Ferrari 365 GTC/4 : A ‘Daytona’ for a fistful of dollars?

While most people can readily call to mind that era-defining Ferrari of the late 1960s, the 365 GTB/4 (better known as the ‘Daytona’), few will instantly conjure up images of the Daytona’s close relatives. But our experts wonder why the 2+2-seater 365 GTC/4 is still a sleeping beauty...

Anyone who buys a decent Ferrari Daytona today is looking at a purchase price of 500,000 euros or more. Yet the 365 GTC/4 – built from 1971-1972 – is on a completely different, much lower price level. Less than half the price, in fact: something under 250k euros should do it. While the value of its direct predecessor, the 365 GT 2+2, has been on the up and is likely to keep increasing, we can’t help but feel that the 365 GTC/4 is particularly underrated in the current market; and our thoughts were confirmed in our interviews with brand experts.

The 2+2 has an unusual side-on silhouette – hence, when it was launched, the Ferrari was promptly and unkindly nicknamed ‘Il Gobbone’ (the hunchback). However, the design is closely based on that of the legendary Daytona; and the two cars are even more closely related when it comes to a technical point of view: under the body sit the chassis and running gear of the GTB/4, along with an identical 4.4-litre V12 engine, with four overhead camshafts, plus 5-speed transmission. Says Klaus Wenk, of Ferrari specialist Urban proTrade in Munich, “The Daytona, with its elongated front end, was never really a curvaceously good-looking car. The GTC/4 is, however, both better to look at and more fun to drive. It’s just that very few people realise this fact. Whereas prices for the 365 GTC/4 have been rising steadily over time, the peak has certainly not yet been reached. Only about 500 examples were ever built, after all.”

While RM Auctions’ Amelia Island sale in March will see a Ferrari 365 GTC/4 (the blue example shown here) cross the block, German auction house Avus Auctions will also be putting an example under the hammer, in Hamburg on 22 March. “There is a great deal of interest in our 365 GTC/4,” says Andreas Scholz of Avus Auctions. “The 2+2-seater is a classic example of a car that inspires ‘love at second sight’, and hence buyers’ appreciation for the underdog has been slow to take hold in the market. Yet I believe that the 365 GTC/4 could, in terms of appreciating value, be one of the best-performing Ferraris in the years to come.”