A Lamborghini Miura is an expensive car to add to your supercar collection today, a good SV edition will set you back seven figures easily, but there are a few of those classic Miura that are even more valuable, like the Miura Roadster, for instance, only one ever built and valued at $10,000,000, and that was a few years ago, that value has certainly gone up by now.
And what about the Miura Jota you might ask? Well, the original car no longer exists, but a UK enthusiast did a complete recreation based on a real Miura, so that one is now the closest thing to the Jota today, but it’s not for sale, and my guess would be its value is up there with the Miura Roadster, in the 8 figures region … but there are still a few other very expensive Miura out there.
In 2020 a 1971 Lamborghini Miura SV sold for a massive €3,500,000 at auction, but most likely the 1972 Lamborghini Miura SVJ in this article will demand an even higher price to obtain. This is chassis 5090, with a numbers matching engine nr 30751, and according to Lamborghini authority Simon Kidston, this is one of only three original, factory-built Miura SVJ.
When the one-and-only, custom-built Miura Jota was lost in an accident in April 1971, some of Lamborghini’s wealthiest clients requested a Jota style Miura to be built for them, and the factory complied by taking an original Miura SV from the assembly line and have air intakes and outlets cut into the aluminum body, by hand, complete with exposed rivets and fixed headlights under Perspex covers to obtain the race-style Jota look, but still with an original, leather interior for comfort.
At that time three brand new, factory-built Miura SV were converted into the special SVJ edition, the first one went to the Shah of Iran, that car later ended up with famous movie actor Nicholas Cage, this Rosso Granada one is the last of the three factory new Miura SVJ built, and the modifications from SV to SVJ aren’t just cosmetic it seems.
The client could request a power boost when ordering a Miura SVJ, however, this model was never featured in any catalog, so all of them are really bespoke commissions, hence none of them are exactly alike, they all have small differences compared to one another, power boost could be 20 to 30 bhp apparently, according to Kidston the factory records for the first SVJ stated “engine modifications as carburetors with competition-type trumpets; quickly removable air filters; front oil radiator; double Bendix Testa Rossa racing fuel pumps; competition exhausts with three-into-one manifolds and four exits with either free-flow or silenced terminals.”
It also seems the ride height on the Miura SVJ was lowered compared to the original SV and came with modified anti-roll bars while the interior kept the Miura SV seats, usually in leather by now, but a multi-point racing harness was fitted and a fire extinguisher was added to the passenger’s footwell for safety reasons. If the riveted intakes and vents weren’t enough to convince you of the race-inspired looks, there was also a ‘chin spoiler’ added together with a quick-release outside filler cap poking through the front hood.
To this day there is a discussion among Lamborghini owners and enthusiasts about just how many of these Miura SVJ were built, and the answer isn’t easy, as usual with Italian car builders, records aren’t always kept up, and chassis numbers are known to ‘float’ sometimes when a car got crashed and was lost forever. But the consensus is that only three Miura SVJ were built as new cars straight from the factory, chassis 4934 for the Shah of Iran, chassis 4990 for Alberto Silvera, and this one, chassis 5090 … nicknamed ‘the Corsican Car’, keep in mine a regular Miura SV cost about Lire 8,000,000 in the early Seventies, the custom-built SVJ version was rumored to add Lire 5,000,000 to this!
But there are more Miura SVJ out there, a Lamborghini Miura SVJ on display at the 2020 Rétromobile show in Paris by the Lamborghini Polo Storico department was chassis #4860, and this specific Miura was built for Hubert Hahne, the German importer for Automobili Lamborghini SpA at that time in Dusseldorf. In 1972 this Miura SV was sent back to the factory to be converted into a real SVJ, by April 1973 Mr. Hahne received this very special Miura, probably the only one with a 110 Liter fuel tank, but it wasn’t a ‘new build’ Miura SVJ, this one was an official conversion on a car that already left the factory doors as a regular SV.
When Patrick Mimran took over the factory he also wanted a Miura to be built to SVJ specifications back in 1987, this was an orange over black Lamborghini Miura S #4088, it only received a few extra air holes in the bodywork and fixed headlights, the wheels remained standard, but it is rumored the engine was in fact upgraded and used a dry-sump too. The car was shipped to Switzerland after Patrick Mimran sold the company to Chrysler.
Back to chassis 5090 which was production number 756 and was delivered to Paul Ferrandi who was based in Paris but had businesses in Corsica, but the car was ordered from the French importer Voitures Paris Monceau, ten years later, in 1982, this Miura SVJ was sold to Alain Aouizerat in France with just 13,000 km on the counter, he picked the car up in Corsica and drove her onto the ferry and subsequently over the road back to Paris.
Mr. Aouizerat asked Carrosserie Chapron in Paris to repaint the car to a silver-grey but retained the red leather interior, a stunning color combination if you ask me, note that those two chronographs fitted on the central console were not factory original, but added by Paul Ferrandi during his previous ownership, Aouizerat kept them in place. He had the car registered in Paris on license plate 1717 YN 75, and after adding about 3,000 km to the counter by 1984, the SVJ car changed hands again, this time sold to collector Michel Barthet of Bonnac la Côte near Limoges. He kept the car for 22 years, but only drove it for 1,000 km during that time, in 2006 Luciano Colosio of Bergamo, Italy acquired this piece of history, the original French carte grise with license plate 8447 QV 87 in Barthet’s name is still with the car today.
By 2010 renowned Simon Kidston came into the life of this rare Lamborghini Miura SVJ, and he decided to have the car painstakingly restored back to factory specs, which involved a complete respray into the original Rosso Granada shade (note that the first SVJ, the Shah’s car, was the same shade but had a different shade interior). Body and paint were executed by Pietro Cremonini while the mechanicals was overhauled by ex-Lamborghini engineer Luca Salvioli at Top Motors, the interior was preserved and it still wears the original 1972 hides today.
This restoration took about 3 years and the car went through two more owners, accumulating nearly 20,000 km in total until this very rare piece of Lamborghini history got listed for sale again recently, and on his website, Kidston mentions this might be the only Miura SVJ to change hands in the foreseeable future, both #4934 and #4990 are kept in private collections and are not available on the market, making this #5090 your only chance to get one of the rarest, factory-built Miura SVJ customs in existence … price is on-demand mind you.
Check out the listing on the Kidston website here.
