The Holy Grail of the Lamborghini Miura has been located

The most famous Lamborghini Miura in history, the one used in the film The Italian Job, has been located after more than 50 years of searching.

It has been 50 years since one of the must-see films in a petrolhead’s film collection, The Italian Job, was presented to the general public. The whole plot of the film began with a spectacular Lamborghini Miura P400 taking bends on a beautiful Alpine road.

However, the “bad guys” of the film set a trap for the character played by actor Rossano Brazzi in a tunnel. A digger blocks the path of the muscular Italian sports car, and it ends up smashed against it, culminating this atrocity by throwing the car off a huge ravine.

It seems like sheer madness to throw a Lamborghini Miura P400 off a ravine, especially considering that its current market value far exceeds 600,000 euros. Although the car appears to be destroyed as it crashes into huge rocks, the bosses at Lamborghini were not so crazy as to sacrifice one of the most desirable cars in their history. For this reason, Paramount Pictures, the production company behind The Italian Job, asked Lamborghini for a Miura that was already damaged to send over the edge.

However, the whereabouts of the Lamborghini Miura P400 used to descend the Great St Bernard Pass remained unknown for several years. Collectors from all over the world pulled their hair out for decades trying to have this unit in their garages, although all they achieved were misleading clues that led nowhere.

Everything indicates that this very special Lamborghini Miura was in Liechtenstein

The Kaiser collection in Vaduz, in Liechtenstein, had among its vehicles a Lamborghini Miura identical to the one in the film: Arancio Miura colour with black and white leather upholstery. The question was therefore clear: What if we are the ones who have the Holy Grail and don’t know it?

For this reason, the collection’s managers decided to take their unit to Lamborghini Polo Storico, the historic vehicles department that Lamborghini has in Sant’Agata Bolognese, which, for example, is also responsible for restoring the spectacular Lamborghini Miura SV of Jean Todt to its former glory. These craftsmen of the automotive world examined all the documentation the company had on the matter and scrutinised the car itself.

In addition, the testimonies of some former brand employees helped in the work, especially that of Enzo Moruzzi. He was the one who delivered the Lamborghini Miura to the film set and who actually drove the car in the driving scenes.

Moruzzi provided the investigation with some very specific details, such as the fact that, since the Lamborghini Miura had to return to the factory intact after filming, some modifications had to be made to it. The damaged unit that Paramount bought had white and black leather upholstery, so Lamborghini supplied one with the same configuration. However, the brand did not want to risk the seats of the new unit getting dirty during filming, so it swapped them for used black ones and left the headrests white so that nothing would be noticed.

The pieces fit, this is the Lamborghini Miura that was being sought

After cross-checking a large amount of data and seeing that the puzzle fitted perfectly with what the witnesses had described, it has been certified that the Lamborghini P400 residing in Liechtenstein bears chassis number #3586. This seemingly unremarkable number makes sense once it is confirmed that this is the unit used to film this cinema classic.

Following the investigation, it has been possible to establish where this coveted collector’s piece has been all these years. After filming, the car was sold to its first owner in Rome. Fifty years later, in 2018, Fritz Kaiser acquired this unit for his collection, though not before it had passed through several hands.

After learning this fascinating history, there is no doubt that the collector from Liechtenstein has a unicorn in his garage. In the world of classic car auctions, a fact such as that of our protagonist today can cause its market value to rise enormously, so we will have to see whether Kaiser keeps it or decides to sell it and pocket a tidy sum.