The Lamborghini Miura was a sports car built in Italy by Lamborghini between 1966 and 1973.
The Miura was a trendsetter, the one that made the mid-engined layout de rigueur among two-seater high performance supercars. It is named after the Spanish ranch Miura, whose bulls have a proverbial attack instinct.
Early Miuras, known as P400s (for Posteriore 4 litre), were powered by a version of the 3.9 L famous Lamborghini V12 engine used in the 400GT at the time, only mounted transversely and producing 350 hp (260 kW). About 274 P400s were produced between 1966 and 1969 - a success for Lamborghini despite its then-steep $20,000 USD price (approx. $114,000 in today's terms).
Taking a cue from the Mini, Lamborghini formed the engine and gearbox in one casting and they shared common lubrication until the last 96 SVs, which used a limited slip differential requiring appropriate oil.
The first 125 Miuras were built of 0.9mm steel and are therefore a bit lighter than later cars. All cars had steel frames and doors with aluminum front and rear body sections.
The last and most famous Miura, the P400SV or Miura SV featured different cam timing and altered carbs. These gave the engine an additional 15 bhp, to 385. The last 96 SV engines included a limited slip differential which required a split sump. The gearbox now had its lubrication system separate from the engine, which allowed the use of the appropriate types of oil for the gearbox and the engine. This also alleviated concerns that metal shavings from the gearbox could travel into the engine with disastrous and expensive results.The SV can be distinguished from its predecessors from its lack of "eyelashes" around the headlights, wider rear fenders to accommodate the new 9-inch wide rear wheels and Pirelli Cinturato tires, and different taillights. 150 SVs were produced. One SV was owned by Frank Sinatra.
There was a misprint in the SV owners manual indicating bigger intake valves in English size (but correct size in metric). The intake and exhaust valves in all 4 liter V12 Lamborghini remained the same thru out all models. This intake size misprint carried forward into Espada 400GT and Countach LP400/LP400S owners manuals as well.
The designation supercar was first applied to the Lamborghini Miura in a review by legendary British motor journalist L. J. K. Setright.