There are few more dramatic-looking cars than the Miura — named after a famous fighting bull — and it’s hard to believe it was launched 43 years ago. American author, Sackey, has owned five Miuras, so is writing from first-hand experience of this model.
The standard version was dramatic enough, but the book also covers the one-off roadster, the uprated SV, the super-Miuras that were modified by the works, and the amazing ZN-75 built to demonstrate the properties of zinc! When the car was new, SVs were sold to such surprising places as Haiti and Iran.
Key personalities are included, such as Dallara, Gandini, New Zealander Bob Wallace (was he really known as ‘Bobby’ as the book calls him?). Production manager Stanzani gets a chapter to himself as the man who went on to design the Miura’s successor, the Countach.
Though on occasion there are too many images of a particular car, generally this is a book where the pictures really do complement the words, with hundreds of photos of different models and technical details. There are a few pages of chassis numbers and dates, but the chapter’s called ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ to indicate that the factory procedure for recording these wasn’t the most accurate record!
With some maintenance advice, buyer’s guide info, the tantalising Jota, tracking down a Miura that had ‘disappeared’ for 30 years and a lovely story about the 1200km delivery drive for the first Miura to be sold in the USA — this is a very comprehensive story and worth a look by anyone attracted to this iconic sports car.
Lamborghini Miura Bible by Joe Sackey
Review copy supplied by the publisher
Review by Mark Holman
