Extract from auction website where we sold it:
It was M. Penchinat, a successful developer in the South East of France, who ordered this stunning Miura from the marque importer, Voitures Paris Monceau, after reading in the papers that Johnny Halliday drove a Lamborghini Miura. It was liveried in red with natural wild boar skin interior. The car arrived in Paris at the start of November 1969, and was registered 9259VY75 on 20 November 1969. It was chassis number 4377, making it the 454th to be built. Until 1973, M. Penchinat was lucky enough to travel the autoroutes in France at an average speed of between 200 and 250 km/h, regularly going from Nîmes to Paris and back. The oil crisis brought that to a halt in 1973, when the speed limit was reduced to 130 km/h. From then on, Penchinat preferred to live with his memories of a machine that felt like a racing car rather than potter along with everyone else at 130 km/h. The Lamborghini was put away at the back of his garage, and as his sons were too young to drive, he sold the car, with some regret, to a garage owner in Nîmes.
The car is still presented today in a stunning red livery. The interior is resplendent in beige coloured wild boar hide (cinghiale), and the leather on the seats and across the dashboard is in wonderfully original condition, adding a touch of class and originality to this Miura. According to Valentino Balboni, just two Lamborghini Miuras would have been had this finish at the time. After its life in France, the car headed back towards its native country, probably at the end of the 1970s.
There is an important testimony provided by an eminent figure in Lamborghini history, Valentino Balboni, that helps us to understand this car’s story. Balboni was the firm’s chief test driver for 40 years. He was responsible for testing the majority of cars that left the factory at Sant’Agata and knew this particular example well. The car was checked at Lamborghini during the 1990s, and this inspection established that the car was presented in beautiful original condition, both the paintwork and interior as well as the mechanical elements – the engine and transmission. Knowing this, Balboni advised an acquaintance and great marque enthusiast, Mr Carlo Mauri, who subsequently bought the car. The deal was done in 1997, and on the advice of the same Mr Balboni, he entrusted the car’s maintenance to the Top Motors garage, owned by none other than Orazio Salvioli, former technical director at Lamborghini for decades. In 2007 the engine was overhauled at this garage, confirmed by Balboni who drove this car for the last time at the end of 2012. He judged this car to be in exceptionally good, original condition at this time, corroborated by the matching numbers of the different mechanical and body parts.
The car has 32,000 km on the odometer and is presented in superbly preserved condition. It appears to have the original paintwork. It will be sold with owner’s manual (uso e manutenzione) and network guide. An exclusive automobile rarely seen in such an original condition as this.
