Few embodied winter style better than the Shah of Iran, an avid skier since his school days at Le Rosey in Switzerland. In early 1968, he was seen leaving his holiday retreat, Villa Suvretta, with his wife, Empress Farah Diba, in his personalized Lamborghini Miura—the first of several he would own—while limousines followed with skis and an entourage.
Painted Rosso with a white interior, the Miura was flown to the Royal Garage in Tehran on March 15, 1968, and later sold in 1973 for $12,000 to the son of Iran’s ambassador to Italy, a trusted aide who frequently ordered cars for the Shah. After the revolution, the Miura was auctioned, discreetly driven out of Iran via Turkey, and eventually arrived in London via Geneva, where the Shah’s son became its next owner. Though restored, he found it too hot and the clutch too heavy, leaving it in storage for years before selling it again. Decades later, Simon Kidston acquired the Miura and oversaw its meticulous two-year restoration in Italy. In 2019, with the owner’s permission, the car once again carved through snowy roads, echoing its historic moment from 51 years earlier near St. Moritz.
