Check out a technical drawing showing how deep the V12 engine and six-speed manual gearbox of the Lamborghini Miura go into the car and you may get the feeling the machine was drawn around its glorious powertrain. Of course, with Italian design icon Marcello Gandini penning the Miura as a Wedge Era masterpiece, it’s the styling that most people talk about. And a digital artist recently did more than just discuss the legendary Raging Bull, as the enthusiast completely remastered the configuration and the appearance of the car.
With the said V12 setup and its magnetic appearance, the Lamborghini Miura is credited for pioneering the modern incarnation of the supercar genre. The Sant’Agata Bolognese halo car wasn’t perfect, as, for one, it would generate front-end lift at high speeds. And while the various additions it received between 1966 and 1973 did address that, the pure shape of the original remains its defining feature, even for this rendering.
As such, 3D master serafini_swaphead, who is no stranger to remastering 1960s legends, as this modern Pontiac GTO rendering demonstrates, completely reworked the Italian exotic.
Sure, Lamborghini itself brought back the past with the Aventador-based Countach LPI 800-4 last year. But this digital work isn’t about using a contemporary Lamborghini as a starting point for a retro-looking design, even though it does come with modern Lambo hardware in the form of a V10 engine lifted off a Huracan/Gallardo.
Nevertheless, that V10 sits up front. And, with the unit being fully exposed, there’s no way to miss the fact that this Miura is no longer mid-engined.
As for the structural integrity of the vehicle, the new motor is secured by a frame spreading from the front of the vehicle to the doors, where we also find rear-view cameras.
Other novelty items include the LED lights buried in the Miura’s famous eyelashes, the motorsport-look wheels, and the rear lights, which we can only partially see. Speaking of which, the rear of the car seems to sport a widebody approach.
The idea is not quite as crazy as it might appear
With its new layout, this Miura looks like it’s been given a hot rod treatment, the kind that could always surface in real life based on a Miura replica. And, as wild as the concept is, we’ll remind you of a real-world Lamborghini hot rod involving an Espada that received a similar treatment.
Now, the Espada is a four-seater grand tourer that left the factory with the engine between the front wheels. However, the exposed engine bay and other body transformations make the two projects quite similar.
The real-life project in question came out of the hands of French builder Alexandre Danton (aka danton_arts_kustoms) and was signed by Ferruccio Lamborghini’s nephew Fabio, while being displayed in the U.S. at the 2019 SEMA show.
You can find a few photos of the Espada Hot Rod in the second Instagram post below, but we’ve also added a third post. The latter showcases a rendering of a Citroen 2CV that’s been given the opposite of this Miura’s treatment and now keeps the engine in the middle.
We don’t know if the two enthusiasts are working together and yet we can tell you that Alexandre Danton recently completed a 2CV hot rod build in real life and while this isn’t a midship machine, it does pack a Chevy V8.