1970 Ferrari 365GTB/4 Daytona

 Few Ferraris have captured the fancy of sports car aficionados like the 365 GTB/4, which was unofficially nicknamed the Daytona for Ferrari’s 1-2-3 finish at the 1967 24-Hours of Daytona. Originally intended as a stopgap while the forthcoming rear-engine boxer V-12 model was in development, the Daytona was Ferrari’s first model to feature a dual-overhead cam version of the 4.4 liter Colombo V-12, making it the most powerful Ferrari road car to date. Pininfarina’s Leonardo Fioravanti penned a cutting-edge shark-nose profile, a significant departure from prior Ferrari designs that paved the company’s path to 1970’s aesthetics. Universally praised for its good looks and undeniable power, the Daytona squarely matched Lamborghini’s Miura in the earliest battle of the supercar war, making a brilliant case for the advantages of the classic front-engine berlinetta design. This beautiful mid-production U.S.-specification Daytona claims an uninterrupted period of single ownership since new, possessed by the same family for the entirety of its life. Driven regularly during its earlier years, this car was treated to a comprehensive restoration in the early 1990s by the well-known Berlinetta Motors of Long Island, New York, thirty-year specialists in Ferrari service and maintenance. Following its return to showroom condition, this example was used only sparingly, spending fifteen years in the protective environs of a Southern California auto museum. Currently in ideal mechanical and cosmetic condition, this Daytona offers a fresh motor and a clean and unmarred body, with the red paint and black leather interior still presenting very strongly. Having experienced such minimal use over the past two decades, the drivetrain promises many miles of future driving for the car’s next caretaker. Alternatively, for the collector searching for a good basis for a show-level Daytona, this car offers an outstanding foundation that would require relatively little work to bring the car to FCA judging standards. Desirably equipped with factory air conditioning and upgraded with 9”-wide Cromadora rear wheels, a factory option often equipped on competition examples, this outstanding Daytona offers the peace of mind of a documented life of single ownership, unblemished by any kind of checkered history or questionable chain of title. It is a very well-maintained and exactingly restored example of one of Ferraris most important models, the last of Maranello’s vintage V-12 berlinettas.