While Lamborghini were forging ahead with their range of impressive mid engined flagship supercars, the Ferrari solution for the late sixties and early seventies came in the desirable form of a front engined V12 Coupe, the 365 GTB/ 4 Daytona. Launched in 1968, the car was named Daytona in honor of Ferrari victory in the American 24 hour race of the same name. Not surprisingly, it wasn’t to be their last success at the legendary Daytona and in many ways the car that bore its name a real winner. The 365 denoted the capacity of each of its 12 cylinders, and ‘4’ gave the number of camshafts. The maximum power output was 352 bhp. Pundits at the time had to admit that they were a little disappointed that the car had a conventional layout. Despite that, almost all of them were quick to appreciate the car’s bold and muscular styling, which came from the pen of Pininfarina. Similarly, few could have been disappointed with the car’s straight line performance. Top speed worked out at 174 mph, with 0-6- developing in 5.4 seconds. These figures easily put the Daytona’s performance beyond that of the Miura. At low speeds, the Daytona felt heavy and ponderous, and it only really sparkled out on the open road where the steering shed its weight and the hard suspension, classic double wishbone all around smooth out.
The car proved extremely popular by Ferrari’s exclusive standards, and was built until 1973 alongside a rare Spider version. It is now one of the most collectable of all road going Ferrari models. The Daytona also happens to be one Ferrari that non enthusiasts are able to recognize instantly, thanks to its regular slot as Sonny Crockett’s car in the hit 1980s cop show Miami Vice.
