1970 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 'Daytona' Berlinetta
Coachwork by Carrozzeria Scaglietti to a Pininfarina Design
Registration no. Not registered in the UK
Chassis no. 13537

The Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Berlinetta – better known as the 'Daytona' – was introduced by the Maranello marque at the Paris Salon de l'Automobile exhibition in October, 1968. Deliveries did not then commence in any quantity until the latter half of 1969, and although it was the first Ferrari to be built in numbers to meet the new US Federal Regulations, the European version was marketed first and US-legal cars were not to become available from the factory until the middle of 1970.

In his book 'Ferrari – Forty years on the Road' (Dalton Watson, 1988) the American Ferrari authority Stan Nowak wrote: "The Daytona was another world. It looked the part of the most powerful 2-seater sports car of its time. It was what an enthusiast felt a real Ferrari should be. Purposeful, aggressive, demanding and somewhat intimidating. The Daytona was all of these things and it was a machine that could not be taken for granted. To get the best out of it took great concentration and demanded 100 per cent of the driver". He continued; "The fact that the air conditioning was inadequate was really not a sales deterrent; it was adequate up to about 85 degrees Fahrenheit and 70 per cent humidity. Beyond that you turned it off and opened the windows – and enjoyed the sound of the glorious V12 engine. Who needs air conditioning?".

The Daytona first emerged with fixed headlights protected behind knife-edged plexiglass farings merged into the wedge-shaped nose form. The 365 GTB/4's 4-cam V12-cylinder engine had bore and stroke dimensions of 81mm x 71mm to displace a full 4390cc, and with twin-overhead camshafts per cylinder bank, single outside-vee plug ignition, and a compression of 9.3:1, the engine featured drysump lubrication and breathed through an impressive in-vee parade of six twin-choke Weber 40DCN 20 carburettors.

It provided no less than 352bhp at a raucous 7,500rpm and drove to a five-speed and reverse transaxle-type gearbox. Cast-alloy 15-inch diameter road wheels shod the all-independent suspension system, and while the front-engined Berlinetta received some criticism for its traditional configuration, French racing driver-cum-journalist Pierre Dieudonne (for example) put the opposing view in 'Virage' magazine. While admitting that the 365 GTB/4 was "...not as avant-garde as it could have been if built as an answer to the Miura...it is instead a synthesis of practicality giving an automobile of the most refined form". The American journal 'Road & Track' put it more succinctly: "The fastest, and best, GT is not necessarily the most exotic...".

When road tested competitively against the Lamborghini Miura, the Mercedes-Benz 350 SL, the Jaguar V12 E-Type and the De Tomaso Pantera, the Ferrari 365 GTB/4 was the fastest of the five at 278km/h – 172mph – and the fastest accelerating with a 13.8 second standing-start 400-metre time and 24.3secs for the standing-start kilometre. This despite its closest competitor, the Miura, being not only lighter – at 2,745lbs versus 3,571lbs – but also more powerful,
its V12 engine being rated at 385bhp against the Ferrari's 352.
Production of the now legendary Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona ran to something over 1,300 including both Berlinetta and sister Spider versions and it is predictably held in the most tremendous regard today throughout the classic and Historic car world.

This Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Berlinetta was completed new at Maranello on June 19, 1970, and was delivered to official dealer Motor Sas di Carla Allegretti e C of Bologna, Italy. They sold it to first owner Giuseppe Minganti e C. SpA, of Via Liberazione, Bologna, Italy, for a declared price of Lire 8,400,000. On July 1, 1970, it was registered in Bologna as 'BO 421277' and on November 9 that same year it was serviced by the Ferrari factory Assistenza Clienti in Modena's Viale Trento Trieste.

Returning there on January 26, 1971, its odometer reading was recorded as 5,604kms. For a third service on July 2, 1971 – to factory order number 373G and factory delivery note 4463, its odometer reading was already up to 14,941kms – evidently the car was in regular and enthusiastic use.

On March 11, 1976, the car was sold by Minganti to only its second owner – which was Fabrizio Violati's Bellancauto SpA of Rome. Ahead of it lay some 38 years of Violati ownership, the vast majority of which would be spent as one of the exhibits within the Italian enthusiast's extensive Collezione Maranello Rosso displays in San Marino and at neighbouring Falciano.

The car is offered as a standard production Ferrari Daytona still in its gorgeous original Blu Sera 106-A-18 shade of rich dark blue. It is a plexiglass enclosed headlamp car, the plexiglass itself being partly broken. It has matching chassis and engine numbers, the stamps struck with perfect fonts. The engine bay firewall data plate is intact and original, as is the bonnet insulation mat.

Both vent window opening devices have been broken off and were found in the car's glove box. The odometer reading as delivered to Bonhams is lower than its October 1971 listed reading, inferring that the instrument has been replaced at some time. Its latest reading is 11,598kms. The centre section of both seats is in red cloth instead of the original black Connolly hide specified by factory production records. All the rubber trimmings and panel-edging seals around the car require replacement. All the car's wheels are correct, including the spare.

This Daytona appears to have great potential for relatively simple and economic refurbishment to first-class order, while plainly showing the effects of its exceptionally long life as a static Museum exhibit. It plainly has the extra cachet for any future owner of having been 'the' road-going Maranello Rosso Collection Daytona, while the stature and desirability of the model itself is beyond question.

Please note this vehicle is subject to import tax should it remain in the EU.