A noted paragon of 20th-century sportscar design, the Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona set a new benchmark for engineering and styling. With a singular exterior shape that was unlike anything else in Ferrari’s design history, the model instantly established a special cachet amongst the marque’s vintage front-engine V-12 berlinettas, and it remains highly celebrated today.

Announced in 1968, the 365 GTB/4 marked Ferrari’s first use of a 4.3-liter dual-overhead-cam engine in a road car. That the model was nicknamed “Daytona” in honor of Ferrari’s dominating 1-2-3 podium sweep at the 1967 24 Hours of Daytona has become a point of legend, even if the name was not officially sanctioned by Enzo Ferrari.

Clothed in Leonardo Fioravanti’s revolutionary shark-nose coachwork, the 365 GTB/4 was actually a stopgap effort that surprised everyone with its sheer success while a forthcoming rear-engine flat-12 model remained in development. It would be the last of Ferrari’s great front-engine grand touring machines for over 20 years, an exclamatory statement of power and style that capped a now-legendary tradition.

With a staggering output of 352 horsepower, the 365 GTB/4 dethroned the Lamborghini Miura as the world’s fastest production car. Utilizing dry-sump lubrication that enabled a lower placement of the engine, a five-speed transaxle that provided ideal 50/50 weight distribution, and all-wheel independent suspension, the Daytona offered crisp handling characteristics at speed. Wide wheels with superior tire contact and four-wheel disc brakes rounded out a superb all-around package that eventually proved worthy of competition applications. As the final front-engine Ferrari to feature a derivation of Gioacchino Colombo’s classic short-block V-12, the Daytona was the ultimate evolution of 20 years of development, constituting the triumphant conclusion of a generation of vintage Ferraris.

CHASSIS NUMBER 16795

Displaying an incredible state of originality, this remarkable Ferrari was completed in late August 1973, finished in Argento Metallizzato paint over an interior trimmed in Nero vaumol leather. It is believed to retain of the majority of its factory-appointed finish to this day. Specified for the US market with instruments in miles, the Daytona was dispatched to William Harrah’s well-known distributorship Modern Classic Motors (MCM), from which it was sold new to Dr. Jack Frost of Dubuque, Iowa (as documented by an MCM pre-delivery form and letter regarding the sale on file).

Dr. Frost was a rabid Daytona enthusiast, buying five examples (including a Spider) through MCM in a series of transactions that included at least one trade-in and one factory delivery. Chassis number 16795 was the final Daytona of these five cars, and after purchasing the berlinetta from Harrah, Dr. Frost left it at the dealership undriven until 1980, when he finally trailered it back to Iowa. At that point the car reportedly showed 188 delivery miles. While Dr. Frost enjoyed driving his other Daytonas, this Daytona seems to have been his collectible example: He never registered the car, and left it on an Italian MSO through the entirety of his ownership. During this multi-decade period, the berlinetta enjoyed optimal care in climate-controlled storage.

When Dr. Frost offered the Ferrari for sale in 1994, following 21 years of fastidious single-owner care, the odometer still showed just 188 miles, which the owner claimed were solely attributable to factory testing. Dr. Frost sold the Daytona to Kevin Collins of Louisville, Kentucky, and he kept the Daytona for five years before selling it to a respected dealer in Pennsylvania with 361 miles showing on the odometer. After being acquired by an enthusiast in New York in October 2000, at which point the odometer displayed 475 miles, the car passed into the care of a Connecticut-based collector in late 2013 before being sold to the consignor in January 2018.

Still presenting with elegance in what is believed to be an overwhelmingly original cosmetic livery of Argento Metallizzato paint over Nero leather, this intriguing Daytona is equipped with Borrani wire wheels, a Becker Mexico radio, and air conditioning. The car notably retains its matching-numbers engine and transaxle, providing the optimal ingredients for a long-term collectible of considerable potential. Incremental increases in reported mileage suggest that the odometer reading of 4,367 miles at the time of cataloguing represents actual original mileage, implying that this Daytona must surely be one of the least driven and most original examples to be encountered.

Ideal for a sympathetic mechanical freshening to facilitate driving enjoyment, this elegantly appointed berlinetta offers potential road use or display in preservation-class concours d’elegance. A low-mileage, matching-numbers Daytona presented in its original cosmetic livery such as this one would surely enrich any sporting collection.