Ferrari’s 365 GTB/4 Daytona would become revered as one of the marque’s great grand touring cars, presented as a mechanically developed version of the 275 GTB/4. Not wishing to dilute the specification of the four-cam’s engine, it continued to be fed by six twin-choke downdraught Weber carburettors and lubricated using a dry sump system, so to remain as a proper competition derived engine. It is hardly surprising then that soon after launch, privateers such as Luigi Chinetti’s NART team began to push the factory to develop the Daytona Competizione for Group IV racing.

Ultimately, around 27 examples of the Daytona Competizione would be prepared for racing in period, with just 15 being produced by the factory in three series of five cars, and two further factory prototypes. The cars’ specifications varied, with the earliest factory example being alloy-bodied, while later cars gained 450 brake horsepower engines. Their success was nothing less than extraordinary: in a period career spanning 12 years, 365 GTB/4s achieved 4th overall at the 1971 Tour de France, 5th overall and 1st in class at the 1972 24 Hours of Le Mans, 1st and 2nd overall in the 1972 Tour de France, two further class wins at Le Mans in 1973 and 1974, and at the 24 Hours of Daytona with a 2nd overall and class win in the 1973 running and a further class win there in 1975. So potent was the Daytona Competizione that one even achieved 2nd overall at the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1979, over a decade after the model was introduced.

In the years following the racing retirement of the Daytona, a few road cars were converted by specialists to Competizione specification; chassis 16935 is one of these cars. According to the Ferrari historian Marcel Massini, this 365 GTB/4 was completed by Ferrari on 17 October 1973 to U.S. specification, prior to being delivered to Luigi Chinetti Motors, which ran several of the Daytonas in competition at the time. By spring of 1974, it was sold to William Phillips of Pennsylvania before passing through the hands of another East Coast collector, Arnold Belsik, during the 1970s. During 1989, this Daytona was imported into Holland as a tired car, and stayed with a couple of Dutch owners throughout the 1990s before passing into one of the great European Ferrari collections, which would later include one of the original Daytona Competiziones.

Soon after receiving this 365 GTB/4, it was subjected to a full restoration and preparation to Group IV by Roelofs Engineering which, according to Massini, cost in the region of $150,000. The owner debuted this Ferrari at the 2000 Italian Historics race at Zandvoort where it was victorious against a 250 GTO, SWBs and a Bizzarrini 5300 GT. The owner is known to have raced it again prior to it being sold to Switzerland in 2003. Three Swiss owners followed with consistent maintenance throughout, with invoices on file matching its events usage, including appearances at the Tour Espana and Modena Cento Ore. By 2015, this Daytona was domiciled in France and was raced in two rounds of Peter Auto’s ever-popular Classic Endurance Racing series. This Ferrari was granted FIA HTP papers in 2014; bidders are encouraged to conact an RM Sotheby's Specialist to discuss their validity. In addition to this, it has been confirmed by the factory that this Daytona is fitted with its matching-numbers engine. In March 2022, the Ferrari was subject to an eight-hour pre-purchase inspection by DK Engineering, and this is available to review as part of the car’s history file.

Evoking one of Ferrari’s most successful GT racers, this Daytona Group IV Competitizione Conversion would be the perfect tool for 1970s racing series or even longer historic rallies such as the Modena Cento Ore and Tour Auto. Previously a stablemate of some of Ferrari’s most successful competition cars and presented in its original eye-catching Giallo Fly, this Ferrari would be a deserving addition to any competition car collection.