In the world of Italian exotica of the 1970s and '80s, the Ferrari 365/400/412 series could not be deemed anything other than a commercial success. The total production of 2897 units doesn't sound like many until you learn that only 3256 of its four-seater successor, the 456, were sold. And its 17-year production run is still a Ferrari record.
So while Dinos, 308s and Mondials came and went, these substantial four-seaters maintained a tradition of front-engined V12 elegance for sporty tycoons the wrong side of 40 - the ones who had cured themselves of the urge to acquire a bright-red, two-seater thrill-machine, but couldn't quite give up on the idea of owning a Ferrari.
Always among the most expensive offerings in the Modena line-up (the £12,900 365GT4 2+2 was £2000 more than a Daytona in 1973), these Pininfarina-styled V12s suffered a brutal fall from grace once production finished. They were expensive to run but not rare enough to be valuable and proved once again that there is nothing so out of fashion as last season's supercar. Throw in the four-seat factor and you have a perfect recipe for a bargain V12 Ferrari that, even today, is a solid £100,000 cheaper than the 365GTC/4 around which it is based.
It doesn't make sense, but in a market driven by style and so many other intangibles, not much does. Even when Maranello was selling every four-seater it could build, the purists sneered. Here was a usable (as opposed to recreational) Ferrari that, in the minds of those who had neither the money nor the taste to aspire to such a vehicle, represented a moral lapse in the affairs of the company. A four-seater Ferrari could not possibly be a real Ferrari, they reasoned, forgetting that the firm had been selling four-seaters - profitably for more than 10 years before the 365GT4 2+2 appeared in 1972.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der March 2023-Ausgabe von Classic & Sports Car.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der March 2023-Ausgabe von Classic & Sports Car.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Mick WALSH
'Had someone said that this worn-looking titan would win the most famous old-car event, we would have laughed'
ALFA ROMEO STELVIO QF
Rewriting the rulebook on what an SUV can do, and how it can make you feel
FLOATING INTO THE FUTURE
Citroën's DS-replacing CX was at a cutting edge so sharp it still looks fresh today, and it had the drive to match - as five superb survivors reveal
"It's a car for posing in really"
Broadcaster Michael Buerk reflects on more than three decades with his beloved Jaguar E-type S1 3.8 fixed-head coupé
HONDAS DECK THE HALL
The Japanese firm's Los Angeles collection is now on public display for the first time in two decades
ABSOLUTELY buzzing
Honda's Si Civics brought agile, cheap fun to motorists long before the Type R name got anywhere near a hatchback
THE FEMININE TOUCH
In 1955, General Motors styling guru Harley Earl brought 11 talented women into the male-dominated world of automotive design. What was their lasting impact?
Out on a limb
Panther's innovative Solo 2 was something completely different, both for its maker and the sports car market
Restyles with substance
Panther Westwinds blended a passion for pre-war designs with modern-era mechanical usability and remarkably fine coachbuilding
Dead ringers
The Maserati Kyalami and De Tomaso Longchamp share much, having emerged from the same stable, but are poles apart at heart