It must have been a test of Enzo Ferrari's resolve to sanction the car that the 365GTB/4, aka Daytona, became. When Lamborghini presented a mid-engined rolling chassis at the 1965 Turin Salon to preview the following year's Miura, it made Ferrari's incumbent 275GTB look archaic. That was to be expected.
But to resist the temptation to follow suit with such a configuration for the 275's successor took guts - or perhaps just good old-fashioned instinct about what buyers really wanted.
History proved Enzo right, though. When Daytona production finished 50 years ago, 1406 Berlinetta and Spider models had been builtalmost double the trendsetting Lamborghini's total. And, while it was to be Ferrari's final throw of the two-seater, frontV12-engined dice until the 550 Maranello emerged 23 years later, there was no doubting its impact: "This is the most exciting projectile we have ever been fortunate enough to handle,' said Autocar in its September 1971 road test of the new 365GTB/4.
While the Miura wowed with its new-age design and technology, the Daytona was the more complete package, its traditional underpinnings wrapped up in a Pininfarina body that was, in its own way, just as contemporary as that of the Miura yet blessed with a degree of long-distance GT practicality for which the Lamborghini had no answer. That was perfectly demonstrated when Dan Gurney and Brock Yates won the 1971 Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash in a Daytona, the pro-racer and renowned scribe blasting across the States in 35 hours and 54 minutes, covering 2876 miles at an average speed of 80.1mph. "We never once exceeded 175 miles per hour," joked Gurney.
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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