In the not-so-distant past, if you wanted a classic car restoring it usually meant doing it yourself or using a specialist restorer, probably at massive expense. There's now another way though, as the manufacturers themselves have now discovered a new and lucrative income stream of restoring classics at the factory. There have been a few notable ones recently, and some manufacturers such as Jaguar and Aston Martin have even gone as far as producing brand new versions of some of their old classics. However, in terms of desirability, an ultra-rare one-off Miura SVR from Lamborghini may come out on top.
This stunning SVR model is one of 763 Miuras Lamborghini built between 1966 and 1972, and as well as the "regular" versions there was also a limited number of "Jota" specification models, or SVJs, that were developed by Lamborghini factory driver Bob Wallace. This particular one that has been restored by Lamborghini is a Miura S in green with the chassis number #3781, which was built in 1968 and was shown at the Turin Motor Show.
The car was bought by a German customer in 1974 who took it back to the factory to be restored for the first time in its life. While it was undergoing a rebuild that took 18 months to complete, the Miura was converted into a special, created-for-the-occasion SVR specification, which was a step above even the renowned 440 horsepower SVJ models.
Japan was the next stop for #3781 where after its sale it became a genuine hero car as it made it into manga comic books and also served as the inspiration for the Kyosho toymaker's SVR model car line.
Forty years after it was taken to Japan it was decided that the car was in need of restoration, and when it arrived back at the factory it was already in pieces. The car certainly wasn't a rotting barn find by any means at that point as it had been sold as a complete car in Japan in 2015.
Because the car had been previously been modified in 1974, Lamborghini's Polo Storico factory restoration division boss Paolo Gabrielli admits the factory wasn't really able to use the same approach as these restorations normally require. Instead, they were forced to work mainly from the specifications from that 1974 rebuild.
The restored car was on display at a recent event at Nakayama Circuit in Japan as it was delivered to its owner.
Comments
0 comment