The Ferrari Daytona is legendary among sports car enthusiasts. It spanned a six year production run from 1968-1973. It was the successor the beautiful 275 GTB-4 and the predecessor to the mid-engine Berlinetta Boxer. The moniker “Daytona” paid homage to the Daytona 24 hour endurance race of 1967 where Team Ferrari finished 1-2-3 with their 330P4 race cars.
The Daytona was one serious car in its day. The basic architecture was a front mounted 4.4 liter V-12 engine with a 5-speed rear mounted transaxle. By placing the transmission and the rear axle (hence, the term transaxle) into a single unit at the rear of the car, the weight distribution was optimized. With fully independent suspension and 4 wheel disc brakes, the Daytona demonstrated superb handling and braking capability. The car weighed in at a trim 2,650 pounds and produced 350 horsepower at 7,500 rpm giving it a power to weight ratio of 7.56 to 1. This car could attain a top speed of 172 mph and accelerate from 0-60 mph in a mere 5.4 seconds. This was amazing performance in its era and still very respectable by today standards (even 45 years after its introduction in 1968). These cars are still very desirable and coveted in the current classic sports car market fetching between $350,000 - $495,000 for a coupe version (depending on condition and equipment). Roughly 1,400 Daytona’s were produced from 1968-1973 with 1,329 being of Coupe design and 122 convertibles. The convertible examples are worth considerably more due to their rarity.
Many have referred to the Daytona as the “last Ferrari” due to the fact that this was the last Ferrari produced before the company was sold to FIAT in 1969. Although FIAT did respect the autonomy of Ferrari under its corporate leadership, the Daytona was officially the last car that Ferrari produced under the sole leadership of Enzo Ferrari.
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