Wednesday One-Off: 1968 Lamborghini Miura Roadster

Ask any car enthusiast what the world’s first supercar was, and the Lamborghini Miura is bound to be in the mix for the claim. It was famously displayed as just a rolling chassis and engine at the 1965 Turin Salon, with only a single seat, steering wheel, spare wheel and radiator fleshing out the concept.

By the 1966 Geneva motor show, the stunning body styled by Marcello Gandini was ready, but with no time to check the engine fitment, the car was instead weighed down with ballast and the rear clamshell cover locked shut. Nevertheless, the reaction to the car saw it go into the testing stages swiftly, before the first production cars were completed in April 1967.

Later that year, the first discussions about a spyder version of this remarkable supercar took place, and in January 1968 the ‘Lamborghini Bertone Miura Roadster’ was revealed at the Brussels Salon de L’Automobile.

Far from just removing the roof section, the Miura Roadster featured numerous modifications to the standard coupe. The roof line was lowered by around 30mm with a reprofiled windscreen, the rear section was redesigned with the louvred engine cover removed, new lights, and re-routing of the exhaust tailpipes.

Its side air intakes were enlarged to feed and cool the engine, the integrated bootlid spoiler was larger, and the chassis was strengthened to help mitigate the loss of the roof structure. While cars of a similar design often feature a targa top, there was no such consideration with this concept, and no side windows either. It was conceived solely for thrilling the driver on warm and dry summer days.

The striking Roadster was finished in an elegant light blue metallic hue, with off-white leather upholstery, and red carpets. Its steering wheel was copied directly from the one fitted to Gandini’s 1967 Lamborghini Marzal concept.

While it wowed the crowds, series production of the Roadster was reportedly never on the horizon. Nuccio Bertone allegedly stated years later that this was because of concerns about chassis rigidity, even with the additional strengthening – but no official reason was ever given. Once back at the factory after its publicity tour, it is thought that plans were hatched to offer the car as a one-off to a high-profile collector, but fate had other plans.

At around the same time as the Roadster was on show, the International Lead and Zinc Research Organisation (ILZRO) had been seeking a dramatic vehicle on which to demonstrate the possibilities of different metal components and plating processes. It is reported that they initially approached Lamborghini to use a production Miura coupe, but the company’s then general manager, Paolo Stanzani, offered them the one-off Roadster instead.

The ILZRO makeover was completed in early 1969, with the Miura Roadster now featuring a raft of bespoke finishes, including a zinc bumper and grille, zinc radiator and zinc-coated exhaust system, zinc trim on the front clamshell, along with a wrought zinc steering wheel, gear shift gate and gear knob. Even parts of the engine received specialist zinc coating or plating. The car had also been repainted in a dark metallic green, and was dubbed the ‘Zn75’ in reference to the element’s abbreviation in the periodic table.

In order to showcase the zinc fabrication and finishing processes to an automotive industry audience, the Miura Roadster toured North America, appearing in Michigan, California, Pennsylvania, and Quebec. It also made visits to London, Tokyo, Sydney and Paris.

The story of the car is then largely one of moving between collections, being kept for some years in the Boston Museum of Transportation, before being acquired by the Portman UK Lamborghini concessionaire, later spending time in Japan, and in more recent years with various enthusiasts in the US and France.

Between 2007 and 2008, a major restoration was commissioned by New York property developer Adam Gordon to return the car to its 1968 Brussels show specification, which was carried out by the renowned Lamborghini specialist Bobileff Motorcar Company in California.

The culmination of the restoration saw the one-off Lamborghini Miura Roadster star at the 2008 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, where it took second place overall, driven onto the presentation area by Lamborghini test driver Valentino Balboni.

Subsequently offered for sale by well-known dealer Simon Kidston, this remarkable car naturally also features in The Lamborghini Miura Book – “the definitive book on the definitive supercar”, which was the result of nearly two decades of research led by Kidston and his team.