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 ...
I think the chicken hawk’s name was Henry.
Found in the last place it was put.
I guess you ought to know, "Farmer Dean"! Lol! :) :)
“Car porn”.
OTOH, thinking back 30+ years, maybe the Lotus had a vertical rear window.
bumpmark
What I can’t remember is the names for Henry’s parents.Might make a good trivia question.
I couldn't agree more, everything has gotten political, or an agenda pushing piece of garbage. I pretty much only watch the old stuff, but I do watch The Lost Gold of WWII, The Lost Gold of the Civil War, and The Curse of Oak Island. Though they have yet to find anything. But they are interesting to watch and you do learn some history that has never been told. 8>)
To be true “boxer” engine, there is only 1 rod per crankpin.
That Mel Blanc, God rest his soul, was a friggin genius, wasn’t he?
Check out this great Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, cartoon clip!
Dime To Retire (1955) Warner Bros cartoon clip - Porky Pig/Daffy Duck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1Juq2WXOMA
That cartoon I just linked to was edited to 2-1/2 mins.
But the best stuff from the uncut is there.
Subaru calls their engines boxers, and the cylinders share a crankpin. I guess it depends on your definition.
Ding Ding Ding! we have a winner! To be a boxer, each pair of cylinders must move in opposition to each other. So both are at top dead center at the same time and at bottom dead center at the same time. To do this, the opposed cylinders must have separate crankpins. If they share a crankpin, one side is up while the other is down, so the unbalance cancellation achieved by a true boxer is lost.
The Ferrari 512BB was technically a 180 deg V-12.
Fix the aspect ratio of the Miura so the wheels are ROUND and you’ll see just how much different the 2 cars are. In those days, GM engineers wouldn’t build a windshield with more than 60 deg of rake, because they wouldn’t pay the cost of processes necessary to get the optics of the glass right. (Remember, as the glass leans back farther you have to look through more of it!). No, GM was duly impressed with Italian cars of the era. The Second Gen (1970) Camaro was inspired (dare I say copied) from the Ferrari 250GT Lusso.
Many of these Italian cars could regularly be seen around the Tech Center and especially GM Design Staff (aka Styling) in those days. They even commissioned DeTomaso to build a one-off Mangusta with Chevrolet power.
Fix the aspect ratio of the Miura so the wheels are ROUND and youll see just how much different the 2 cars are.
OK, I've done that below. Wish I had thought of it myself. Because now they look even more alike (but only in profile).
LOL!! :) :)
Your explanation was longer, but much better, than mine.
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