FOUND: The Italian Job Miura alive after 46 years

The rare Lamborghini Miura P400 that car fans have long presumed was destroyed in the opening scenes of 1969’s The Italian Job has been unearthed still in mint condition.

According to reports and pictures from The Daily Mail, late last year two British businessmen were invited to inspect the orange Miura alleged to be the genuine celluloid legend garaged in storage in a Parisian underground car park.

After verifying the car’s authenticity, the pair bought what co-owner Iain Tyrrell calls “the holy grail of supercars” for an undisclosed amount, though the pristine Lamborghini is said to be valued at in excess of $AU1.9million.

The car stars in first three minutes of The Italian Job, climbing a pass in the European Alps during the opening credits, when it enters a tunnel and collides in to a bulldozer.

In a segue that has shocked car lovers for nearly half a century, the damaged, orange example of what’s widely considered the most beautiful supercar ever built is then completely destroyed after it’s pushed off the mountainside and into a river.

Tyrrell, who owns a classic car company, has validated his new purchase as genuine using the archives at Lamborghini – it transpires that SantAgata supplied two vehicles for the film, one for driving sequences and another damaged example for the ‘bulldozer sequence’.

Hired by Paramount Pictures for filming, the Miura was subsequently sold to a dealer, its custodianship thereafter tracked, though the car’s whereabouts after the mid-2000s became something of a guarded secret.

Around 740 of the original mid-V12-engined supercar were produced in its seven-year production between 1966 and 1973, many highly individualized – it’s claimed that various unique interior features of Tyrrell’s car support validation of its ‘legendary’ providence.

The original 1969 The Italian Job, starring Michael Caine, is regarded as one of the great car movies of all time and contains a legendary three-Mini getaway car chase scene considered one of motoring’s finest celluloid moments.

Tyrrell and co-owner Keith Ashworth plan to put the car on a global roadshow.

The actual crashed Miura is said to have disappeared, presumed stolen, shortly after its famous sequence was filmed.

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