Ferrari Daytona: You Know You Want To

Amazingly quite a bit less than other V12 Ferraris at £625K!

There are two ways to look at a £625,000 Ferrari 365 GTB4 'Daytona'. One involves beating your head against a semi-solid object and loudly wondering why you didn't sell the house and remortgage the cat when, in the not-too-far-distant past, you could still land a decent one for under a hundred grand.

Pop-up lights denote later model

The other being to take what financial types refer to as the bull market view - and wonder just how much further values for one of the most desirable Ferraris of its era could continue to climb. Ridiculous as it may sound, the Daytona looks almost underpriced compared to the F40 or Enzo these days. And it's interesting that every other 365 GTB4 (many write it GTB/4, Ferrari seemingly doesn't!) currently on sale in the Classifieds wears a 'POA' pricetag.

But, money aside, isn't this just one of the most striking objects you've ever seen? Designed by Leonardo Fioravanti while he worked at Pininfarina, the 365 GTB4 (which was given its unofficial 'Daytona' name by journalists) is very different from his other Ferrari designs, a list including the Dino, 512 Berlinetta Boxer and 288 GTO, largely because of the need to package its V12 engine up front. Early examples had glassed-in headlights, with later cars (like this one) getting pop-up lights. The wedge profile made the Daytona an instant design classic and inspired a raft of imitators as the 1970s progressed, including both the Rover SD1 and the Vauxhall Firenza Droop Snoot.

Pretty, pretty car

Beneath the huge bonnet sits a 4.4-litre V12 which breathes through six Weber carburettors mounted in its 'vee'. The peak of 352hp was practically off-the-scale back in 1968, as was the Daytona's often quoted (and very occasionally verified) 175mph top speed.

Readers of a certain age might also remember the Daytona's starring role in one of the most famous bits of car journalism of the 1980s. Years after it had gone off sale, and when it was widely regarded as a scary-handling dinosaur, Mel Nichols wrote a superb story for Car magazine that did much to salvage its reputation, and which went on to inspire as many lesser imitators as the car itself had: "We came over the crest and into the valley and there ahead of us lay an open, loping stretch of road..."

No manettino in here!

This one looks particularly good, with the fact the current owner has put nearly 22,000 miles on it in nine years (and winning three Ferrari Owners Club concours prizes in the same time) proof that it hasn't been left in an air-conditioned garage. Bills for £70,000 over the last nine years give some idea of the sort of financial commitment necessary to keep a car like this in tip-top condition.

Of course, this Daytona is old enough to have been through the first supercar bubble, when values for the 365 GTB4 peaked at over £200,000 at the tail end of the 1980s before crashing to less than half of that. There's no guarantee the same thing couldn't happen again. But as values for collectable Ferraris continue to soar, this has to remain a very attractive investment.

FERRARI 365 GTB4 'DAYTONA'
Price: £625,000
Why you should: One of the great Ferraris, values still climbing, cheaper than other 'investment grade' alternatives.
Why you shouldn't: If it turns out values have peaked there's a long, long way to fall...

See the original advert here.

[Sources: Ferrari.com]

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carnut360

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