History of chassis 4874

Chassis 4874 was a left-hand drive Miura SV configured in Bianco with two-tone Bianco / Nero upholstery.

It was dispatched to Malta on June 25th 1971 for British property magnate, John Gaul.

John Gaul owned a substantial amount of real estate around the Soho area of London along with the famous Coronet Club. The Miura was the latest in a long lone of extravagant cars he had purchased in the years after Word War 2.

Perhaps most famously, in 1947 Gaul had commissioned coachbuilder Freestone & Webb to create an elaborate open-drive enclosed Sedanca Limousine on a Rolls-Royce Phantom III that came to be known as the Copper Kettle on account of its extensive use of said material. Shortly afterwards, Gaul had Parisian coachbuilder Saoutchik create elaborate Roadster and Sedanca bodies for a Delahaye 175 S (later sold to Diana Dors) and a Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith.

All three cars were shown extensively at Concours de#Elegance events around Europe.

During the 1950s, Gaul had become friendly with many of the high profile Maltese investors that similarly owned large tracts of Soho property. In 1960 (four years before independence), the colonial authorities of Malta granted Gaul a 150 year lease for the island of Comino.

Gaul was obliged to build a 200-room hotel and a restaurant on the island in exchange for the annual rent of just £100.

The same year that John Gaul took delivery of the white Miura, he married his long-term girlfriend Barbara whom he had met in 1959 as an 18 year old (when Gaul was either 48 or 49). Three years later, the couple began an acrimonious divorce.

In January 1976, Barbara Gaul (who had threatened to expose some of her ex-husbands shady dealings) was shot as she stepped out of her car in a pub car park in Patcham, Brighton. She died two months later after complications that arose from infections to her wounds.

John Gaul was questioned by police, but subsequently released for lack of evidence. However, three days after the shooting he fled to Italy and then on to Rio de Janeiro; it subsequently transpired that two brothers from London had been contracted to carry out the execution.

Despite requests from police, Gaul refused to return to England. He died in September 1989 following the latest of several heart attacks.

At this point, chassis 4874 was brought back to England and put up for sale. It is depicted here at the London Classic Car Show in early 1990 with an asking price of £400,000.

The Miura was subsequently sold to a buyer from Jersey and re-registered J 4537.

In January 2007, the car was stolen from a French garage while undergoing repair in the town of Saint Sebastien. It has not been seen since.

Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Supercar Nostalgia