“Back in 1966, the supercar didn’t really exist- until the Miura. Before it there were more simply high performance Gran Turismo and sports cars…Then came the Miura. Not only was the ‘upstart’ Lamborghini company offering a new car so soon after its baptism…but it was offering something so radical, so outrageous and doing it so seriously. Low, swoopy, cunning with a mid-mounted, transversely slung V12 under the rear window. Nothing like it had been seen before. It was the first supercar; a car on a different plane from those that had preceded it. The Miura might be described as the most significant production GT of that decade. From then on all had to follow.” Lamborghini Miura by Pete Coltrin and Jean-François Marchet, 1982.

From its debut as a bare chassis in 1965 until the production version drove dramatically into Casino Square during the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix, in its early days the Miura attracted more than its fair share of comment and column inches among enthusiasts and in the motoring press. Its status as the world’s first ‘supercar’ (the term hadn’t yet been coined) was assured when French journalist José Rosinski achieved 288km/h (178mph) at the Miura’s wheel during a magazine road test, although whether the front wheels were actually touching the ground at this speed has been a source of discussion ever since…

It’s probably fair to say that whilst the Miura is the car that gave Lamborghini its name, the early cars were rushed into production to satisfy unexpected demand from the great and the good around the world: Ferruccio Lamborghini had anticipated making 10-15 Miuras a year so compromises had to be made, and chassis flex, high speed aerodynamic lift and occasionally disappointing build quality were inconveniences which wealthy owners had to put up with if they wanted to sample levels of performance on the road which had hereto been reserved exclusively for racing drivers in the higher formulae.

Addressing the Miura’s shortcomings, the ‘S’ (for Spinto, or tuned) model appeared late in 1968 at the Turin Show and boasted new, low profile Pirelli tyres, more horsepower (a claimed 370bhp compared to the original’s 350bhp), electric windows, optional leather upholstery (primitive air conditioning was also available on the late cars) plus redesigned interior switchgear, passenger grab handle and glove box lid. Externally the ‘S’ was recognizable by its chrome window and windscreen surrounds and rear badging. The last examples of the Miura ‘S’ also featured vented disc brakes in place of previously solid items.

The swansong SV replaced the S in 1971 (although the factory had initially announced that the two would be available concurrently), and remained in production until the last Miura was built in 1973, coinciding with Ferruccio Lamborghini relinquishing control of his company and the arrival of a new generation of Lamborghini, the Countach. The preceding seven years, though, remain those which established the company as an automotive icon.