Posted on 05/12/2019 10:07:54 AM PDT by ETL
A long-lost Lamborghini Miura P400 featured in the classic 1969 heist flick, The Italian Job, has been rediscovered and restored just in time for the classic films 50th anniversary this June.
The bright orange coupe can be seen being driven by Rossano Brazzi through the Great St Bernard pass connecting Switzerland and Italy as the opening credits roll, up until he drives into a dark tunnel and crashes into a bulldozer, which pushes the car off of a cliff.
But it wasnt the same car. According to Lamborghini, the filmmakers purchased an already wrecked Miura to destroy and borrowed a new one for Brazzi to drive. The only caveat being they had to swap the white seats for black ones so they wouldn't get stained.
After production was complete, that car was returned to the automaker and sold with the original seats and its connection to the film forgotten for some time.
The car changed several times since then as some classic car historians were trying to match a Miura to the one in the movie to avail.
Then last year, it was purchased by a car collector in Liechtenstein named, Fritz Kaiser, who had a hunch it might be the one and decided to go to the source for help to find out.
He sent it to the team at Lamborghinis historic center, who researched the chassis number, #3586, and interviewed employees who were around at the time the film was being made, including the man who performed the stunt driving duties Enzo Moruzzi.
As far as it is concerned, everything checked out. So it restored it, certified it and officially closed the book on the search.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Thanks, er, “Bonemaker”!
:)
The very best Italy had to offer and then some. Now where are actress’ like those women today??????
Ferrari disliked the mid-engine design because, as he often said, "The horse pulls the cart." The Miura is the car that moved Ferrari to build the mid-engined, flat-12 Berlinetta Boxer anyway (which, curiously, despite the name, does not have a boxer engine) so Lamboghini wouldn't be "one-up" on him.
Lamborghini chose the charging bull as his logo, not just to counter of Ferrari's prancing stallion, but also because his sign of the zodiac was Taurus. Most Lambos, like the Miura, are named after breeds of fighting bull or, like the Murciélago, famous bullfighters.
Lambo's customary naming convention leads to some curious pronunciations of the model's names because the ones named after bulls or bullfighters are correctly pronounced in the Spanish fashion, not the Italian. So the Jarama is "ha-RAM-uh," not "ja-RAM-uh." I once had the misfortune to hear a cRap performer bragging about his Lamborghini "gah-LARD-oh," except in Spanish the Gallardo's double-Els are pronounced as a 'Y,' as in "gah-YARD-oh."
The Miura was designed by Paolo Dallara (now of the Dallara racing car company) and remains one of the most beautiful cars of all time, and arguably the very first “supercar”.
The best looking Lambo ever in my opinion. Very attractive car. Lamborghinis are generally as fast but not nearly as nice looking as their Ferrari rivals.
That Corvette was panned by a U.S. auto magazine as from “the design school of Hugh Hefner”.
Work of art
Would that be cousin it?
Would that be cousin it?
"He sent it to the team at Lamborghinis historic center, who researched the chassis number, #3586, and interviewed employees who were around at the time the film was being made, including the man who performed the stunt driving duties Enzo Moruzzi.
As far as it is concerned, everything checked out. So it restored it, certified it and officially closed the book on the search."
Yes, I restored it! Got a problem with that?
How is a flat-12 not a boxer engine? Horizontally opposed cylinders are what make a boxer a boxer, whether two cylinders or 12.
It was definitely the darling of the gold chain crowd.
The 64-67 Corvette, not so much.
Actually, I believe it was the Lambo Countach that inspired the Ferrari BB. Lamborghini showed the Countach in 1971 auto shows, and bragged about it being the ultimate supecar. Ferrari immediately started on their own, and in 1974 both the LP400 Countach and 365 BB became "production" models - if there is such a thing for such small-batch manufacturing.
Not at all, I just wasn’t aware it was still alive. 8>)
Yes, it does.
Yes. It was THE Benny Hill. He played the computer genius that took control of the traffic lights. The team bribed him with full-figured women. Definitely the real Benny Hill.
Lol!
I actually thought of that myself when I read that line. I, for better or worse, still basically live in the past. I feel our culture fell off a cliff decades ago. Damn near everything today, IMO, sucks, including TV shows (God-awful sitcoms, talk shows, etc), music (obviously), cars (they all just about look alike, with only two basic styles to choose from: SUVs and the common sedans, both of which you can barely tell apart from other makes and models, clothes styles, trendy/popular food and drinks.
Even the cartoons today are horrible (cheaply drawn, not funny or witty at all, stupid through and through). Especially when compared to the classic cartoons of the past such as Bug Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Road Runner, that big rooster with his little chicken hawk friend, whatever his name was, Popeye, The Flintstones, Tennessee Tuxedo, on and on, and on.
I feel so bad for young people growing up in these sorry times.
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