When it comes to classic cars, there’s one name that’s always at the top of list: the Lamborghini Miura.
Often considered the daddy of all supercars, the Miura set the standard for the highest performance cars for 40 years. Mid-engined and rear-wheel drive, the V12 Miura was the blueprint.
But at getting on for 50 years old now, all but the most cossetted examples will be showing some signs of wear and tear. Or at least a few wrinkles and stone chips. That’s where Lamborghini Polo Storico comes in.
Polo Storico — literally “Historical Center” — is Lamborghini’s in-house heritage specialist. Its studio is within the brand’s factory in Sant’Agata Bolognese, providing a dedicated space for clients with older models.
It specializes in the restoration of classic Lamborghinis — those out of production for at least a decade — and provides of original spares to owners. It reckons it holds a spare parts warehouse that covers more than 65% of classic Lamborghinis.
The Polo Storico department meets with owners around the world, transporting their classics to Italy for restoration. A car may spend up to two years under its care, and it gets through projects at the rate of one a month. It has been showing off some of its projects at Salon Retromobile in Paris this week.
The Miura on display is a 1967 P400 model. It underwent a ten-month restoration, which included bodywork, chassis, electrical, braking and cooling systems. With access to the original production documents for the car, Polo Storico was able to rebuild the interior to its original colors.
It’s already an award winner too. With its restoration complete in August 2017, it won first prize in the Miura P400 class at the Lamborghini & Design Concorso d’Eleganza in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. In the same month another Polo Storico project won the Salon Privé concours event in the UK. That was also a Miura P400, owned by Gian Paolo Dallara, one of the car’s original engineers.
Also on display was a 1976 Lamborghini Countach LP400. This is a vehicle part-way through its restoration, as you can see by the lack of mechanical components. Polo Storico has restored the body shell, including repainting in its original yellow body color. The engine — a matching-numbers V12 — is in the overhaul stage, while the restorer also sets about the original “Tabacco” interior.
They’re just two of the cars under Polo Storico’s care. Other models include examples of the LM002, Espada, Jarama, Islero and Diablo. Each car it restores gets a “Certification of Authenticity”, which Lamborghini says “preserves and enhances the value of Lamborghini classic cars”.
To cater for those who want to maintain their own classic bulls, Polo Storico also offers a parts service. In 2017 it added another 200 parts across the Lamborghini vehicle parc. This now includes cylinder heads for the 4-liter V12.
Due to client requests, Polo Storico dug into its archives for the original technical drawings for the engine, which powered Countach, Islero, Jarama, Espada, Miura and 400GT models for 16 years. It drafted in Lamborghini’s current R&D team, and consulted the engineers of the day, to produce this part.
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