In the late Sixties a group of Italian engineers did something which was to affect the automotive industry irreversibly. After hours, in their own time, they decided to design, engineer and build a car which had the engine behind the driver, but still in front of the rear axel. The result was the worlds first mid-engined production road car; the Lamborghini Miura.
Today almost all performance cars or supercars are mid-engined and it’s hard to imagine a time when it wasn’t the done thing. But then, it was new. Very new. It had been done for race cars true, but no-one had thought of doing it to a road car. No other car looked like it. ‘Oh’ you may say. ‘If they hadn’t done it Ferrari would have anyway. And within two years there were other mid-engined cars about. Why is the Miura so special?’
Well that’s a fair point. You’re quite right, around the same time Ferrari were developing mid-engined cars. But I think that the Miura is special for three good reasons. Firstly, it was the first. If Ferrari were the first to do it then I suppose we’d salute them, but they weren’t, so we don’t. Secondly, if Ferrari, or Mercedes, or Jaguar for instance had done it first then that would be brilliant, but they were big names already. They had started off very early in the twentieth century. They had pedigree and experience but before the Miura Lamborghini didn’t properly exist. That car came out of nowhere. You’ve got to admit, that’s kinda cool.
Thirdly, you need to analyse the Miura. I know it’s a bit nerdy and boring but place yourself in 1967. In Britain saloons were legion. Ford, Vauxhall and British Leyland were practically all you saw. The odd French and German saloon and maybe a Datsun 1000. And suddenly you see a Miura. It’s only 105 cm tall, that’s just over 40 inches. It’s a got a four litre twelve cylinder engine which sits just behind the two seats, and the doors flick up at the back so when the doors are both open the front profile of the car is of a bulls head with horns. That’s cool today. Then it was revolutionary. It combined, power, passion and eccentricity in a way that hadn’t been seen before.
Today it’s not uncommon to see a powerful, dramatically styled car that stands out. They’re a part of our society and culture. The Miura started something that someone else may well have started otherwise but it started it with an enormous amount of flare, passion, charisma and confidence and as such to this day stands out as a definitive supercar. The Lamborghini Miura, I salute you.
