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‘Italian Job’ Lamborghini up for sale in UK

A rare Lamborghini Miura that appeared in the 1969 classic 'The Italian Job' has gone on sale in England, with offers of "over €1.42 million" already flooding in, the seller told The Local.

'Italian Job' Lamborghini up for sale in UK
An iconic 1968 Lamborghini Miura, used in the opening sequence of The Italian Job, has gone on sale in England. Photo: Cheshire Classic Cars

The orange P400 (one of just five ever made) can be seen racing across the stunning Gran San Bernardo alpine pass in northern Italy at the beginning of the film, as the as Matt Monro's 'On Days Like These' is played.

The classic car is then destroyed in a crash before being tossed off a cliff by a mafia gang.

But in real life, two separate cars were used during filming, with only one Miura being tossed off the cliff. The surviving Miura was discovered in Paris last year by two British businessmen.

““The fact that it has been confirmed as the car from The Italian Job makes it potentially the most famous Lambourghini in the world,” the car's co-owner Iain Tyrrell told The Local.

Tyrrell, the founder and managing director of Cheshire Classic Cars,  said they bought the long-lost car following a tip-off that it was being sold by an Italian businessman, Norbetto Ferretti.

He then flew to France and viewed the car in an underground car park in Paris, where Ferretti said the Miura was the one that had been used in the film.

Tyrrell used the car's serial number to officially confirm with Lamborghini, which was bought by Germany's Volkswagen in 1998, that the car had been leased by Paramount for use during the filming of The Italian Job.

“Each of these cars is unique,” Tyrrell added.

“They were all had stitched by Italian women, and so have their own 'fingerprint'. Forensic experts have reviewed high definition film stills and confirmed that the stitching in this car is identical to the one in the film.”

In spite of the car's age, it is still in mint condition and has just 19,000km on the clock.

The sleek two-door coupè has had just five owners in the last four decades and can still reach a top speed of 273 Km/ph.


Tyrrell with the iconic car. Photo: Cheshire Classic Cars

Tyrrell said that despite being a huge motoring enthusiast, the decision to sell the car came down to business.

“We're a classic car dealership and not classic car collectors, business comes first.”

There has already been a huge interest in the car, with some offers “well in excess of £1 million (€1.42m)”, Tyrrell said.

The discovery of the long-lost Miura, not to mention the offers on the table, have given Tyrrell, an ex-professional singer, cause to dust off his old microphone.

“I have actually re-recorded my own version of 'On days like these', which is now available to download from Amazon and I-Tunes. I'll of course be giving any proceeds to charity.”
 

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ACCIDENT

German tourists among 13 dead in Italy cable car accident

Thirteen people, including German tourists, have been killed after a cable car disconnected and fell near the summit of the Mottarone mountain near Lake Maggiore in northern Italy.

German tourists among 13 dead in Italy cable car accident
The local emergency services published this photograph of the wreckage. Photo: Vigili del Fuoco

The accident was announced by Italy’s national fire and rescue service, Vigili del Fuoco, at 13.50 on Sunday, with the agency saying over Twitter that a helicopter from the nearby town of Varese was on the scene. 

Italy’s National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps confirmed that there were 13 victims and two seriously injured people.

Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported that German tourists were among the 13 victims.

According to their report, there were 15 passengers inside the car — which can hold 35 people — at the time a cable snapped, sending it tumbling into the forest below. Two seriously injured children, aged nine and five, were airlifted to hospital in Turin. 

The cable car takes tourists and locals from Stresa, a resort town on Lake Maggiore up to a panoramic peak on the Mottarone mountain, reaching some 1,500m above sea level. 

According to the newspaper, the car had been on its way from the lake to the mountain when the accident happened, with rescue operations complicated by the remote forest location where the car landed. 

The cable car had reopened on April 24th after the end of the second lockdown, and had undergone extensive renovations and refurbishments in 2016, which involved the cable undergoing magnetic particle inspection (MPI) to search for any defects. 

Prime Minister Mario Draghi said on Twitter that he expressed his “condolences to the families of the victims, with special thoughts for the seriously injured children and their families”.

Infrastructure Minister Enrico Giovannini told Italy’s Tg1 a commission of inquiry would be established, according to Corriere della Sera: “Our thoughts go out to those involved. The Ministry has initiated procedures to set up a commission and initiate checks on the controls carried out on the infrastructure.”

“Tomorrow morning I will be in Stresa on Lake Maggiore to meet the prefect and other authorities to decide what to do,” he said.

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