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Barn-find 1969 Lamborghini Miura S headed to auction for its 50th birthday

Car collectors who have caught barn find fever show no sign of healing from it anytime soon. An unrestored, barn-found 1969 Lamborghini Miura S will sell for big money when it crosses the auction block in the fall of 2019, and it might return to the road in time to celebrate its 50th birthday. Auction house RM Sotheby's explains the Miura S it will sell in London on October 24 has only covered a little bit over 10,000 miles since it rolled off the assembly line in Sant'Agata Bolognese, Italy. German advertising executive Walter Becker purchased the car in 1971, according to CarBuzz, and sold it to racing driver Hans-Peter Weber in 1974. He drove the Miura, maintained it, and went to great lengths to keep it original until he died in 2015. It has been parked in a German barn since, so it's a freshman barn find that likely doesn't need a ton of work to once again move under its own power. We'd be more worried if it spent 25 years in a barn. The front turn signals aren't original, and the seatbelts are aftermarket units, but the rest of the car is 100% authentic. Its body has never been repainted, the seats have never been re-upholstered, and the 365-horsepower, 3.9-liter V12 engine has never been opened. It's complete, and there are no signs of obvious damage or neglect. We've seen 10-year old supercars in worse shape than this one. The Miura is one of the most sought-after 1960s Italian cars, only 338 examples of the S variant were made from 1968 to 1971, and finding an unrestored example that hasn't been completely destroyed by people, rust, or both is rare. RM Sotheby's expects the 1969 model scheduled to cross the block in London will sell for anywhere between 800,000 and one million British pounds, sums that represent $965,000 and $1.2 million, respectively. We'd get the V12 running, keep the rest original, and enjoy it, but the next owner might be tempted to give it a full restoration, especially now that Lamborghini sells a full catalog of Miura parts via its Polo Storico division. Featured Gallery 1969 Lamborghini Miura S barn find View 18 Photos Auto News Lamborghini Performance Classics

Hamann Nervudo is an angrier Aventador

Hamann Motorsport made a big splash at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show with a modified Lamborghini Aventador. The metallic orange monster has been rechristened the Hamann Nervudo, and packs an extra 60 horsepower and 34 pound-feet of torque, thanks to a few tweaks to the ECU. The other big mechanical change is an optional exhaust, which we're told exists solely to spit fire. Doesn't the Aventador do that already?
The big changes that transform the Aventador to the Nervudo, though, are on the surface. Hamann has made some significant aerodynamic adaptations, starting with a massive rear wing and a reformatted diffuser, with the latter made of unpainted carbon fiber.
Up front a two-piece, carbon-fiber spoiler creates a more aggressive fascia, although the overall effect is somewhat lessened, as Hamann has fitted what can only be described as flared nostrils to the Nervudo's front end. While we aren't crazy about the nose, the new side skirt and engine vents are both nice touches, particularly the scoop on the roof. Not surprisingly, the body enhancements are all available in carbon fiber. A set of multi-spoke whees from the Hamann Professional collection has been chosen to replace the stock Lamborghini items, with 21-inch hoops out back and 20-inchers in front shod in the requisite, ultra-sticky Pirelli tires.

Lamborghini Huracan could become an 850-hp PHEV next year

So far, Lamborghini is celebrating 2022 with record sales and odes to the internal combustion engine thanks to a raft of special editions. The Italian automaker's plunge into electrification starts next year with the next-generation Huracan and its plug-in hybrid powertrain. Lamborghini's head of research and development said, "The engine will be bespoke for Lamborghini. On the final details we can’t yet communicate this, but I would say more than six and less than 12 cylinders for the combustion engine." The easy (well, easier...) option would be to tweak one of the Volkswagen Group's twin-turbo V8s to work with a pair or trio of electric motors. Auto Express says its sources suggest two bits of intel on that engine, the first being that it could be an in-house design "not sourced from VW Group," the second that combined output might exceed 850 horsepower. Such a theoretical coupe would be 169 horses more potent than the Huracan STO and easily satisfy Mohr's assertion that the new generation "from the performance point of view ... will again be a big step." Lamborghini is spending $1.8 billion on its path to an electric future. It's possible the firm could take part of that money to develop a V8 for itself, instantly setting itself apart from the other high-dollar brands in the VW Group. Naturally, we'd love to see that, or even a hybrid V10; what a monster that could be, although heavy, and engineers have been clear about waging a war against weight. The Wolfsburg parent is known to be a huge fan of scale, though, and a V8 or V10 that only serves two vehicles — the Aventador will continue with a V12 even as a plug-in hybrid — seems like a stretch to get approval. Parsing this also depends on how the automaker could define "in-house design." We've seen massively revised engines built around an existing block considered "all-new." The Huracan could debut as soon as next year, one year ahead of the automaker's commitment to electrifying the whole three-car lineup. Autocar says that looking ahead from there, we'll finally get eyes on the battery-electric Lamborghini in 2028. Last year, the predicted window was sometime between 2025 and 2027, and an interview with Lamborghini chief Stephan Winkelmann has clarified a few bits.