Page 42: The Last Decision?
March 2026

Progress is starting to pick up. Colors were selected for the dashboard, carpets, and seats, etc. As noted on the prior page, I have tried to keep in the spirit of the original brown/tan colors. Selecting the colors was difficult since I wanted to balance going completely original (brown vinyl) against a leather upgrade in colors that appealed to me yet kept the original theme. Parts of the dashboard are returning from the upholstery shop covered in beautiful brown leather. The door handles are back, looking great, and the door panels should be back soon. I thought all the tough decisions were behind me and I could just watch as it finally all came together.

Then Bobileff called.

For many years he had been saving a very rare engine plate that is necessary to run air conditioning. It has a pulley that drives an A/C compressor. Without this, it's almost impossible to fit A/C to a Miura. He had decided to part with it and wanted to know if I would like A/C added to my car.

He had, or could get, all the necessary parts. Wow. It was so tempting. I always felt that the only thing missing from my otherwise "perfect" (for me) Miura was A/C so it could be driven on a hot day. The offer was not cheap. I have paid less to buy nice cars. Did I need it? Could I afford it? How often was I going to drive it on hot days anyway? Would it delay the project beyond August (Monterey)? Gary gave me a few nights to sleep on it, but I finally decided I couldn't pass up this rare opportunity. Unfortunately it meant redoing a few things on the car that I had already paid to have done, such as setting up the twin distributors, having the dash upholstered, etc. I hate rework, but in this case it was unavoidable. I gave him the green light. (Lots of green.)

Here is my passenger dash, upholstered in leather and ready to install.

And here it is with the beautiful new leather ripped off, and the mounting for the air vents added.

Back to the upholstery shop!

The door pulls are coming along

Gary has assured me that this is the year. The car will be ready by August to take to Monterey to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Miura.

I feel a bit like Charlie Brown, believing that I'm really going to kick that football this time. But I can't help it. Optimism is high. I hope it really happens.

Stay tuned for more interior progress, and at long last, the engine assembly!