The 1960s were a wild time in the Italian exotic auto industry, and the 175-mph Lamborghini Miura was arguably the wildest sports car of that era. The hand-built Miura did the seemingly impossible feat of topping Ferraris built for the road in that decade.

The 1966-73 Miura was created by the new Lamborghini auto company because Lamborghini founder Ferruccio Lamborghini simply hired Italy's best designers and engineers -- then gave them unlimited freedom and a blank check to build the best sports car they could. It turned out to be the impossibly sexy Miura.

The Miura essentially was styled by kids -- engineering wizards still in their 20s. It put Lamborghini on the map as a true exotic car builder.

Lamborghini, a wealthy Italian industrialist, had complained about weak clutches on his Ferraris to no less than the arrogant Enzo Ferrari at the Ferrari factory in northern Italy in 1961.

"Let me make cars and you stick to building tractors and home appliances,'' Ferrari said to the affable but tough, smart Lamborghini, who had started in life with practically nothing.

Angered, methodical Lamborghini immediately began building a modern auto factory near the Ferrari factory in the heart of Italian supercar territory and hired top auto designers and engineers to build high speed touring and sports cars.

Ferrari lived for racing his cars and building road versions of some of them for customers.

But Lamborghini cared nothing about racing. And that was a good thing, because there's much to be said for a road car not designed for the odd, very specialized conditions found on race tracks.

The Miura thus was more livable and comfortable than the top Ferrari road/race-style car -- the 1966 275 GTB/4.

The peculiar thing was that the Miura had a race car's mid-engine design, with its engine mounted sideways behind the front seats and ahead of the rear wheels. The GTB/4 was a front-engine car. A traditionalist, Ferrari insisted on putting the engine up front, saying "The horse pulls the cart, not the other way around."

Ferrari didn't build a mid-engine road car-- the 365 GT4 BB -- until 1974, when the Miura had been replaced by Lamborghini's famous Countach sports car.

Named for a fighting bull, as was the case with other Lamborghini models, the Miura first was shown as a bare chassis with a powerful V-12 engine at the 1965 auto show in Turin, Italy. That was only two years after Lamborghini's first car, the slick, successful front-engine 350 GT was introduced.

The Miura astonished the motoring world. A road car with such a design? Impossible!

The mid-engine location actually was practical because it provided the Miura with balanced weight distribution for secure high-speed handling and allowed a comfortably sized cockpit in a car with a short 98.4-inch wheelbase. The Miura was the first production car to have a mid-engine design. The transmission, final drive and crankcase were all cleverly cast in one piece to save space.

Top Ferraris had V-12 engines. So did the Miura. Lamborghini hired Italy's top-gun free-lance engine designer, Giotto Bizzarrini, who'd already made his mark at Ferrari, to create the new Lamborghini V-12.

Bizzarrini's 4-liter, four-camshaft Lamborghini V-12 produced 350-375 horsepower, which was more than enough to propel the strong but fairly light 2,744-pound Miura from 0-60 mph in 6.3 seconds. Being an Italian supercar, though, the car really began accelerating strongly above 60 mph to well over 130 mph.

The engine -- initially used in the Lamborghini 350GT and similar 400GT was smooth and nontemperamental because Ferruccio insisted that all his cars be docile road cars that could be used daily.

Lamborghini really knocked everyone out when the Miura was shown at the 1966 Geneva auto show with the most flamboyant body ever styled by Italian design genius Giorgetto Giugiaro, who worked at Italy's famous Bertone auto design firm.

The Miura body had shark-like styling, with curvy, sensual contours covered with louvers and vents. It was so low that it's roof was just 41.5 inches off the ground. Its aluminum body had recessed headlights that popped up to provide the low car with adequate vision. Both sides of the car lifted up entirely for easy access to components.

To gain general interest and publicity, Ferruccio Lamborghini parked a Miura in front of the casino in Monte Carlo.

It wasn't long before the rich and famous lined up to buy the car, which cost about $20,000, when the top-line Cadillac Eldorado convertible was $6,631.

Never mind the price -- the Miura was it. No other exotic car could top it. Besides its futuristic mid-engine design and gorgeous styling, it had all the stuff an exotic Italian sports car was supposed to have: a masterful engine, quick rack-and-pinion steering, five-speed manual transmission, four-wheel disc brakes and an all-independent suspension that provided a comfortable ride and let the car cling to twisty, bumpy roads at high speeds.

The Miura looked, handled and accelerated like a potential major race winner, but ended up mainly as a car to be seen in. Still, the interior was tight for tall, hefty Americans, and controls were heavy until higher speeds were reached. Ventilation was marginal, and luggage space was poor. Maintenance could be a headache -- and a door on one Miura won't fit on another.

The Miura was mechanically improved as the years passed. The original P400 model with 350 horsepower was succeeded in 1970 by the P400S with 370 horsepower -- and then the 1971-73 P400SV with 385 horsepower and a 175 mph top speed.

Miura production totaled 765 cars, which was more than a respectable figure for a costly, exotic auto. Each car was hand-built and thus each one was slightly different from the next when it came to welds and workmanship on different car parts. Somehow, that adds to the Miura's charm.

A good Miura is valued at from $80,500 and $199,500, with a show-quality P400SV at $285,000.

Too bad some of us didn't have the money to buy and store several new ones, because they sure could beat the stock market at today's prices.