Description

Chassis No. 14229
Engine No. B976

When a rolling chassis of the mid-engined Lamborghini Miura was presented at the 1965 Turin Motor Show, it made Ferrari's 275 GTB look archaic by comparison. Enzo Ferrari, who had long resisted the mid-engined formula and its lack of luggage space, had his hand forced and began the development of the 365 GT4 BB. But by 1967, the mid-engined Berlinetta Boxer was still years away from entering production, and Maranello urgently needed a new model to bridge the gap and take the fight to Lamborghini.

Ferrari introduced their 365 GTB/4 “Daytona” in the autumn of 1968 – the ultimate expression of Pininfarina coachwork married to a glorious front-mounted Colombo V12 engine with a shiver-inducing exhaust note, all delivered through a gated five-speed shifter. The Miura was hardly a match for the Ferrari's proven underpinnings and GT practicality, with performance figures as impressive now as they were then – over 350 horsepower from a four-cam 4.4-liter engine, dethroning the Miura with a production car record 174-mph top speed. As the ultimate evolution of two decades of front-engined development, the Daytona was the more complete package, evidenced by the 1,406 Berlinettas and Spiders sold by the end of production – nearly double the Lamborghini's total.

Penned by Leonardo Fioravanti, the Daytona's Scaglietti-built body was a masterpiece of design resembling its predecessor but with sharper lines and a new, experimental front nose. It featured an expansive hood section that swept down into a full-width plexiglass panel covering fixed headlights, replaced after 1970 with pop-up, sealed-beam bulbs to meet US safety regulations. At the rear, a set-back cabin flowed into a steeply-raked fastback profile punctuated by a Kamm tail. The result was a stunning conclusion to a legendary lineage of short-block Colombo V12-powered Ferraris, and the last flagship model produced before Fiat assumed control of the production of Ferrari road cars in 1969.

This US-market, left-hand drive 365 GTB/4 Daytona was completed on 9 April 1971 according to research by Ferrari historian Marcel Massini. Originally finished exactly as it presents today in rich Rosso Nearco paintwork over a Nero leather interior, chassis number 14229 was sold new through West Coast Ferrari distributor William “Bill” Harrah's Modern Classic Motors in Reno, Nevada. Interestingly, the uncle of the car's original owner, Steve Clapp, is understood to have taken delivery of the new Daytona at the factory in Maranello and toured Europe with the car before arranging to have it shipped to Seattle where it joined its first owner Gary McLeod. McLeod enjoyed the car for a remarkable 38 years before his passing in 2009, changing hands to only its second owner, Marco Diez of Los Angeles, in March of that year. Not long after acquiring chassis 14229 Diez elected to conduct a sympathetic restoration of the Daytona, with Francorchamps of America Inc. in Costa Mesa, California fully rebuilding the transaxle and numbers-matching Colombo V12 engine. Also receiving a professional respray in its original hue of Rosso Nearco at Paintworx in Lake Elsinore, California, the car then passed to Richard Griot of Tacoma, Washington in December 2010 following its mechanical and cosmetic refurbishment. The Daytona subsequently sold to a sequence of New York-based enthusiast owners via Autosport Designs Inc. in Huntington Station, New York over the succeeding decade, and saw careful but regular use including participation in the 2016 Copperstate 1000.

In addition to receiving a sympathetic restoration from 2009-2010, invoices on file document continued cosmetic sorting including additional paintwork at Byer's Custom Auto Body & Paint in Auburn, Washington, in 2011 after bodywork was performed on the rear panel and lower front valance. Inside, the dashboard was reupholstered in factory-style black “mouse fur” material by McFarland Upholstery of Puyallup, Washington, in March 2012, while the Becker Mexico cassette radio was reportedly rebuilt by Becker Autosound of Saddle Brook, New Jersey, in 2021. All told, the Ferrari has received in excess of $127,000 in mechanical and cosmetic refurbishment and service work since February 2003.

Joining the consignor's esteemed Illinois-based collection in 2022 showing just over 95,000 miles, the Daytona presents today in its timeless as-delivered Rosso Nearco and Nero leather color combination, complemented by 15-inch five-spoke magnesium-alloy wheels with chrome Borrani knock-off hubs. Chassis number 14229, with its matching-number's engine and documented chain of ownership from new, would make a fine addition to the collection of any discerning Ferraristi. The driving and ownership thrills afforded the owner of a Daytona are limitless; whether it's idling on a manicured concours lawn or roaring at full throttle on a particularly enjoyable road, there's truly nothing quite like the sound of a 352 horsepower, four-cam Ferrari V12 emanating from those four glorious exhaust pipes.