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Overview

The Ferrari 365 GTB/4, more commonly known as the Ferrari Dayton was a GT car manufactured by the Italian car maker Ferrari from 1968 to 1973. The name Daytona was given to car by the media, rather than Ferrari themselves, after the 1-2-3 finish at the 1967 24 Hours of Daytona with the racecar Ferrari 330P4.

The Ferrari Daytona replaced two cars, the Ferrari 275 GTB/4 and the Ferrari 330 GTC. The Dayton did not had an immediate replacement, it was just in 1996 when the 550 Maranello was launched, the Super Grand Tourer from Ferrari returned.

The Ferrari Daytona made its appearance at the 1968 Paris Auto Show, under the 365 GTB/4 name, the convertible model appeared a year latter at the 1969 Frankfurt Auto Show, under the 365 GTS/4 name. The 365 numbers stands for the capacity of a single cylinder, the number 4 stands for the four overhead camshafts, indicating double DOHC and the acronym GTB stands for "Grand Turismo Berlinetta" the GTS acronym stands for "Grand Turismo Spider".

Variants

The Ferrari Daytona was built in two body styles, coupe (GTB/4) and spyder (GTS/4), both featured the 4.4 liter V12. The engine had Double overhead camshaft (DOHC) 60 degree angled pistons, fuel was delivered to the engine trough no less than six downdraft Weber carburetors, power output was 347 hp @ 7500 rpm and maximum torque was 319 lb/ft @ 5500 rpm. As for the gearbox, the Daytona used a five speed manual. Performances were very good the car could accelerate from not to sixty miles per hour in 5.2 seconds and could travel quarter of a mile from standstill in 13.8 seconds; top speed at which it could get is a massive 175 mph (280 km/h). Fuel economy was not that good, returning 11 miles per gallon (21.5 liter per 100 kilometers) on average.

The styling of the car was done by no other than Pininfarina, who worked on many other Ferrari cars. The Daytona had a radical design with a long bonnet and chisel like front end and many sharp edges along the body, resembling more a Lamborghini than a traditional Pininfarina Ferrari. Early Daytonas featured fixed headlights behind acrylic glass covers, this design was dropped in 1971 and they were replaced by retractable pop-up twin headlights.

Ferrari Daytona measured 174.2 inch (4,425 mm) in length, 69.3 inch (1,760 mm) in width and 49.0 inch (1,244 mm) in height. The wheelbase was of 94.5 inch (2,400 mm). Front and rear track measured 56.7 inch (1,440 mm) and 56.1 inch (1,425 mm) respectively. Weight of the Daytona with oil and water was at 3,600 lbs (1,633 kg).

The chassis construction was multi-tube steel, front and rear suspensions were independent and had unequal A arms, coil springs, tubular shock absorbers, and anti-roll bar. As for the brakes both front and rear wheel featured ventilated 11.3 inch (287 mm) and 11.6 inch (294 mm) discs.

Additional Infotmation

The Ferrari Daytona was top sports cars in the 1970s by Sport Car International Magazine; got placed on number two in the Motor Trend Classic "Greatest Ferraris of all time" list.

The car gained notoriety in 1971, when Dan Gurney and Brock Yates drove one in the inaugural Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash (more simply known as Cannonball Baker or Cannonball Run). The pair won the race, traveling the distance from New York to Los Angeles, 2,876 miles (4,628 km), in 35 hours and 54 minutes.

In the 70s the Daytona appeared in several movies like A Star is Born, The Long Goodbye, Gone in 60 Seconds, The Swiss Conspiracy, Gumball Rally and Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo.

The popular Miami Vice television series also brought it fame, a Daytona appearing in the first two series; the car only had a Daytona body, the chassis was taken from a Corvette, thing which didn't pleased Ferrari executives, that the brand was used on an imitation car; the Dayton replica was destroyed on screen and was replaced ith a Ferrari Testarossa, newest model at that time.

The Ferrari Daytona also appeared on the Top Gear show, when James May raced Richard Hammond in the Ferrari, in a 1.25 million pound power boat from Portofino to Saint-Tropez.

The Ferrari Daytona is the last Ferrari built under the "administation" of Enzo Ferrari, whom sold the company to the now a days automotive giant FIAT (acronym for "Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino" meaning Italian Automobile Factory of Turin) in June 1969