Ferrari 365 GTS/4

1973 Ferrari 365GTS/4.

The May 2007 entry of my Oxman sports-car calendar is a red ‘73 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 “Daytona” spyder (pictured), the convertible version of the fabulous Ferrari 365GTB/4 Berlinetta coupe, perhaps the most fabulous road-Ferrari of all time.
Wags say it’s the most fabulous front-engined Ferrari. After it Ferrari fell into building mid-engined road-cars, following the direction of racing.
One fabulous mid-engined Ferrari was the Testarossa; Danny Wegman has one. My brother Jack and I saw one in Boston, and queried the salesman about giving us the car to take apart.
Most importantly, the 365GTB/4 is a V12; a shining example of truest prancing-horse tradition.
“Daytona” in quotes, because Daytona was never an official Ferrari name.
Ferrari placed 1,2 and 3 in the 1967 Daytona 24-hours, a year before the new coupe was to be introduced, so people were expecting the new coupe to be called that.
But it never was. The nickname stuck, though; even though it wasn’t an official Ferrari name.
I never was that enamored of the 365GTB/4; it’s not as pretty as earlier Ferraris.
Worst of all was the partially retracting headlights: they don’t completely disappear.
Another problem is the front pancake styling, which squashes the trademark Ferrari egg-crate grill.
I remember when it came out thinking it looked rather moribund, like something from Detroit. It sure wasn’t as pretty as earlier Ferraris, like the 275 GTB/4.

Gurney and the Kirk White Daytona in Huntington Beach, Californy.

In 1971 a blue Ferrari 365GTB/4, co-driven by Car and Driver magazine Senior Editor Brock Yates, and retired Grand-Prix racer Dan Gurney, won the first Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, New York City to Huntington Beach, Californy in 35 hours, 54 minutes.
Gurney was ticketed for doing 135 mph on a 70-mph interstate, which the 365GTB/4 could do in safety and comfort.
The car was owned and sponsored by Kirk F. White of Philadelphia, and painted the same color as the Penske/Donohue Trans-Am Sunoco-Camaros he sponsored.
I think that Daytona still exists — at least I’ve seen it.

“Testarossa” is red-head. The motor had cylinder-head covers painted red. In the middle ‘50s there was a Ferrari Testarossa racing-car, but it was front-engined. The later Testarossa was in honor of the earlier ones.

“Danny Wegman,” son of founder Robert Wegman, is the president of Wegmans Food Markets (“mighty Weggers”), one of the supermarkets we buy groceries at. Danny is a car-guy; he used to street-race a 454 Chevelle.

“Jack” (“the almighty Bluster-King”) is my macho blowhard brother-in-Boston.