Lamborghini Miura
It's from 1966, before you were born.
- Iconic generation
- 1966 Miura P400
- Origin
- Sant'Agata Bolognese, Italy
- Designer
- Marcello Gandini (Bertone)
- Engine
- 3.9L transverse mid-mounted V12
- Power
- 350 hp at 7,000 rpm
- 0–60 mph
- approx. 6.3 sec
- Top speed
- approx. 170+ mph (280 km/h claimed)
- Production
- 1966–1969 (275 P400s built)
About
As of 2026, it's 60 years old.
Ferruccio Lamborghini built tractors and got rich, then started building grand touring cars to spite Enzo Ferrari. But the Miura wasn't his idea, it was a rebellious side project cooked up by his young engineers in their spare time. They mounted a V12 sideways in the middle of the car, where no road car had ever put one before, and the boss only reluctantly let them show the bare chassis at a motor show.
It stole the show. By placing the engine behind the driver and ahead of the rear axle, the Miura created a template that essentially every supercar since has copied. It is, by broad consensus, the first true supercar, the car that invented the entire category.
And it was breathtakingly beautiful. Designed by a 27-year-old Marcello Gandini at Bertone, the Miura had curves that looked fast standing still, headlights with 'eyelashes,' and proportions so perfect that people still argue it's the most gorgeous car ever made. Frank Sinatra owned one. So did the Shah of Iran.
The Miura was wild, occasionally lethal (the front end was prone to lifting at speed), and absolutely glorious. It turned a tractor magnate's vanity project into the most important supercar nameplate of all time, and the world's been chasing that mid-engine V12 magic ever since.
Lamborghini Miura through the years
A rolling chassis
Lamborghini's engineers reveal a bare mid-engine chassis at the Turin show.
Miura debuts
The Gandini-bodied Miura stuns Geneva and invents the supercar.
P400 production starts
The first transverse-V12 road car reaches a few very lucky customers.
Miura S
An uprated version adds more power and refinement.
SV perfection
The final Miura SV is widely regarded as the definitive, best-sorted version.
