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Miura Mania: Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the world's first supercar

By Jared Paul Stern, for CNN

Updated 7:43 AM ET, Tue January 12, 2016

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Lamborghini Miura. Often acknowledged at the world's first supercar, it's unveiling at the 1966 Geneva Motor Show, shocked the autos industry.
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This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Lamborghini Miura. Often acknowledged at the world's first supercar, it's unveiling at the 1966 Geneva Motor Show, shocked the autos industry.
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"For the rest of my life I'll feel happy whenever I look at my Miura," said Ferruccio Lamborghini. "This car left its mark on its age, and I say that nobody has built anything better since."
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"For the rest of my life I'll feel happy whenever I look at my Miura," said Ferruccio Lamborghini. "This car left its mark on its age, and I say that nobody has built anything better since."
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The original Miura had a record-shattering top speed of 280 kph and could do 0-100 kph in just 6.7 seconds thanks to its 350 hp V12.
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The original Miura had a record-shattering top speed of 280 kph and could do 0-100 kph in just 6.7 seconds thanks to its 350 hp V12.
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The Miura's interior conveyed the power lurking within its engine bay. For speed and style only Ferrari could rival it.
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The Miura's interior conveyed the power lurking within its engine bay. For speed and style only Ferrari could rival it.
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"You buy a Ferrari when you want to be somebody," said Frank Sinatra, who ordered a bright orange Miura for his 54th birthday. "You buy a Lamborghini when you are somebody."
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"You buy a Ferrari when you want to be somebody," said Frank Sinatra, who ordered a bright orange Miura for his 54th birthday. "You buy a Lamborghini when you are somebody."
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Rod Stewart owned two Miuras, including this rare 1972 SV version, both of which came up for sale in recent years fetching record prices.
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Rod Stewart owned two Miuras, including this rare 1972 SV version, both of which came up for sale in recent years fetching record prices.
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Miura auction prices have been steadily rising. A 1971 Miura S is expected to fetch up to $1.5 million at RM Sotheby's Arizona sale on Jan. 29.
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Miura auction prices have been steadily rising. A 1971 Miura S is expected to fetch up to $1.5 million at RM Sotheby's Arizona sale on Jan. 29.
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The Miura "offered a thrilling combination of not only performance and tremendous speed but also design and technical innovation that were meant to shock and awe," RM Sotheby's notes.
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The Miura "offered a thrilling combination of not only performance and tremendous speed but also design and technical innovation that were meant to shock and awe," RM Sotheby's notes.
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In 2012 a long-forgotten 1969 Miura S originally owned by shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis was discovered in a warehouse in Greece.
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In 2012 a long-forgotten 1969 Miura S originally owned by shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis was discovered in a warehouse in Greece.
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A one-off Miura Roadster, built by Bertone for the 1968 Brussels Auto Show, was a sensation but never went into production.
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A one-off Miura Roadster, built by Bertone for the 1968 Brussels Auto Show, was a sensation but never went into production.
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Story highlights

  • Lamborghini's iconic Miura Roadster is often acknowledged as the world's first supercar
  • The Miura was first revealed at the Geneva Motor Show in 1966

(CNN)In 1966 an unremarkable company, founded three years prior by a man who built tractors for a living, forever changed the sports car industry.

The unveiling of the Lamborghini Miura shocked the auto industry and then the rest of the world at the 1966 Geneva Motor Show. While just down the aisle Ferrari showed its customary front-engined cars in the form of the somewhat underwhelming 365 GTC Spyder and 330 GTC, the Miura was a mid-engined marvel -- except that the prototype didn't actually have an engine in it.

    No matter, Ferruccio Lamborghini kept the empty engine bay locked while his engineers continued to work on its muscular V12 back in Sant'Agata Bolognese.

    Ferruccio Lamborghini with Don Eduardo Miura of Spain, who raised the fighting bulls that gave their name to the Miura.
    Ferruccio Lamborghini with Don Eduardo Miura of Spain, who raised the fighting bulls that gave their name to the Miura.

    Even without an engine, the Miura -- named after a breed of Spanish fighting bull and designed by the legendary house of Bertone -- was so beautiful and powerful-looking that even Ferrari's own team couldn't keep away from it. And Lamborghini confidently assured everyone it would indeed be the world's fastest production car.

    "Ferrari was stunned by the appearance of the Miura," writes Joe Sackey in The Lamborghini Miura Bible (Veloce Books, 2008). "Lore has it that Gianni Agnelli [chairman of Ferrari parent Fiat] virtually went bananas, dragging his men over to Lamborghini's stand and saying to them, 'Look, this is what we should be thinking about!' To say that the Miura caused sleepless nights in Maranello would be an understatement."

    Lamborghini Miura Roadster (1968)
    Lamborghini Miura Roadster (1968)
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    As the Miura's 50th anniversary approaches the car is more revered than ever. "The Miura created in 1966, only three years after the foundation of Automobili Lamborghini, is one of the most iconic sports cars of all time and a defining product for Lamborghini until today," current Automobili Lamborghini President and CEO Stephan Winkelmann tells CNN.

    "With its transversely mid-mounted 12 cylinder engine it was our first mid-engine car and became the first super sports car of modern imprint: sensational design, revolutionary approach and the founder of the brand myth. Our mission [today] is it to preserve this myth."

    Miura jota. The loudest #Lamborghini ever

    A photo posted by Automobili Lamborghini (@lamborghini) on

    Following the 1966 Geneva show, orders quickly piled up for the world's first supercar, which cost $20,000 (the equivalent of about $145,000 in 2016). Between 1966 and 1969 Lamborghini built and sold 275 first generation Miuras, known internally as the P400.

    It proved especially popular with famous musicians including Miles Davis, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, who had his interior custom-upholstered in wild boar leather. The Miura stayed in production until 1973 when a global financial downturn, the oil crisis and new auto emissions regulations conspired to do it in.

    As for Ferruccio Lamborghini, he sold his shares in the then-troubled company and retired to a farm in Umbria in 1974. "I'm enjoying the peace and quiet of my vineyard," he said a few years later. "And when I miss the sound and the fury, I take refuge in my garage and turn the key in the ignition of my Miura."