The late 1960s saw the beginning of a partnership between Italian design house Bertone and Ferruccio Lamborghini that was destined to make history in the car world.

At the end of 1965, Nuccio Bertone conceived the one of the most extraordinary cars that had ever been built up until that time: the Lamborghini Miura, a supercar with a V12, centrally mounted transverse engine. Helped by his new stylist Marcello Gandini, Bertone created a body that left everyone all but speechless at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1966. Low slung on the road and oozing with aggressive beauty the Miura supercar went on to win a rightful place in automotive history.

Now, exactly forty years after the original Miura prototype was shown to a stunned world in Geneva, Bertone is celebrating this important milestone by presenting the iconic sportscar on its stand at the Swiss show, alongside their latest concept car: the Fiat Grande Punto-based Suagnà 'coupé-cabriolet'. Elsewhere at the show, Lamborghini design chief Walter de' Silva's brand-new concept tribute to the original Miura can be seen on the official Lamborghini stand, offering show visitors' an opportunity to compare this new study to the timeless original.

Lamborghini Miura 1966-72

The Miura grew out of the desire of Dallara, Wallace and Stanzani (the main designers of the time at Lamborghini) to go motor racing. They developed a brand-new chassis with a mid-mounted transverse engine in the hope of persuading Lamborghini to race it. That bold attempt failed, but the chassis was displayed on the Lamborghini stand at the 1965 Turin Motor Show and Lamborghini then asked Bertone to design a body for it in order to use it as a show car. The design work was carried out by Gandini and Giugiaro (both at Bertone) and revealed to the world at the Geneva Motorshow in 1966. Although having had no plans to produce it, Lamborghini took 17 deposits at the show and so production was go.

Significant development was again necessary to turn a basic race car into a road car, the main problems being the heat and noise of the engine, being mounted directly behind the occupants heads.
 

When the car entered production, it used a chassis comprising a central section, including the floor, given strength by the large sills and centre tunnel, and extensions front and rear for the suspension and engine and suspension respectively. The engine was basically a 400GTV unit, with the same vertical carburettors and 350bhp. A Sprint verion was also available with (a claimed) 430bhp - probably nearer 380. The main difference was that the transmission housing was cast together with the crankcase, the gears being housed below the engine in the sump. The steering adopted a rack-and-pinion layout. The interior of the Miura reverted to the more traditional lower bracket Italian style, rather than the plush trim of previous Lamborghinis.

The Brussels Show of 1968 saw Bertone reveal a spider version, the Roadster, but nothing came of that project. In 1968 changes to the production model included more power (up to 370bhp), a larger boot (due to a revised exhaust system), new seats and a slightly improved interior, chrome trim around the windows and headlights and electric windows as standard. In this form the car became known as the Miura S. This continued in production until 1971 when the Miura SV was revealed. Using many of the features improved in the Jota (see below) the SV had 385bhp, a strengthened rear chassis, wider wheels and larger tyres, some suspension modifications and a variety of detail changes such as the loss of the 'eyebrows' over the headlights, new secondary front lighting and revesing lights at the rear. The most significant change was the new engine where the sump and gearbox were finally separated, allowing different oils to be used, but the brakes also got ventilated discs (as had the last S versions).