Welcome to this celebration of a unique automotive artform.

In the 70s, Paul Frere, now sadly no longer with us, noted race driver and motoring writer, wrote that the Daytona was the epitome of a Grand Tourer car and as such never had a successor bearing the Ferrari badge. He was the first to carry out actual independent timed performance records. He also wrote a book with Doug Nye  about the Daytona Berlinetta featured elsewhere in the Little Daytona page.

Whilst Enzo Ferrari had unofficially named the car Daytona in celebration of the 1,2,3,4 win at Daytona, when the name became common knowledge he reverted to 365GTB4/GTS4. However, the name Daytona is truly evocotive and fits the cars profile perfectly!

If proof were needed of the awe in which this car is held we need look no further than the price it holds in the marketplace, and it is rising again!
The proof of its value as a work of art are that despite the passing of 35 years many of the 150 or so made are still to see 50,000 miles on their speedometer.
Further proof of the fascination with the Daytona can be found on the Internet. There are literally 1,000's of web pages dedicated to Daytonas and their replicas.

Despite being on sale for just £2,000 in 1968 a typical Daytona with optional seat belts at £10.00 will now cost at least £120,000 with the nicest ones reaching £150,000. The spyder (convertible) models start at £190,000 for converted coupes and rise to £500,000 for genuine right hand drive models of which there were only ever seven made.

The total production between 1967 and 1973 totalled around 1400 cars. Of these 125 were spyder (convertible) models of which only seven were right hand drive cars.
Around 15 cars were competition models

In 2004, the Daytona was voted top sports car of the 1970s by Sports Car International magazine. Similarly, Motor Trend Classic named the 365 GTB/4 and GTS/4 as number two in their list of the ten "Greatest Ferraris of all time".

According to respected classic car publications the values of the cars were shortly to rise again, and they have since. The last time this happened they reached values of between £1 million and £1.6 million back in late 1989! This would be unlikely now but a doubling in value wouldn't be impossible.

Despite its significant weight the performance figures were not bettered by any car for almost 10 years after the first car left the factory, a truly remarkable feat.
The racing Daytonas continued to win races and compete for years after production ceased. Luigi Chinetti of North American Racing actually had a hybrid made on a spyder chassis that raced between 1987 and 1989 a full 15 years after official production ceased, unheard of in racing competitive terms! It wasn't until the Porsches again began to dominate that saw the final demise of the Competition Daytona.

Leonardo Fioravanti (Leonardo de Daytona as he became known) did a remarkable job for Ferrari and Pininfarina when he created this masterpiece as well as the little V8 Dino 206 and later the 308 GTB (Magnum PI car) and the Berlinetta Boxer the Daytonas replacement. Please take a look and read about the circumstances that have surrounded the life of this truly remarkable and unique artform.

When launched it was competing with the revolutionary, mid-engined, Miura from Lamborghini, the similarly designed Maserati Ghibli in coupe and later in spyder form.
It showed them all a clean pair of heels from launch despite some initial mutterings from the motoring critics about the absence of a mid-mounted engine. The sheer comfort and accessibility which it provided to people of all sizes made it far more useable and therefore more desireable than its more revolutionary competitors.

Back in the mainstream of car production many manufactuers picked up styling points from the berlinetta. The Datsun 240Z as pictured is one of the most obvious. The Rover SD1 borrowed the indicator and top front wing edge and the blood trough. I ronically both these cars have since been used to create replicas of the original! The 240Z was also used to create a very passable 250 GTO Ferrari as well.

The last Mercedes 500SL had the same haunches as the Spyder and profile but with rectangular headlights.

This was also a Ferrari Daytona imitator. The general profile, front wing and front indicator units and the 'blood troughs' down the middle of the side of the car, all mimic styling cues of the Daytona. Such a pity that the car was so badly put together, created during BL's most traumatic times it was far from complementing its mentor!

However Richard Stewart took them and turned them into metal Daytona replicas!

This is the first car purchased in the UK. It was imported by Maranello Concessionaries in 1970, it has a plexiglass front and is in red with a black leather interior. It is now fitted with 9 inch wide rear wheels to help get the power onto the road. The chassis number is 12853 and has been recently on sale for over £80,000 having been fully restored in 1993. This is the classic,true, original Pininfarina design before the US safety regulations caused the headlights to be 'pop up'.
This was the first car in the UK but the first right hand drive car was chassis number 12827. Perhaps this went to South Africa or Japan maybe?

The comfort it offered with an abundance of space for driver, passenger and their luggage and it's ability to cover ground safely at  very high speeds were a unique and irresistible combination for those who could afford it.
The classic format for a Ferrari is to be Rosso red with 'crema' leather interior. The cars in this format are the most desired and retain the best values. Those who wished to use their Ferrari's a lot however tended to go for black interiors as they were more hardwearing and didn't show marks as easily.

Enzo Ferrari intended this to be the ultimate front engined V12 berlinetta, it was and it remained so until the arrival of the 550 Maranello almost 30 years later.

The Daytona was replaced in 1973 by the Berlinetta Boxer. It took its name from the flat 12 configuration of the engine layout. This was a mid- engined car and was not available in convertible, spyder, form which didn't help its popularity.Ralph Nader in the US had made it clear that convertible cars would not be tolerated for safety reasons.  Despite it arriving after the Daytona and being a mid-engined car, it did not sell in the numbers of its predecessor. It has also retained nothing like the value of the Daytona.

Due to their desirability and high retained resale value there are few tatty ones around anymore.
Exceptional berlinetta cars will cost from £80,000 upwards. An exceptional 2,500 miles from new car built in 1971 recently sold at a Bonhams auction for £102,700 despite it being in a shade of green.
They can be bought for as little as £50,000 for a tatty one, however to make it as good as the £80,000 one expect to pay over £50,000.
Maintenance isn't cheap either. Engines require a rebuild every 60,000 miles or so at a cost of between £10,000-£20,000. Transaxle rebuilds run at £2,000-£8,000 a time.
Expect to pay £460 for a door skin and £568 for a windscreen with £492 for a front grille. Front end panelwork will set you back £3,385 and you should expect a very large labour bill to make it fit correctly. Handbuilt cars are all slightly different so a lot of work is required to make the parts fit correctly.
A borrani wire wheel will be £1092 too.
The car should be regularly excercised to keep everything running correctly which, considering the joy that creates, should be the least onerous task of ownership!

Pictured above is Leonardo Fioravanti the designer of the Daytona, Dino, 308 GTB (Magnum PI car) and Boxer models. He designed them whilst working for the Pininfarina design studios.