The Lamborghini Miura P400 destroyed in the opening scenes in 1969's The Italian Job was actually two Miuras, one that had been previously wrecked, and a fully-functioning new Miura. That surviving Miura was basically lost for decades after the movie’s release, but recently an example was found and confirmed by Lamborghini to be the surviving Miura from the movie.
Lamborghini calls the Miura the “most” desired car of 1969, which, uh, the Chevy Corvette might have a (extremely good) argument with that, but (anyway) suffice to say it was definitely cool as hell, made only cooler thanks to the movie.
And, so like dozens of other Miuras, the Italian Job Miura was sold as new to a customer in Rome once the movie was done with and wasn’t seen much ever since. It was around, somewhere, and in 2015, Octane claimed that it found what might have been it in the hands of a British collector.
When Lambo found the one it later confirmed to be the real one it was in the hands of collector from Lichtenstein, identified as Fritz Kaiser. That was in 2018, when Lambo’s restoration division began work on it. The confirmation process before all that was pretty extensive (as surely the restoration process was, if the photos are any guide.)
Via Lamborghini:
The car was sent to Lamborghini’s specialist historic department at its Sant’ Agata Bolognese headquarters, where Polo Storico’s reconstruction started from documentation in the company archives and from examining the car. The results were then supplemented with testimonies from enthusiasts and former employees, such as Enzo Moruzzi, who delivered the car to the set and drove it in all the shots as a stunt double. By doing this, Polo Storico was able to find the missing evidence and certify that the Miura P400, chassis #3586, was exactly the one used to shoot “The Italian Job”. This recognition comes at the same time as the 50th anniversary celebrations of the film, released in June 1969.
I had kind of assumed that people hadn’t always been looking for this car, that it was perhaps something in which interest in it grew with nostalgia. But Lamborghini said that, in fact, some people had been looking as soon as a few years after the movie’s release.
It only took only about five decades, but Lambo found it in the end.
