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The Miura coined the term ‘supercar’ when it graced the Geneva motor show floor in 1966. At nearly 14½ feet long, the car was just 3½ feet tall and beautifully proportioned. Its 4.0-liter V12 produced 350bhp and propelled the 2370-lb machine to 62mph in 5.5 seconds. That’s scintillating performance even by today’s standards.
Though breathtaking, the Miura’s design was fairly conventional. The long, flowing hood and cab-rearward architecture – typical of 1960s-era sports cars – was unnecessary in a mid-engined vehicle. Bertone and Gandini would break away from these conventions when designing the cab-forward Alfa Romeo Carabo two years later and the Stratos Zero and Countach models in the ‘70s.
Composed of three main structures, Gandini created two unique clamshells for the front and rear ends of the Miura, which opened in opposite directions. Besides its elegant form, Gandini also devised some spectacular details for the car. Elements like the metal lashes on the headlamps, the vents on the B-pillar that integrated the door handle in the slats and the very soft curve that sweeps from the beltline up to the roof were key visual identifiers, which became trademarks of Gandini’s unusual, out-of-the-box thinking. Everything was very clean and pristine.
“That’s what sets this car apart still today,” says Robinson, “Even though the architecture could be tied to the GT-40, a Ferrari or a Corvette of the era, the details just put it in a world of its own.”
The leather-clad (vinyl in early models) cabin had a gated shifter, roof-mounted switchgear and prominent dials, but it was cramped and ergonomically challenged. The seating position was low and reclined, more akin to flying in a Concorde than driving a car, and the doors themselves were made to resemble a bull’s horns when opened. All of this could only be the product of its creator, Gandini, who’d spent most of his time designing interiors for nightclubs prior to arriving at Bertone.
Over the course of its seven-year production run, several different models were created, including the S and SV as well as the one-off J and ZN-75 roadster. Each production model increased power gradually, from 370bhp in the S and rising to 385bhp for the last model, the SV. In all only 765 Miuras were ever built, going to owners like Frank Sinatra and Twiggy.
Born in simpler times when designers didn’t have to contend with safety legislation and pedestrian impact requirements, the Miura was a car created when style reigned supreme. The product of a very healthy period of development, the Miura was a supremely elegant low-slung sports car so effortlessly beautiful that it has and will forever remain an iconic design, and a momentous car for Bertone.
(Petrolicious is celebrating 100 years of Bertone. Click here to see all of our Bertone posts.)
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