Ferrari 365 1973

Launched at the 1968 Paris Motor Show, the 365 GTB/4 soon became universally referred to as the "Daytona" in honour of the Scuderia’s one-two-three result at the 1967 Daytona 24 Hours. It featured the latest 4,390 cc Tipo 251 development of Gioacchino’s Colombo famous V-12. With a 9:1 compression ratio—8.8:1 on US-spec cars—plus dry-sump lubrication and six Weber carburettors, it was good for 352 horsepower at 7,500 rpm.

At the Frankfurt International Auto Show in September 1969, Ferrari unveiled a Spyder version of the car, of which only 7 factory RHD were produced.

As renowned journalist Mel Nichols noted in Car magazine: "In the development of the front engined, ultra-high-performing, two-seater road car, the Daytona is the ultimate."

#16663 History

Supplied new by Maranello Concessionaires as a Coupe in Azzurro Blue with tan to Billy Skelly of Motherwell, whose father ran a successful multi franchise motor dealership. Original correspondence exists between Sean Bealey - Director of Maranello Concessionaires and Skelly.

During the order process and after a trip to Monaco in June 1973, Billy saw a freshly arrived Daytona in the local Ferrari dealership. Upon his return, he wrote again to Maranello Concessionaires to request they leave the plastic coverings on the sills for protection and asked for "transparent side light glass for the car" as he was concerned they would look odd in yellow with the car "almost Royal blue" in colour.

In 1974 Skelly sells the car to Ferrari collector Gordon Claridge, who had the wheels painted gold as per the Ferrari prototypes in period. A really enthusiastic owner, Claridge covered 40,000 miles in his 20 years of ownership, only entrusting Maranello Concessionaires to service the car.

In 1994 Claridge sells the car and the next owner purchases the car via Bonhams. This owner continues to have the car serviced at Maranello Concessionaires, has it repainted in Rosso Rubino and sells it again to its last owner in 2001 through Bonhams.

At this time the previous owner decided to have the car restored and converted to Spyder configuration. Therefore soon after acquisition, 16663 was entrusted to Kevin O’Rourke of Mototechnique to complete a restoration and undertake the conversion to 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spyder specification.

There is extensive documentation making up over 400 pages which documents the correspondence during the conversion and the work was completed in June 2002. During the restoration and conversion, the car was painted in Rosso Corsa coachwork - which still looks great today.

Talacrest have completed 6 Daytona Spyder conversion transactions in the last few years in addition to factory Spyder deals in the past. Done well by acknowledged experts, a Spyder conversion is more or less indistinguishable from a period Scaglietti built car and offers the driving experience at a fraction of the price of one of the handful of factory Spyders made.