Lamborghini's classic division discovered, restored the Miura from The Italian Job
It was hiding out in a car collection, its provenance unknown to the owner.
When The Italian Job (the original, not the Marky Mark remake) first debuted, the opening scene involved a Lamborghini Miura and some vehicular carnage. Some thought it was lost forever, but Lamborghini eventually found and restored this interesting piece of automotive cinematic history.
Lamborghini on Monday announced that it had found and restored the original Miura from the opening scenes of The Italian Job. Chassis number 3586, once thought to be lost, was actually in pretty safe hands, and after a thorough reworking from Lamborghini's own classic-car division, it's once again ready for the spotlight.
Here's how the story goes. Even though the Miura crashes in the early part of the movie, Paramount actually used a different Miura for the wreck. Once that was known, people spent the next 50 years trying desperately to find the orange supercar. Eventually, it turned up in The Kaiser Collection, the personal collection of well-heeled businessman Fritz Kaiser, and the collection got together with Lamborghini to give #3586 a full-on reconstruction.
Even today, the Miura is a stunning supercar.
That responsibility went to Lamborghini Polo Storico, the automaker's in-house classic division devoted to restoring and preserving some of Lamborghini's notable vintage models. Polo Storico went to the archives and pulled up all the documentation it could find, then it talked to former employees and others with deep knowledge of old Lamborghinis.
As it turns out, #3586 lived quite the life. It was plucked straight from the production line when Paramount came looking for a pair of Miuras for The Italian Job -- one wrecked, one not. After its time in front of the lens, it was returned to Sant'Agata Bolognese, Italy, where it was prepared and delivered to its first owner. #3586 ended up changing hands several times before Kaiser added it to his collection in 2018.
The Miura was quite the objet d'art when it entered production in the late 1960s. The original version, the P400, relied on a 3.9-liter V12 that produced 345 horsepower. Only 275 were produced, and the model remains one of the most desirable vintage supercars on the market. Later versions were produced, as well, adding power and additional features like power windows and wider fenders.
