All posts in “Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona”

The Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spider

I’ve always been a fan of the Eighties TV Series, Miami Vice, and while the black convertible from the early seasons was only a kit car, it was intended to look like the stunning Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spider from the Seventies, in the end, when Miami Vice became too popular they had to swap out that car for a real Ferrari, and the Vice cop received an impounded Testarossa, that was black when the ‘criminal’ owned it, but it was repainted to white because the good guys don’t drive black cars.

1971 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spider by Scaglietti Robin Adams ©2021 Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

But back to the Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spider, in the Seventies, the Spider was a Scaglietti build, and initially, only 121 of these Daytona spiders were built, many Coupe would later be converted into a convertible, which could make a Coupe the rarer car eventually, but this 1971, yellow Spider we’re admiring here was the 36th built of the original 121 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spider by Scaglietti, and to make her even more interesting, chassis 14863 was the actual 1972 New York International Automobile Show car, and she’s coming up for auction later this month.

1971 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spider by Scaglietti Robin Adams ©2021 Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

That’s right, at the RM Sotheby’s Amelia Island auction in Florida to be held on 22 May 2021, this yellow over black classic Ferrari will pass the block, with an estimate between $2,250,000 and $2,750,000, adding this Prancing Horse to your collection will not come cheap, to put this evaluation into perspective, there is a 1972 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Berlinetta finished in the classic red over tan combination enlisted at the same auction, presented in her restored and carefully maintained condition, that’s only estimated between $500,000 and $600,000!

1971 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spider by Scaglietti Robin Adams ©2021 Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Ferrari 365 GTB/4 was launched, and initially, there weren’t any plans to create anything else than a closed coupe GT, but Scaglietti and Pininfarina put their minds together to create an open-top design, the prototype was approved by Ferrari and the 1969 Frankfurt Auto Show the official Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spider production model was unveiled.

1971 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spider by Scaglietti Robin Adams ©2021 Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

In December 1971 this Giallo Fly (20-Y-191) over Pelle Nera (VM 8500) finished Spider left the factory in Maranello, this car was built for the US market, complete with instrumentation in miles and air conditioning, and in early 1972 it would be shown at the New York International Automobile Show, after which the car was sold to a long-time Ferrari client, Alfredo Ducato of Hillsborough, California. By 1990 the car was sold to to Herb Boyer of Burlingame, California who had it repainted in the original shade in 1997, at the same time the black leather interior was redone too.

1971 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spider by Scaglietti Robin Adams ©2021 Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

This rare Ferrari would change hands several times more over the next years, on 26 January 2008, when Mr. Yassky owned the car, he showed her at the Cavallino Classic Concours d’Elegance in Palm Beach, Florida where she received the coveted Platinum Award, today, the car shows just 13,442 miles from new, and such a low, original mileage Ferrari Daytona Spider, that is also Classiche Certified, and a Platinum award-winning example, will not go cheap when the hammer comes down at the end of this month, but this might be the chance of a lifetime to acquire such an amazing car from Maranello.

1971 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spider by Scaglietti Robin Adams ©2021 Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
1971 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spider by Scaglietti Robin Adams ©2021 Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
1971 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spider by Scaglietti Robin Adams ©2021 Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Daytona Shooting Brake Hommage

There was a time when coachbuilding was common on cars, albeit reserved for the rich and famous, it wasn’t uncommon to buy a Rolls Royce chassis complete with engine and drivetrain, and have someone else design and build a body for it, today this is still possible, but it seems to be much less widespread, and companies like Rolls Royce, Bentley, Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, Porsche, or Lamborghini all have in-house departments now to cater very special requests from their customers.

But the traditional coachbuilding is still possible, companies that take a ‘base’ car from an expensive make and redesign the body, and we’re not talking about the likes of for instance Mansory that replaces a body with their own carbon fiber version, complete with an aggressive aero design … when we look at Niels van Roij Design from London in the UK, he has returned to the classic meaning of coachbuilding, I’m sure you’ve read my earlier article on the 1962 Ferrari 250 GT ‘Breadvan Hommage’ he created at the request of a customer, taking a Ferrari 550 Maranello and turning her into a modern version of the Breadvan.

Breadvan Hommage – photo copyright Niels van Roij Design

And that wasn’t even Niels van Roij’s first car in this ‘estate’ style, previously he also created the Silver Spectre Shooting Brake, limited to only 7 units worldwide, Niels takes the two-door Rolls Royce Wraith and converts that one into a Shooting Brake inspired by those cars from the 1930s, the longer roof is created in one-piece from light-weight carbon fiber and naturally the headliner features the sparkling star ceiling.

The Silver Spectre Shooting Brake by Niels van Roij Design

Niels van Roij Design even made a one-off Tesla Model S Shooting Brake for a Dutch customer, painted in a stunning green metallic shade that even used gold particles to create a very special shade, but you can also request them to create a two-door version of cars that don’t come from the factory in this configuration … like the Range Rover, at Niels van Roij you can opt for their Adventum Coupe, based on the large four-door Range Rover, van Roij turns her into a coupe, inspired by the actual two-door Range Rover that was available in the Seventies, there will only be 100 units of the Adventum Coupe made.

1975 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Shooting Brake – Photo Credit: Gooding & Company

Niels van Roij confirmed on his Social Media channel they are now working on a second, bespoke Ferrari based conversion, taking inspiration from the unique 1975 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Shooting Brake and creating a similar car today, starting from a modern Ferrari 599 GTB, Niels and his team of craftsmen will completely modify the 599 GTB into an homage for the Daytona based Shooting Brake.

1975 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Shooting Brake – Photo Credit: Gooding & Company

They intend to design new headlights to fit a different bumper and front bonnet design that reminds us of the car from the Seventies, but the most prominent change will be visible at the rear naturally, where a completely different roofline will be featured, but also new fenders and bespoke taillights … in the end, there will be not much left of the original Ferrari 599 GTB bodywork.

At this time we only have a few design sketches available for this new Daytona Shooting Brake Hommage from Niels van Roij Design, but they do show a very interesting, contemporary interpretation of the original car, most likely the hommage will also be finished in black, and just like the classic car, come with butterfly rear windows to access the space behind the seats.

This modern recreation of the Daytona Shooting Brake will take some time to develop and subsequently build, Niels van Roij Design will feature the process from design over construction to finalizing of this new hommage build on his social media accounts, I can’t wait to see what they will do for the interior, and if this new version will have a similar layout on the central console as the original.