If you’re a Lamborghini aficionado, no doubt you’re a fan of the Miura, widely considered by automotive historians as the instigator of the high performance, two-seater, mid-engine sports cars trend. When it first rolled off the line in 1966, it was the fastest production road car available, pumping out 350 hp from a V12 engine. And next month, it’ll be properly celebrated at the 2016 Amelia Island Concours D’Elegance.
Produced between 1966 and 1973, the Miura is named after a family of fighting bulls - in traditional Lamborghini fashion. It entered the marketplace at a then-pricey $20,000. To put that figure in perspective, a new Miura would set you back $146,244.44 in today’s dollars.
“The Miura rewrote the rules,” said Bill Warner, founder and chairman of the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance. “The commendatore [Enzo Ferrari] had a talent for making enemies. He angered Henry Ford and Ferruccio Lamborghini; Ford took Le Mans from him permanently in 1966 and by the end of that year, the Miura had become the ultimate road and fantasy car.”
A few years into production, the Miura gained worldwide attention from automotive enthusiasts with a star turn in the opening sequence of the original 1969 version of The Italian Job, a comic crime caper starring Michael Caine as a fresh-out-of-prison ex con with a plan to jack a shipment of Mafia gold from the streets of Turin by creating an epic traffic jam.
The Miura is one of several marques that will be on display at the Amelia Island Concours D’Elegance this year, along with early rides by automakers Pegaso and Cord. All total, more than 250 rare vehicles from around the world will on site for viewing March 11-13 at the Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island and the Golf Club of Amelia Island on the 10th and 18th fairways.
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