VIN: Albert Silvera's Lamborghini Miura P400 SV/J chassis 4990
History of chassis 4990
Chassis 4990 was the second of four Miuras officially built to SV/J specification.
Completed on April 18th 1972, it was ordered by Haitian diplomat and businessman, Albert Silvera.
Silvera had close connections with Francois ‘Papa Doc’ Duvalier who was elected Haitian President in 1957.
Silvera served as Haiti’s Director of Tourism and reputedly had ties to the American CIA.
During the 1960s, he built the El Rancho Hotel & Casino on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. Famed for its stunning architecture, the grand project had started life as Silvera’s private residence.
Silvera also owned homes in Florida and Paris, a private plane, a yacht and several high end European cars, most of which were factory customs built to his personal specification. Among the first were a brace of Ferrari 275 GTBs and a Rolls-Royce Phantom V Limousine with special James Young coachwork.
Over the winter of 1968-1969, Silvera flew to Italy and ordered a Miura (3883) and an Espada for Francois Duvalier.
In April 1972, Silvera collected chassis 4990, the first of three highly individual Lamborghinis built for his personal use.
Like the other three official SV/Js constructed between late 1971 and early 1973, chassis 4990 featured a tuned engine, straight-through exhaust, modified bodywork and uprated suspension.
The finished car was painted Rosso Granada Metallizzato with a Nero leather interior and registered on the export plate EE 60147. Ferruccio Lamborghini personally handed the car over to Silvera at the factory.
The SV/J was subsequently flown out to Haiti via Florida. It was frequently seen at the El Rancho Hotel.
Like Silvera’s other exotics, chassis 4990 was maintained by the Cressman / Baumgarten Ferrari dealership in Fort Lauderdale. Mechanics from Cressman / Baumgarten would normally fly out to Haiti to perform routine service work.
Precisely how long Silvera retained chassis 4990 is unclear.
Back in April 1971, Francois Duvalier had died and was succeeded by his 19 year old son, Jean-Claude ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier.
In May 1980, Jean-Claude Duvalier married Michele Bennett in a wedding that cost $2m.
At some point, chassis 4990 was reputedly sold to Michele Bennet’s father, Ernest, the owner of a 50,000 acre coffee plantation in Haiti.
As a result of a domestic uprising, Jean-Claude Duvalier and his wife ultimately fled Haiti for Paris in February 1986.
In 1994, chassis 4990 was purchased from Haiti by a Japanese collector.
In 1997, the car was sent to the Lamborghini factory for restoration. By this stage, the original colour scheme had been switched to red with white leather.
Albert Silvera’s other Lamborghinis included a 1975 Countach LP400 with custom paint, leather and an engine tuned by Dallara Automobili (chassis 1120056) plus one of the five Countach LP400 Speciales (chassis 1120222, built in 1976).
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Lamborghini - https://www.lamborghini.com
