There are cars, and then there are icons. Machines that transcend their spec sheets and become cultural artifacts. The 1971 Lamborghini Miura P400SV is one of those rare vehicles—a car that didn’t just set records, but redefined what a car could be. It was fast, provocative, and exotic. It didn’t just turn heads—it changed minds.

Often credited as the world’s first modern supercar, the Miura wasn’t just ahead of its time—it created a whole new era. In its bold, mid-engine design, its animalistic speed, and its celebrity-studded history, the Miura P400SV remains the blueprint for cool. And no version of the Miura embodied that ethos better than the final evolution: the SV.

The Beginning of the Miura Revolution

The story of the Miura begins in the mid-1960s, when a group of young engineers at Lamborghini—namely Gian Paolo Dallara, Paolo Stanzani, and Bob Wallace—proposed a revolutionary idea: to build a sports car with a rear mid-engine layout.

Ferruccio Lamborghini, known more for his vision than hesitation, gave the green light. But the goal wasn’t just to build a fast car—it was to make a statement. The Miura needed to be beautiful, bold, and unmistakably Italian.

At the 1966 Geneva Motor Show, the prototype stunned the world. With its low-slung body, impossibly wide stance, and exotic V12 growl, the Miura immediately became the object of global desire. And when full production launched shortly after, Lamborghini had unknowingly launched the supercar era.

The P400SV: Peak Miura

While the original Miura and its P400S evolution were already legendary, the P400SV—launched in 1971—was the final and most refined version of the car. SV stands for “Spinto Veloce,” or “tuned for speed,” and that’s exactly what the engineers delivered.

The SV wasn’t just a tweak. It was a rethinking.

• The 3.9-liter V12 engine was upgraded to 385 horsepower, making it the most powerful Miura to date.
• The 0–60 mph time dropped to under 5.5 seconds, with a top speed north of 180 mph, making it one of the fastest production cars in the world at the time.
• The chassis and suspension were revised for better high-speed stability.
• The iconic eyelash headlight trim was dropped, replaced by a cleaner, more modern look.
• The rear arches were flared to accommodate wider Pirelli tires, giving it a more aggressive, planted stance.
• The engine and gearbox were separated, solving a key overheating issue from earlier versions.

Only 150 units of the P400SV were ever produced, making it not just the most evolved Miura—but also the rarest.

Design: Pure Italian Seduction

If the engine was revolutionary, the body was art.

Penned by Marcello Gandini at Bertone, the Miura remains one of the most beautiful cars ever built. The SV’s proportions are so precise, so daring, they feel dreamlike—long and low, with curves that blend aggression and elegance. The rear haunches, exaggerated on the SV, are animalistic. The windshield wraps like a visor. The doors cut into the roofline. Nothing on the road looked like it then—and nothing really does now.

The interior is a tight, cockpit-like space, with bucket seats, a central console filled with aircraft-style switches, and dials that beg you to break speed limits. It was raw, intimate, and purely analog—built for driving, not distraction.

The First Mid-Engine Supercar to Capture the World’s Imagination

Technically, the Miura wasn’t the first mid-engine car—that title goes to lesser-known European curiosities like the René Bonnet Matra Djet. But the Miura was the first to make the layout iconic.

Placing the engine behind the driver changed everything—weight distribution, handling dynamics, and visual proportions. The Miura didn’t just race ahead of its competitors. It left them behind entirely. Ferrari, which at the time still put engines up front in its road cars, was caught flat-footed.

The Miura’s mid-engine layout became the blueprint for every serious supercar that followed—from the Ferrari 512 BB to the Lamborghini Countach, and eventually the McLaren F1, Bugatti Veyron, and countless others. It wasn’t just a design feature. It was philosophy.

Star Power: The Miura in the Wild

Owning a Miura wasn’t just about performance. It was about status. About style.

If you had a Miura in 1971, you weren’t just wealthy. You were interesting. You had taste. You were going places—fast, and looking amazing while doing it.

The list of celebrity Miura owners reads like a rock-and-roll Hall of Fame:

• Miles Davis drove one—black on black—and was known for blasting it through the streets of New York, often dangerously fast.
• Frank Sinatra reportedly said, “You buy a Ferrari when you want to be somebody. You buy a Lamborghini when you are somebody.”
• Elton John owned a right-hand drive model in the early ’70s.
• Rod Stewart had one, naturally.
• Eddie Van Halen, Dean Martin, and Jay Leno are also on the Miura owner list.

And of course, the Miura famously appeared in the opening sequence of the 1969 film The Italian Job, roaring through the Alps in cinematic uniqueness.

The Drive: Drama and Danger in Equal Measure

Driving a Miura—especially the SV—isn’t like driving a modern supercar. It’s not comfortable. It’s not insulated. It doesn’t have traction control, airbags, or digital modes.

But what it does have is soul.

The V12 sits right behind your head. The gearshift is gated and mechanical. The throttle is sharp, the steering tight, and the brakes, well—they require a little planning.

Every drive is a performance. Every corner, an event. It’s not forgiving. But it’s intoxicating.

This is a car that demands skill. But rewards you with emotion.

Cultural Legacy: Still the Coolest Car Ever Made?

In a world of hypercars with 1,000+ horsepower and digital brains, the Miura remains special because of its purity. It didn’t have to be perfect—it had to be wild. And it was.

Today, the Miura P400SV is revered not just by collectors, but by designers, engineers, filmmakers, and musicians. It’s often cited as the coolest car of all time—not just for how it performed, but for what it represented: a fearless leap into the unknown.

It’s also one of the most valuable Lamborghinis ever built. Pristine Miura SVs regularly fetch $2–3 million at auction, depending on provenance and originality. But to many, it’s priceless.

Impression

The 1971 Lamborghini Miura P400SV wasn’t just fast. It wasn’t just rare. It was a cultural shift on wheels.

It took the exotic out of race tracks and put it into the hands of dreamers, musicians, athletes, rebels. It made rear-engine design the gold standard. It made speed beautiful. It gave birth to the supercar as we know it today.

And most importantly—it gave people permission to dream in color, in sound, in motion.

In the decades since, Lamborghini has built wilder cars, faster cars, more technical cars. But nothing—not the Countach, not the Aventador, not even the Revuelto—captures the magic of the Miura SV.

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