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Old 06-06-2018, 01:40 PM
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heinke heinke is offline
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Post Modern-day Miura

This is a build diary for my home/scratch built Miura car project. I’ve been gathering information and planning the build for a few months now. I thought it was about time to share the project on a public forum as I’ve found comments and questions raised in this type forum are helpful to me and hopefully you’ll find the project interesting as well.

The overarching goal for this project is to complete a high performance oriented but comfortable street drivable car that has the beautiful looks of the Lamborghini Miura SV. I have made various car body pieces from scratch before, but not a complete car body. I plan to scratch build the Miura body myself in aluminum. This won’t be a replica or re-creation per se, but hopefully will look like a Miura to the average person on the street.

For those not already familiar with the Miura, here’s what a well preserved Miura SV looks like.



Miura with clips opened and as a cut-away.





A brief history is that the Miura was the first mid-engine, street oriented V12 powered “supercar” sold to the general public. It was built by Lamborghini in Italy, first available in 1967 to 1969 in what is known as the P400 model and 275 of these were built. It was upgraded to P400S model from 1968 to 1971 with 338 cars built in this model. The Miura Sprint Veloce or SV model was produced from 1971 to 1973 with 150 of this model built. What is fairly unique to the Miura is the transverse orientation of its 4 liter V12 engine that is located just behind the cockpit. The Miura came equipped with a 200 mph speedo and independent testing showed it to be the fastest street car of its time with a top speed of 172 mph.

My previous scratch built car project, a Ferrari 250 GTO, is almost complete (getting painted now) and has been 15+ years in the making. I’m hoping to complete the Miura much faster than that. A combination of not trying to do everything myself and now having more time for my car hobby should help. From the GTO project, I’ve found metal shaping to be the part I find most rewarding so I plan to do all the Miura body creation myself. The Miura is a very complicated car so my expectation is that this project will not be easy. I do think the resulting car will be very unique and I’m guessing the build journey will be as well.
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Old 06-06-2018, 03:03 PM
Kevinb71 Kevinb71 is offline
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Looking forward to seeing how you tackle this! Should be very interesting.
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Old 06-06-2018, 04:02 PM
Gareth Davies Gareth Davies is offline
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One of the nicer looking Lambos, I think. Be nice to see this progress. What engine is planned for it?
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Old 06-06-2018, 05:23 PM
Charlie Myres Charlie Myres is offline
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Good on you Joel!

One of the prettiest cars in the World!

Looking forward to seeing how you do it,

Cheers Charlie
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Old 06-06-2018, 06:09 PM
RockHillWill RockHillWill is offline
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Nice choice of projects. That is a gorgeous car. Keep us posted with lots of pictures.
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Old 06-08-2018, 07:49 AM
csdilligaf csdilligaf is offline
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The Miura has always been one of my favorite cars. A friend of mine is the lead mechanic at a shop here in San Diego that's specialty is restoring Miura. Its really something to see 10 of them at once in different stages from bare chassis to finished all under one roof. Good luck with the build, looking forward to watching.
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Old 06-08-2018, 09:42 AM
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heinke heinke is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by csdilligaf View Post
The Miura has always been one of my favorite cars. A friend of mine is the lead mechanic at a shop here in San Diego that's specialty is restoring Miura. Its really something to see 10 of them at once in different stages from bare chassis to finished all under one roof. Good luck with the build, looking forward to watching.
Chip,
Just out of curiosity, what's the name of that shop?

Thanks,
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Old 06-08-2018, 11:55 AM
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heinke heinke is offline
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Post Forming a high level project plan

In a project of this size and complexity, it’s important to define priorities and from there form a good plan.

My top priorities are:
  1. Build a high performance car that I’ll want to keep and use for a long time. In other words, make a car that will be thrilling to drive but also comfortable to drive both around town and on extended trips. I’ve never owned a “garage queen” and don’t intend to start now.
  2. Stay true to the “spirit” of the original Miura but don’t restrict project choices to the ones Lamborghini engineers made over 50 years ago. To me, the Miura spirit includes a powerful transverse engine (i.e. capable of propelling the car up to 172 mph) placed in the middle of the car and with a body shape that could easily be mistaken for an original from 15 feet away.
  3. Take advantage of automotive technology advances by including them where it will make for a better driving experience but won’t take away from the Miura spirit in priority 2. Some modern technologies that quickly come to mind are things like EFI, ECM, and performance tires. The Miura was a very technologically advanced car for its day and there are still some areas where today’s factory cars (USA made anyway) and OEM parts are still catching up. I’ll want to strike the right balance between sticking to technologies used in original Miura and modern ones.

From these priorities, a few top level questions came to mind:
  • Can I comfortably fit in a regular sized Miura or do I need to go for a plus sized car?
  • What engine and transmission package should be used?
  • Will I need to build a chassis myself or is there a source where I can buy one at a reasonable price?

As it turns out, the answers to these questions are very inter-related. I’ll provide my thoughts and conclusions in subsequent posts.
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Old 06-08-2018, 12:29 PM
crystallographic crystallographic is offline
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Hi Joel,
You are approaching this new project with a clear sense of needs, fits, design and history.
Was interesting for me to note, years ago, that Lamborghini built very nice Italian farm tractors, and being very successful in the 1960's, went to buy a Ferrari. No luck - have to wait 6 months after placing your order.
"If the super sports car business is this good, I should get into it," he was reported as saying ...
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Old 06-08-2018, 07:22 PM
csdilligaf csdilligaf is offline
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Joel, The Shop here in San Diego is Bobileff Motorcar. I have been friends with them for 15 yrs and do some machined parts that need recreated now and then. Gary, the owner is a Ferarri judge at Pebble Beach among others. They turn out some award winning cars. They once had the Muira there that was special ordered by the Shah of Iran. Always have 6-10 at a time for the last 15 yrs.
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