A 1969 Lamborghini Miura achieved $2.3m at Mecum Auctions' Monterey sale on August 13-15.

It beat an estimate of $1.7m by 31.4%.

The Miura's radical design proved a hit with collectors on its release

Introduced in 1965, the car was an instant classic.

However, it was almost never built. Lamborghini was founded just three years earlier, in 1962, and created the radical design to stoke publicity.

Mecum explains: "Because of the huge response to the car, Lamborghini decided to build it, though they did not yet have a body. Bertone produced what is surely one of the most beautiful cars ever made and had a prototype ready just four months later, in time to show at Geneva in March of 1966.

"Orders poured in, and the plan to build perhaps 50 examples was soon scrapped.

"All told, over 700 Miuras would be built, effectively putting Lamborghini on the map, a shocking achievement considering that the firm was just three years old when the Miura was unveiled."

A 1970 Plymouth Hemi Cuda convertible made $2.2m.

Check out the results for this weekend's RM Sotheby's Monterey and Bonhams' Quail Lodge sales here.  

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