If you're a regular reader of Italpassion, the name John Temerian is probably not unfamiliar to you. We've already reported on how this Lamborghini collector got his hands on a rare Countach "Blue Tahiti" disappears off the radar in Japan. This time, the story is even stronger: without really looking, he found a Lamborghini Miura S that his father owned... over 50 years ago. And it all came down to a tiny detail, hidden on the hood.
From small French garage to supercar mecca
To understand this story, we have to go back to the 1950s. John Temerian's grandfather left France in 1957 to settle in the United States. He started at the bottom of the ladder, in a service station in Springfield, Massachusetts, before managing to buy it. Located next to a medical center, he simply christened it the "Medical Center Garage". A hard worker, he put in long hours and quickly became "the" local European specialist. Ferraris come and go, but so do Jaguars, racing cars and used 250 GTOs that nobody yet regards as works of art. In this modest setting, a family was born, entirely shaped by their passion for cars.
The boss's son, John's future father, obviously fell into it. At 13, he was already rebuilding an engine all by himself. At 16, while most of his high-school classmates were vaguely dreaming of a Mustang, he arrived at school in... a Lamborghini Miura.
A 16-year-old in a Lamborghini Miura
The scene seems unreal today. In the late 60s, after selling a Ferrari 250 GTO for around 9,000 $, the grandfather asked his son for his opinion. The latter finds the GTO "ugly" and asserts that the most beautiful cars in the world are the Jaguar E-Type and the Lamborghini Miura. The grandfather complied: first an E-Type, then a second-hand Miura for his son, for around 4,000 to 5,000 $.
The deal was clear: no salary, he worked for free in the garage, and in exchange he could use the car, as long as he performed impeccably at school. The young mechanical prodigy then went from one Miura to another in the same way as other people go from one scooter to another: he bought one, put it back on the road, sold it, bought another, and so on. Until one day, he came across a very special example: a red Miura S, black leather interior, air-conditioning, radio, US specifications, and above all two chrome mirrors mounted on the front hood. A unique configuration on the American market at the time. He made the most of it, eventually selling it to finance the purchase of a black Miura SV, a car he still owns today. At the time, no one imagined that the red would ever return to the family.
A young Canadian, a dream job and a forgotten Miura
The second part of the story begins... on Instagram. Around two years before the Miura's rediscovery, John Temerian received regular messages from a young Canadian begging him to join him at Curated, his Miami-based company specializing in vintage supercars, particularly Lamborghinis from the 70s and 90s. John declined several times: the company was small and he couldn't take on everyone. But the young man didn't give up. A year later, he turned up at the showroom, cap and Curated jacket on, as if he were already part of the team. This time, John is impressed by his determination and decides to give him a chance.
In the space of two months, the "rookie" became a veritable nugget radar. Among the cars he spotted was a red 1971 Lamborghini Miura S, forgotten in a garage in northern California. The car hasn't been driven in over twenty years, and the bodywork is pockmarked with dents, scratches and holes in the hood. But everything is original, from the glass to the chrome to the black leather interior.
Digging through Lamborghini's international registers, John discovers that there is only one Miura S delivered new in the USA in red with black leather interior, air conditioning and US equipment. At this point, a memory comes to mind: his father often told him about a Miura S in exactly this configuration, just before his famous black SV. What if the young Canadian salesman had unknowingly found his father's Miura?
The little detail on the hood that changes everything
John buys the car and has it shipped back to Miami. When he saw it come off the truck, he immediately noticed the first sign: two rear-view mirrors attached to the hood. Today, they're painted black, but the paint is peeling, revealing the original chrome. Exactly as his father remembered.
Now it's time to find out. John's father flies to Florida and comes face to face with the red Miura S, tired but intact. He circles around it, inspecting the details... until he stumbles upon that famous "little detail" that's going to change everything. On the side of the hood, he notices a kind of small lock cylinder, placed in a totally unusual position on a Miura. At first, John thinks it's a haphazard repair. Then his father begins to smile:
"Do you know what this is? It's not a lock. It was my alarm system. I was the one who had this mounted on the cars coming in and out of the garage."
This homemade alarm device, installed at the time at Medical Center Garage, could only be found on "his" cars. This unlikely detail became the strongest proof that this Miura S was indeed the one he had owned in the early 70s. Two weeks later, an old photograph finally emerged from the family archives, showing the red Miura with its two chrome mirrors on the hood and that characteristic little hole for the alarm. The story comes full circle.
English 
French 
Italian 
Spanish 
Portuguese 
German 
Japanese 
Turkish 
Dutch