Renowned auction house RM Auctions is preparing another upmarket listing for their upcoming Monaco event on May 10. 2014 … one of the entries is a very special 1969 Lamborghini Miura S, a regular factory specs model Miura S is already a highly sought after car that demands a high price these days.
In fact in the RM Auction Paris listing from February 2014 a 1971 Miura S with SV conversion sold for nearly USD $700,000 while back in October 2010 one of the original, factory built 1971 Miura SVJ units sold for over USD $1,200,000 … the car that will now be offered for sale in May should be somewhere in-between I guess … it is a 1969 Miura S that has been converted into a Jota/SVJ style look alike, albeit not by the factory but by a third party specialist.
This Lamborghini Miura with chassisnumber 4280 and matching engine number 30422 was built in October 1969, factory records show the car was finished on October 23. to be exact, finished in Rosso Corsa with a black leather interior, initially delivered to ITALCAR FABBRI … furthermore records show this car already received the uprated 1mm chassis steel and was internal production number 423.
Later on this 1969 Lamborghini Miura S was sold to a Japanese owner while in 2009 images were found showing a conversion to Jota looks, complete with front spoiler fin and cut out vents behind the front wheels, rear wheels and on the rear fascia panel between the taillights. These photos also showed fixed headlights under plexi covers and lightweight sliding side windows, while the wheels remained standard Miura units painted black.
One of those 2009 photos actually shows a very special engine cover design … the usual Miura louvers were replaced by a transparent plastic section with cut out slots to allow air to exit the hot engine compartment … at this moment the photos showing the car going to auction no longer feature this plastic engine cover, instead the original louvers are back.
The fixed headlights still reside under plastic protection covers while the lower mounted turn signals and fog lights also received a cover. The front hood has the usual ‘open’ vents surrounded by lots of rivets, initially a fast fuel filler has been cut out from this massive panel but these more recent photos show two fillers on either side while the hole in the front hood has been covered up.
On the side behind the front wheels we now find a large air vent on either side while behind the rear wheels the vent has been closed up again it seems …. the original Miura wheels have been replaced with Jota style center lock units that show a massive width at the rear. While the lower grille has been removed and four massive exhaust tips are mounted under the rear fascia between the taillights.
Another weight saving operation are the side windows, the glass units have been replaced by lightweight plastic units that feature a sliding section, just like on a race car … and the weight reduction is carried on into the interior … the dashboard has been replaced by a riveted unit while a series of toggle switches take care of the more important features … even the round holes in the chassis under the doors are visible now … somehow I guess there is not a lot of sound deadening material left in this 1969 Miura S, so it might get loud inside.
At the moment the RM Auctions listing doesn’t show any pricing yet on this special car, but being a converted 1969 Miura S I still think it will demand a hefty price to acquire … perhaps not in the same range as one of the official factory made SVJ models, but still more than a regular S model would demand.
