Early P400 Cars
The early Miuras are characterized by their wooden steering wheels and straight shift lever. In addition, the frame sheet metal on the first 125 cars was 0.9 mm in thickness. This was increased in chassis 3312* to 1.0 mm due to some areas of weakness in the frame. These early cars can be strengthened by adding gussets and braces in critical areas. While perspective buyers are wary of the "thin frame" cars, the cars are lighter and reported to be quicker than later Miuras. I have heard some people say that the thickness of the metal continued to increase, but I have never seen that in print, nor have I measured it.
* According to Stefano Pasini's book on the Miura, chassis 3312 was car #125. The Coltrin & Marchet book says #125 was chassis 3306, and that 3312 was car #126.
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Early Miura P400s had a wooden steering wheel, with two slots in each spoke. Click to enlarge. |
Incidentally, the easiest way to tell a P400 from an S or SV is that the headlight, windshield, and side window trim is black while on the later cars it is chrome.
