated by muscular bulging rear fenders, and a tuned 385-horsepower engine with unique air intakes, larger carburetors, and different cam timing. Out of the some 900 Miuras made, just 150 were SVs; it was the rarest standard Miura, if a Miura could ever be such a thing, and its combination of elevated cosmetics and ultimate 180-mph performance makes it the most desirable of all.

CHASSIS NUMBER 4972

According to the factory production records recorded in Joe Sackey’s The Lamborghini Miura Bible, chassis number 4972 was completed on 13 December 1971, finished in Rosso Corsa with gold rocker panels and wheels, and tan Naturale leather interior. It was originally sold through dealer Perretta Milano Perri to an Italian owner residing in Germany. Later, in 1974, it was acquired by British enthusiast Peter Oates, who had it converted to right-hand-drive by GrayPaul Motors of Nottingham in the early 1980s. Numerous pieces of correspondence and invoices from Mr. Oates remain in the file today. Shortly after the car’s right-hand-drive conversion, it was sold to the well-known motorsports consultant, Hew R. Dundas, in whose ownership it was registered “HRD 41” and seen at numerous British events.

In the early 1990s the car was purchased by a collector in Hong Kong, who commissioned the Modena Group to complete a full restoration. Afterward the car passed to the noted musician and vintage performance car collector, Jay Kay of Jamiroquai, and in his ownership was featured in a 2004 episode of Top Gear. Jay Kay drove the car for the cameras, commenting, “It’s a wonderful, wonderful thing.” Soon thereafter it was acquired from him by the well-known British collector Michael Cotter.

In 2015 the car was acquired by another British owner, who had it evaluated by the legendary Lamborghini factory test driver, Valentino Balboni. Afterward the car was shipped back to its homeland and restored anew by the noted Cremonini Carrozzeria, including returning it to its original left-hand-drive configuration. During this work, the Miura was vetted by Lamborghini’s PoloStorico and issued a Certificate of Authenticity, confirming that its exterior color and components conform to the original delivery. Its interior is now finished in blue leather, a divergence from the original tan that provides a particularly attractive and effective contrast to the Rosso bodywork. Importantly, it retains its numbers-matching chassis and engine, as well as the body panels stamped with the original 771.

The current owner acquired the car in 2016 and oversaw the completion of the restoration, after which the Miura SV joined the display at the Dare to Dream Collection, where it has remained as one of the most treasured centerpieces. Its restoration remains in outstanding, concours-quality condition throughout, having been well-preserved during its time in the collection with very little use since completion. It is offered with a particularly impressive history file, including considerable restoration invoices and detailed correspondence with former owners and their service facilities back to the 1980s.

Today it remains, in its former owner’s words, a very, very wonderful thing.