I don’t know about you, but I’ve often wondered what goes on in the boardrooms of car manufacturers when the decision on what to call a new model is taken. Without getting into the many, less successful names or number combinations we’ve seen over the years, I rather wonder if it’s decided beforehand that numbers will be used, or if it starts by trying to find a name and when you don’t, you then resort to a number combination? In the case of Ferrari back in the 60’s, there’s no question though that numbers ruled, each with a meaning but often so close to each other that separating the cars became rather difficult. Such was the case of the Ferrari 365 GTB4, and that’s probably the reason why the world decided to call it something way more appealing: Daytona!

It’s special for me writing about the Daytona, since in the unlikely case I will ever be able to start my dream car collection, the Daytona will be first in line. I’ve always loved the car for its looks, its construction and of course, its fabulous engine. As someone who grew up in the 80’s and who didn’t miss a single episode of “Miami Vice” and found Don Johnson very cool, of course it didn’t hurt that a Daytona Spider (or as we learned, at least a replica on a Corvette C3 chassis) was featured. But I would have loved the Daytona even without Miami Vice, and we’ll see if I succeed in conveying some of that love to you in this week’s post!

Starting with getting the story of the name out of the way, Daytona comes from the fact that Ferrari finished first, second and third in the prototype class of the 24 hours of Daytona in 1967, the year before the car was launched. The official name was however always 365 GTB4 (alternatively GTS for the Spider), and it was the successor of the 275 GTB4 and the predecessor of the 365 GT/4 Berlinetta Boxer. 365 refers to the volume of each cylinder and 4 comes from the two twin cams on top of the two cylinder banks of the V12 engine to which we’ll come back later. The Daytona is also interesting since it was the last V12 Ferrari presented before Fiat took a 40% ownership of Ferrari, and also the last, new 12-cylinder Ferrari sold (officially) in the US until the Testarossa (another great name!) 15 years later, due to the increasing regulatory and legislative costs that weighted heavily especially on low-volume manufacturers. The car was presented to the world at the Paris auto salon in 1968.

The Daytona was designed by Leonardo Fioravanti at Pininfarina, who would later also design the 280 GTO and F40, and the car was put together by Scaglietti, the famous Italian coach builder and a long term Ferrari partner. The design is a clear break with earlier Ferraris, looking much more modern with the shark-like, sweeping nose, the set-back cabin and the rather abrupt tail. Until 1971, around 400 Daytonas were built with their headlights behind plexiglass, but it was again the US authorities that put an end to this by forbidding headlights behind double glasses. Later Daytonas were instead equipped with pop-up headlights. The GTS was introduced in 1969 and became very popular especially in the US. It’s identical from the waistline and down to the Berlinetta and only 10% of Daytonas built were Spiders, but the popularity led to many GTB’s having their roof cut and thus being transformed to “inofficial” GTS’s. That’s a crime comparable to many bad things I can think of… Needless to say, should you be lucky enough to be in the market for a GTS, you’ll want to make sure you know its history and hence that it’s a genuine one!

On the inside, it’s all you can expect from a plush, Italian GT from the era. Early Daytonas had a Momo wood steering wheel which was however replaced by a leather version on later versions (a bit unclear from when), said to give more grip especially at low speeds, since the Daytona’s perhaps biggest drawback often cited is its heavy steering. The shifter is in perfect reach on the high center console and is linked to the rear-mounted 5-speed manual box, a transaxle construction that gave the car a very good balance. It’s a lovely, plush space that at least some experts claim is of higher quality than for example Lambo interiors from the same period. Obviously the Daytona is a two-seater, however offering some space for your Ferrari leather bags right behind the seats as well.

The heart of the car is of course the fabulous longitudinal, 60-degree angled, 4.4 litre V12, developing a claimed 352 hp and 431 Nm of torque, enough to give the Daytona a top speed of 280 km/h as it weighed in at around 1600 kg dry. The engine wasn’t new but rather derived from its predecessor, the 275, but its capacity was increased and it was fitted with six Weber carburettors. The sound that comes out of that construction is, as you would suspect, nothing but glorious, and increasingly so as the revs climb. The 365 is perhaps slightly less economical than a Prius, so it’s very helpful that Ferrari fitted a truly huge, 128-litre tank. That should be enough for at least a couple of hours, at which point you should anyway stretch your legs, so you may just as well fill up at the same time.

The Daytona was built until 1973 when as mentioned, it was replaced by the 365 GT/4. The production time was actually quite long for the type of car at the time, and in total 1284 cars were built. Of these about 400 as mentioned have the original, plexiglass nose. Also as mentioned, about 120 were (original!) Spiders. Today original cars are all immensely valuable but should you be lucky enough to have the choice, I would go with a plexiglass GTB, as this is the original design as intended by Fioravanti. I’d also be very happy to use the muscles a bit, gripping that wonderful, wooden Momo steering wheel. Colour-wise most cars are red but there’s also quite a few in black, blue and in other colours, including 13 cars in a brown metallic officially called “marone metallisato”, which paired with the beige leather interior look absolutely sensational. Chances of finding one of these are… slim, and finding a Daytona in any shape or form today is hard and expensive, with prices having risen quite dramatically to somewhere around USD/EUR 700′-900′ for good cars.

I’m not a believer in miracles and unless one happens, I’ll never park a Daytona in my garage. Then again as we all know, when you realize something you’ve long dreamt about, reality can be a bit… disappointing. So perhaps the Daytona is actually best left as an object of desire. Because as I dream of it, the sun shines all the way down to the French Riviera along the Route Napoléon. The roads are empty, no one has come up with speed limits or invented speed cameras. In the dream I also look surprisingly good and much younger, perhaps with a slight resemblance to Don Johnson (it goes without saying that my wife next to me just looks as good as always!). We stop at a small bistro and enjoy a lunch with a bit of rosé, that in no way affects my driving skills. Of course the Daytona runs like a dream, with the carburettor-powered V12 sound filling our ears as the kilometres run by. I guess I’ll keep on dreaming, and to me, the Daytona is without a doubt the best dream car in the world!