At the moment, the site is primairly being used to document the restoration of my own Miura, #3901. I have had the car since 1981 and it is finally being restored. I have never driven the car. I bought it with the engine out. With this site I can keep friends and family up-to-date with progress news and photos. This way they'll really believe me when I tell them it's finally being restored.
As I have time, I will add general Miura information to the site. I welcome your suggestions.
Chris Holl
| 6/27/08 | I'm remembering my friend Bob today on the anniversary of his passing, and thought I'd update the site with news. Unfortunately I don't have any good news. Bobileff has given priority to other customer's cars, which came in after mine, and while the Miura Roadster and Miura SVJ are being readied for Monterey, 3901 has been pushed aside. I was really hoping to have the car ready. This year Lamborghini is being honored, and I made a promise to Bob that the car would be finished. I'm not happy about it. I'll try to get the Urraco finished so I can participate in the celebration of my favorite car company. |
| 5/25/08 | I spent today at Bobileff's working on the car. I've added a few pictures of parts getting ready, and the result of my efforts today on Page 27. |
| 5/17/08 | I've updated the Acqusition page with the history of 3901. Thanks to "Lambo" Jack Riddell I was able to contact Enzo Moruzzi at Lamborghini who worked there when my car was built - both times. |
| 4/19/08 | The body sections start to come together and parts are test fit before final blocking begins. See Page 26. |
| 2/26/08 | The Miura headlights clean up beautifully, but progress stalls on the Urraco as I sucumb to a miserable cold. Page 25 added to Restoration. |
| 2/10/08 | Progress resumes on the Urraco. I've posted a new page showing the interior going back together. Expect weekly updates on that project until it's done. One way or another, I'll have a running Lamborghini to take to Monterey in August. |
| 1/19/08 | I've taken all my remaining Miura parts to Bobileff Motors, and work on frame is finally complete! Body work begins with panel alignment. |
| 12/26/07 | Last update of the year. Restoration page 23 added to show the SV suspension conversion is complete. Only a very few more frame updates left to do. |
| 11/12/07 | I've added updates for Sept and Nov to the restoration
pages (21 and 22). The SV control arms are ready to go!
Someone suggested that by providing links to Amazon from points in my site, I may earn enough to cover the costs of the site. Since this is a non-profit, hobby site, I'm considering it. It would be nice if the site could pay for itself. Any comments? |
| 7/22/07 | I finally got another scanner (my old one failed years ago) and so I scanned in the rest of my books and brought that list up to date. I also sorted the publications by date. |
| 7/1/07 | My dear friend Bob Merrell, who is forever tied to 3901,
passed away on June 27th. This is a tremendous personal loss. I've added
a dedication page that will remain for some time. Please take a moment to read it. I hope you can
take some inspiration from this, as Bob inspired me. Eventually I will create a tribute section
for this site.
Gary performed a fitting experiment with SV suspension, and my new rods arrive. See page 20. |
| 3/25/07 | A couple weeks ago I took all of the interior parts
down to Bobileff so that the upholstry work could begin. I'm eager to see these old parts
in their new leather and color. The photos are on page 19.
I also have some Urraco progress photos to post. Coming soon. |
| 12/31/06 | Finally, a new page 18 showing the body work! Progress continues again, and I should have steady updates now until the gala unveiling at Monterey in August! |
| 11/22/06 | Just a quick note to let you know that I haven't died or given up on the restoration. In fact, I have recently managed to fund the balance of the work and am hoping that the car will be ready to take to Monterey in August 07. With the new crankshaft and other updates done on the engine, I decided to splurge and order a new set of custom rods from Carrillo Industries. I hope to have some photos to share soon. Thanks to everyone who has contacted me with support to keep up the work. |
| 3/12/06 | I finally took all the pistons and rods back to Bobileff Motorcar, so the engine will start going together soon. No new pix yet, but I'll add them as the engine work progresses. |
| 10/23/05 | Engine work progresses slowly on the pistons and rods. New pics posted. |
| 11/23/04 | If you need a set of vintage tires for your exotic, join the Lamborghini Registry and other vintage sports owners in writing Pirelli to let them know. Click here to learn more. |
| 9/10/04 | The new Miura crankshaft has arrived. |
| 7/24/04 | More of the Urraco is painted in primer. Only a few weeks before it's yellow! |
| 7/18/04 | A bit more work on the Urraco to primer more parts. |
| 7/12/04 | I have resumed work on the Urraco, after a long idle period. I'm motivated by progress on the Miura so it's time to get serious about selling the Urraco. I've posted some "work in process" photos and will update them as the project continues. For potential buyers, it should be yellow in three to four weeks. If you want another color, contact me now. :-) |
| 6/12/04 | I had to share this picture from the Lamborghini Registry. This is close to what my car will look like when it's done. My block is now having new sleves inserted, so I should have some new pictures next week. |
| 4/24/04 | I've bought two die cast cars that I really like: An AutoArt Miura SV and a Koysho Countach LP400. I've added both to the models page. There are also some photos of my new valves on restoration page 13. More head work to come. |
| 9/6/03 | I've added a section for scale models. |
| 8/31/03 | Starting on the engine. See Restoration page 12 for the evolving crankshaft story. |
| 4/17/03 | page 11 shows more frame work. Almost done now. |
| 3/19/03 | The frame is back from Ye Olde Twist & Stretche Shoppe, all squared up. See page 9. |
| 2/23/03 | I've posted a new restoration page 8 just to get into practice of updating this site again. :-) I've managed to fund some more restoration work, so you should see some progress soon. |
| 1/19/03 | I've received several e-mails asking how the project
is coming along. I can't believe it's been over a year since I updated this site - and worse,
made any significant progress on the Miura. I did buy, via Bobileff, a pair of Espada lower rear
control arms, which will be modified to match Miura SV suspension. I'm considering this upgrade.
While it has handling advantages, creating an S with SV suspension results in a car that the factory
never made, so (what's left of) the purist in me is hesitating. Stay tuned.
Much progress has been made on the Urraco, although it is not yet yellow. I was given a digital camera for Christmas, so I will be taking photos soon to show you the Urraco. Thanks to all who have written with questions, encouragement, and shared your stories with empathy. |
| 8/12/01 | Projects always take longer than I think. The Urraco is almost ready for yellow paint. |
| 7/2/01 | I've received some e-mail from people asking how the Miura is coming. Unfortunately, I have kept this site up to date. In other words - no progress. I expect to paint the Urraco this week, so I'll post some photos of it when it's done. I visited the Miura at Bobileff's last week. Including mine, Gary has five Miura's in his shop: Two SV's, an S, and another P400. Naturally, we're copying all the S and SV mods to my car. Or rather, we will be when the Urraco sells. Stay tuned. |
| 3/25/01 | I've added a few photos to the "Other Photos" section. The Urraco is coming along slowly. The car has been painted several times, and removing all the paint is taking more weekends that I thought. And I'm finding I have less weekends to work on it than I thought. Still, progress was made today. I hope to have it painted in another month. |
| 1/27/01 | I've almost finished adding my Lamborghini library to the "Books" page, including my Miura book that was autographed by Lamborghini! I've also updated the left nav. No progress on the Miura, but the Urraco is coming along. It is almost primered. Most votes are for yellow :-) and two people have suggested I let the buyer choose. I'll try that for a couple of weeks after the car is in primer, but I want to make progress so I can get back to the Miura. I enjoy hearing from other Miura fans and welcome your comments. |
| 12/16/00 | Sorry, not much going on with the Miura or Urraco. I will be adding some books (new section) that I have, to give you something new to look at while the Miura project waits for the Urraco to sell. I expect progress on the Miura will resume in January or February. Happy Holidays! |
| 11/4/00 | I've added some photos in the "Early Efforts" section, and a few more Urraco photos. Also added a new "Other Photos" page. |
| 10/29/00 | The new pictures are up. |
| 10/19/00 | No new pictures posted yet (I need to finish the roll
and post the new pix), but the car is right-side-up and primered. The frame from the rear
bulkhead forward is finished! It is strong, straight, and beautiful. The rear frame still
needs some work, but Bobileff can only restore the car at the same rate I can fund it, and
with the recent decline in the stock market, I can't afford to fund it as fast as either of
us would like. :-(
I'm thinking of selling my 1975 Lamborghini Urraco P250 to continue the Miura project. The Urraco has a completely rebuilt engine and a to-the-metal new paint job (in progress). Let me know if anyone is interested. I'll post some photos of that car too. (Now I know how to finish the roll of film.) |