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Old 03-05-2006, 07:27 AM   #1
a007apl
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Default Miura -> The last really great supercar?

"The last thing I ever took Lamborghini for was cynical. The impossible, devastating Miura existed somewhere between ecstasy and exasperation. It was the Lamborghini that tapped the strongest feelings of longing and despair, the Lamborghini you knew you must drive before you die. Its reputation for being fast but flawed - not to mention fragile - made you fear that indulgence in one act might bring about the premature arrival of the other. That was all part of the fascination.
Because there was also something dark about the Miura; something tantalising yet dangerous. It had a lot to do with that legendary quad-cam V12 engine - a development of the extraordinary 3.5-litre powerplant designed as a quasi-race unit by ex-Ferrari engineering Giotto Bizzarrini. And subsequently de-tuned (from 370 to 270bhp) at the orders of Ferruccio by Giampaolo Dallara when Bizzarrini, incredulous that Lamborghini didn’t want to go racing, walked out the door. Even then, it was a clenched fist on an engine, taut with compression and explosive potential. The starter motor had to work hard to rouse it but when the engine fired, it did so with the goose-bump immediacy of a gun shot.
By the time it appeared in the Miura - sensationally slung sideways across the middle Mini-style - it had grown to four litres and 350bhp. Dallara’s trend-setting configuration could be seen clearly in the 1965 Turin Show chassis mock-up. A working prototype appeared at Geneva a year later. This time it was fully clothed by Bertone. But everyone looked at it as if it was a naked woman and gasped. It is doubtful if supercardom has ever produced a better shape. The Miura was dramatically beautiful. Beautiful in a way that transcends age and fashion. More beautiful, certainly, than anything its designer, Marcello Gandini, has done since.
The Miura was his first job for Bertone, his big chance to impress his bosses and forge a reputation for himself. He did both.
Perhaps had he thought he was designing a car that would make it into production, he wouldn’t have been so uninhibited, so loose and sexually unambiguous, so pure in expression.
Many of its details should now look ludicrous: the preponderance of bodywork fins, the archly applied matt-black paintwork, the heavily-slatted rear window. All of these became boy racer cliches throughout the ‘70s. But make-up looks better on some cars than others. And the Miura’s eyelash fins (removed for its final SV incarnation) were clearly the work of a master There and then, Ferruccio Lamborghini knew that the Miura (named after a fighting bull bred by Edoardo Miura) was too good to remain just a titillating showcar. He would make it. He would make the world a better place.
Amazingly, 40 years after its launch, the Miura remains the sexiest car on earth. A McLaren F1 looks up-tight and androgynous by comparison. There never has been another car with so many curves in the right places. Never one that flirted so outrageously. It remains such a turn-on, charming men still blush in its presence.
But it was also a car of great technical integrity that was thrilling to drive. It really would do 176mph - making it, for a short time anyway, the fastest car in the world. If any car deserved to be called “super”, this was surely it.
Sorry, Lamborghini, but doing a Ford GT with a re-clothed Gallardo - and somehow managing to leave out the sex - just isn't good enough."
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Old 03-05-2006, 08:46 AM   #2
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The Miura isn't the last great supercar. But I agree the retro New Miura sucks ass
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Old 03-05-2006, 10:19 AM   #3
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Originally Posted by insane
What are they talking about? The Miura was the first supercar...so how could it be the last great one?

Nonsene, stupid atricle.
Agreed.
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Old 03-05-2006, 01:37 PM   #4
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lol, after so much writing, you bash the whole idea with one line which is true.
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Old 03-06-2006, 08:09 PM   #5
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Default Re: Miura -> The last really great supercar?

Guys, the article never mentions the car to be "the greatest supercar of all time", it only says its the sexiest, which I strongly belive.

The whole point of the article was not to prove that it was the greatest supercar, but to show what it was and what it is right now, and to comment about the beautiful shape that Marcello Gandini has designed.

This is a great article, thanks allot for sharing a007apl :good:

I especially like this part

Originally Posted by a007apl
"...A working prototype appeared at Geneva a year later. This time it was fully clothed by Bertone. But everyone looked at it as if it was a naked woman and gasped. It is doubtful if supercardom has ever produced a better shape. The Miura was dramatically beautiful. Beautiful in a way that transcends age and fashion... "
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