The ex-Sheikh Al Sabah of Kuwait
1968 Lamborghini Miura P400
Chassis no. 3640 Engine no. 2145

• Production number 222, a late-series P400 Miura with strengthened chassis
• Delivered new to Geneva, Switzerland, for Sheikh Faisal Duaig Al-Salman Al-Sabah of the Kuwaiti royal family and in the same Kuwaiti ownership until the late 1980s
• Presented in the car’s original combination of iconic Verde Miura with black, one of fewer than 20 cars produced
• A well-known, matching numbers Miura with history in Kuwait, the UK and mainland Europe
• German registered

“Returning the Miura to Bob was like returning from Disneyland—we were sad to have to come back to the real world”American magazine Road & Track borrows a Miura P400 from West Coast distributor Bob Estes in early 1968

Fifty-nine years on from its sensational debut at the March 1966 Geneva Motor Show, the Lamborghini Miura is the definitive supercar of the 1960s. In original P400 form it left its rivals for dead in terms of styling, performance and handling, and immediately became the favourite of sheikhs, playboys, rock stars and industrial tycoons.

Today, the Miura is considered the motoring landmark which set the template and inspired all Latin exotica which followed. It is frequently voted ‘sexiest car’ of all time.

A total of 274 Miura P400s were despatched from 29 December 1966 to 15 April 1969. The cars were in a process of constant development and changes to specification were frequent. Variations in interior trim, chassis construction, tyres, steering wheels, dampers and even fuel tanks were common. From car 126 onwards, sections of the Miura’s chassis were formed in thicker-gauge steel, and from car 200 extra reinforcements were made around the bulkhead to improve the stiffness of the structure. This became the standard chassis for all ensuing Miuras even including – suspension apart – the final run of SVs built from 1971-1973.

A feature of the new car was its dazzling palette of 1960s colours. The prototype was presented at Geneva in a unique orange. Rosso Miura (light red) was the most frequent choice for P400s, made famous on the car used in the opening sequence of the cult 1969 movie, The Italian Job. Plain white – always popular in hotter climes – came next, then Giallo Miura, a beguiling yellow. Perhaps the most iconic shade, shocking Verde Miura, was actually seen on only 42 cars leaving the Sant’Agata factory new.

It was rare for an early Miura to be delivered with a leather interior. Such was the demand for the cars that, unless on a VIP list or with time to wait, most customers were more than happy with the standard vinyl, or vinyl with velour trim. Green cars had either black or Gobi (‘sand’) imitation leather interiors and in later P400s the seats had central sections in basket-weave. All had ‘tombstone’ headrests in matching basket-weave vinyl.

Production of the P400 stopped in spring 1969 when the model was replaced by the subtly refined and imperceptibly improved P400 S. When dyno-tested today, despite claims in period of greater output as the years and models went by, all Miura V12 engines produce broadly similar power.

Each version has its adherents: the SV for rarity, revised rear suspension, wider wheels and bodywork; the S for electric windows, vented disc brakes on later cars and the greater chance of finding an original leather interior; the P400 for its status as the original, the one that changed the way the world looked at supercars. Plus, for many, interesting first owners, delicate 1960s wheels and tyres, distinctive headlamp eyelashes, a varied choice of interiors and the blazing colours of some P400s always have a great attraction.

This Motor Car

According to Bertone – who made the Miura’s body and interior – Miura P400 chassis 3640 was finished in Verde Miura with a Nero (black) fintapelle (also referred to as skay, imitation leather) interior. Factory records confirm the car was despatched on 17 July 1968 to supplying agent Grand Garage des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland. Of the 42 P400s delivered inVerde Miura, 18 had black interiors: 13 all-leatherette, 5 with grey velour seats,

The Swiss city on the French border has always been a popular European home for the international jet set including show business stars and European and Middle Eastern royalty. No factory records list the name of the first owner, but in an email to Simon Kidston then running Bonhams Europe dated 25 July 2002, a younger Al-Sabah requested further information on the green Miura purchased new by his father when residing in Nyon, a short drive away from Geneva. His father, who passed away in 2024, was Sheikh Faisal Duaig Al-Salman Al-Sabah of the Kuwaiti royal family.

Miura 3640 was used by the sheikh in Europe and his home country, covering just 11,000km until November 1981 when it was flown back to the Lamborghini factory for service work that included changing the bright green to a then-fashionable white. The car returned to Kuwait in its new colour and remained there until 1989 when acquired by a Briton working in Kuwait, who airfreighted it to London Heathrow where it was collected by UK Lamborghini concessionaire Portman, who carried out an extensive recommissioning on what was still a very original (colour change apart) P400 Miura. The car was registered KRX 297H in the UK and picked up from Portman in January 1990.

Simon Kidston, then working at Coys auction department in London, recalls being asked to view the Miura in the Lots Road showroom of Connaught Chelsea, run by ex-Portman employee the late Mike Perry. The car was consigned to Coys March 1991 auction and featured in a video shot at the Chobham test track outside London. It was offered as a two-owner, 21,100km car and sold to London-based collector Roki Sotra, who had the interior retrimmed in black leather and resold it again a year or two later. After spells in London and France, by 2005 the car was in the hands of British telecoms tycoon, historic racer and collector Tom Alexander. It was sold again in 2009, still white, at 26,500km, to a British collector who commissioned a return to as-delivered Verde Miura. While in his ownership, ‘3640’ was displayed at the Cartier Style et Luxe Concours at the 2011 Goodwood Festival of Speed and was a cover car for the 100th edition of British magazine Octane.

In late 2014, at 28,000km recorded, the Miura found a new home with German enthusiast and collector Wolf-Dieter Baumann, who kept it for some two and a half years before selling it to the current owner, a fellow German collector. During this time it was maintained locally and has been exercised with relish on Swiss events such as the Grand Prix Historique de Montreux in 2018 and the 2019 Passione Engadina. It remains a ‘matching numbers’ Miura in fine driving condition, in arguably the best colour for a Miura, a car with an interesting history which we have known for almost 35 years.