Lamborghini Muria's NZ Connection,Bob Wallace

[thunder427]

...spent the weekend of the 21st Oct.to the 23rdOct.at the 'Motorclassica' Auto show here in Melbourne,flipped out when I saw this beautiful 'Green' Miura,this being one of my all time 'Bucket list' cars,ever since I saw the 'Italian Job',just couldn't believe they 'Tossed' one over the bank !!!!!!!!

Aquired a 'Collector'/Motorclassica' copy of the great publication..OCTANE/100th Edition,this pulication has the 'Green Machine' on the cover with an excellent article on the same,very imformative,this particular 'Lambo' is the pride of Iain Tyrrell of Cheshire Classic Cars/UK...Its a credit to his talent and passion....But!!!....David Lillywhite,the author of the article,bought to light the impact that Bob Wallace a 'New Zealander' had on the Miura's development in the First instance!

To quote David Lillywhite;etc,etc.....And much of that was down to Bob Wallace,a New Zealander who,before being recruited by Lamborghini,had been a race mechanic with Camoradi Team,working with Graham Hill.As single-minded as he was talented,Bob was responsible for ironing out the Miura's early Faults..........the article goes on to outline his efforts

Love the 'Iconic' Miura (Especially this Green one!!) bit now I find out that it took a 'Bloody Kiwi' to get it going for them at Lamborghini !!!!!!!!!!!!....so Friends and Race fans,what else do we know of Mr Bob Wallace???????????????....regards thunder427/MJ

[RogerH]

There is a bit on Bob in the TNF forum : http://forums.autosport.com/index.ph...hl=bob+wallace

[Steve Holmes]

The Miura is pretty high up on my Bucket List too Myles, a magnificent looking car, although I doubt I'd even manage to cram my frame inside one. I had read somewhere the contributions Bob Wallace had made to this car. Really impressive, and a nice link.

Interestingly, you'll be pleased to know the Miura that was pushed off the cliff in The Itialian Job wasn't actually the same car that was driving along in the opening scene. The production company had found a wrecked near new Miura prior to filming which they were able to use for that scene. Notice they don't actually show the car crashing. It just goes into a tunnel and there is an explosion a few moments later. That film was created on a very tight budget, even the E Type Jaguars that were trashed by the loader were rebuilt, and sold to help with production costs, and the Aston that went over the cliff wasn't actually an Aston at all, it was a Lancia.

[carmagreviews]

Steve I think you got it wrong - Yes 2 Lamborginis were used and not crushed they were early chassis numbers both i believe surive - I heard this from one of the owners many years ago on the Lamborghini owners forum the car that crashed into a Bullzozer was a rare Lancia Flamina Zagato (That were not worth much in Italy in those days! Yee gods now) and made into a replica Lamborghini ; Yes the JAguar was was rebuilt and as for Aston Martin being a Lancia thats news to me

As for Crashed Lamborghini this was made into a 1 off special that was featured in magazine in 1973 and I cannot remember what i filed it under when i documented the said magazine on my database ...

[Steve Holmes]

Thats just the info I'd read, which made sense to me, as the film was made on a very tight budget, despite appearances. Here is the opening scene with the Miura. You can see it drives into the tunnel, but you don't actually see it crashing. There is just an explosion in the darkness. Next they cut to a bulldozer dragging a wreck out of the tunnel and dropping it off a cliff.

[Steve Holmes]

And here is the scene with the Aston and the two Jags. The Aston that goes over the cliff was said to be a Lancia Flaminia mocked up to look like an Aston, although it appears the car that is hit by the digger on the road is the Aston.

[tonttu]

So anyone remember the match race between the Bellis Daytona and the Rhodes Muira at Ruapuna?

[Steve Holmes]

Neat photo. Who won?

[Powder]

Neat photo. Who won?

Ruapuna National Race Meeting, 26 May 1974.

[Steve Holmes]

Brilliant! Thanks Powder.

[Murray Maunder]

Wow, the Miura was touted as "the first supercar" with it's transverse mounted mid-engined V12 said to be capable of "over 180mph"! I once saw a red one parked alongside a Ferrari Daytona and a Dino 246 outside the Red Fox Tavern, never seen another one. The Countach by comparison was common as muck and nowhere as graceful of lines. Pure classic! Thanks Thunder.

Bob Wallace was said to be chief engineer on the Miura development team I believe and I remember seeing him interviewed in a doco on the marque on Sky TV, a most down-to-earth guy.

[David Manton]

Bob Wallace's key role at Lamborghini features in a chapter on NZ race engineers/mechanics along with a series of historic photographs in my book "Enzo Ferrari's Secret War", the story of NZ racing driver Pat Hoare and details of his links with Modena. Many of the Bob Wallace photos appear for the first time. You can read more on the website www.enzoferrarisecretwar.com which includes some great colour photos of Pat Hoare's V12 Ferrari at Monza when Phil Hill, won the Italian GP, the last Formula One victory by a front-engined car.

[tonttu]

[QUOTE=Powder;6621]Ruapuna National Race Meeting, 26 May 1974.

I always thought the result was a bit contrived. Bellis had on off on lap 1.


And Rhodes seemed to tour around (albeit reasonably quickly) until Bellis caught up and on the last lap it was a drag race from the sweeper to the finish line which Bellis won. Regardless it was great at the time to see 2 such fabulous exotic Italian cars on the track.

[Shano]

I can hear that photographer's rissole clangin' shut from here...

[carmagreviews]

Thats a great piece of the film - I seen that quite a few times over the years - I agree they were on a tight budget
as for the Lamborgini - Mr Lamborghini himself lent 2 to the production company and he did not want any of his cars destroyed - Here is a letter to editior reference from a Lamborghini enthusist who tells us which ones were used but here he says the crashed car was a Fiat see Letters Section January 1997 Throughbred & Classic Cars Page 29 "2 Miura used #1268 & #1329 for opening scenes however it is a myth that one was used for the crash scene In realty it was a Fiat with customised body" Source Marco Makus; Milan;Italy

Not all scenes were filmed in Italy - Some were filmed in the UK - The Sewer Scene called for sewers 18 feet across and column written by Edward Eves see 16th July 1970 Autcar (GB) page 51 Volume 133 issue 3880 a copy is available National Library Molesworth Street Wgtn

as for the Minis - one was fitted with a 1800cc engine - See November 1999 Practical Classics page 70 issue 12

There is a lot of myths concerning the Italian Job - I believe the Aston was an Aston as the car used was an older car and would have only been worth in 1969 around 1500-2000 pounds and may have been recovered (remember the car was stored for the mastermind while he was 'abroad' ie in prison
Several years ago Allan Dick in company with a number of international journalists went to the site where the crashed Lamborghini is supposed to be rolled off and they were under impression a real car was used!

Look at past TV series
When you look at The Persquaders TV series starring the late Tony Curtis and Roger Moore everybody thinks that Aston Used is a DBS V8 but in fact was a DBS 6 as Aston Martin could not supply one in time so it was dressed up to look like one - that Aston is stil around and registration number on the Aston was real too - as for the 2 Ferraris used no one is sure where they are

Get Smart Tv of the 60s - the 2nd season features a Sunbeam Tiger or does it - No that was Sunbeam Alpine GT 1725 dressed up to look like a Tiger again the production company could not get one in time

As for Bob - Wasn't he involved with making a 1 off Uracco Rally car which is still around in the Lamborghini Museum and I believe a replica is been built by someone - is here or overseas?

[Steve Holmes]

Wow, I didn't know the Get Smart Tiger was actually an Alpine! What a let down.