Sunday 29 August 2010

Another Found in the Classifieds: Ferrari 365GTS/4 NART Michelotti Spyder


Following the Bertone Pirana here is another unusual car found in the Classifieds, the Michelotti bodied Ferrari Daytona Spyder.

Unusually for a rebodied Daytona this is based on a factory built Spyder rather than a Berlinetta.  It also has quite a movie career featuring in both the Gumball Rally (the original movie staring Raul Julia and Peter Fonda not the terrible series of tours/races with no name celebrities that use the name) and later A Star Is Born with Kris Kristofferson. It was during the later movie that the car was significantly damaged.

After this the wreck was sold to Luigi Chinetti who commissioned Michelotti to rebody the car, in what would be seen in the late seventies as a more modern design. In my view it's the most successful of the Michelotti bodied Daytona's (there are two others, one of which entered but did not race at Le Mans in 1975), but I think there are few who would be of the opinion that it looks better than the Pininfarina original. Of particular disappointment is the interior as the plastic dashboard looks cheap and lacks the style of the original.

An interesting question to me would be should any new owner consider having an original design Pininfarina body refitted and transfer this body to a less valuable Ferrari such as say a 400?

Advert on carandclassic here and original dealer ad here.

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