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[December 4, 2001]
Miura Analysis
By Rick Carey
1971 Lamborghini Miura SV, Body by Bertone; S/N P4004886; Orange / Black leather; Recent restoration, 2+ condition; Not sold at Hammer bid of $186,000 -- No radio or A/C. Silver alloy wheels and sills. Single sump, replacement SV block. Nut and bolt concours restoration for Nicolas Cage, displayed at Concorso Italiano 2000, no apparent use since. Meticulously assembled, extensively documented restoration, excellent cosmetics. Better than new except for a small chip in the driver's mirror. SVs are the "perfected" Miura, incorporating all the improvements developed by years of expensive customer experience plus 385hp, big tires and stiffer chassis. Build quality wasn't great as Lambo was financially struggling but this restoration has probably corrected everything -- at a cost that must approach this bid. $200,000 wouldn't be too much for this example, even with the replacement block and no A/C. - Lot # 903, eBay/Kruse, Santa Clara, CA, October 28, 2001, on-site observation and photograph by Allen Carey.
The graph that follows tracks eleven transactions in the Miura S version over some nine years. It's adjusted for inflation to the most recent transaction and clearly shows the plummeting values following the late Eighties' frenzy for anything Italian followed by a slow and rational recovery in recent years. All the cars except the last transaction are plain ordinary 3 condition cars, good drivers but not show cars, which is typically how Miuras (of all three versions) seem to be offered. Two factors distort the graphic representation:
- The second transaction in April '92 was in Swiss Francs (1.5194 = US$1). Converted to US$ at the exchange rate at the time of the last reported transaction (1.7586 = US$1) it would be about $152,700, tending to flatten the curve.
- The condition of the car represented by the final transaction in August '00 wasn't as good as the others which pulls the current end of the curve down.
Today $140-150,000 is appropriate money for a 3 condition Miura SV, which typically run $60-80,000 more than a comparable Miura S. Brooks reported an over-restored Miura SV S/N 5038 as a post-block sale at Quail Lodge last year at $233,500 while a freshly restored SV S/N 4820 brought $148,500 at the New York Auto Salon & Auction in 1999. In light of all these factors, $200,000 or so for Nick Cage's 4886 seems very appropriate.
The Milken Institute Review has just published my article titled "Collector Cars - Investment or Indulgence?" on the collector car market's last decade in their Fourth Quarter 2001 issue. It contains analysis similar to the Miura S data, but with many more data points, for Jaguar XK 120 Roadsters, 300SL Gullwings, 275 GTBs and '55 T-birds. pdf copies can be downloaded through the Milken Institute website (www.milkeninstitute.org)
or directly from this
link. Updated comments and extensive data not presented in the article are offered at http://www.rickcarey.com.
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