Ferrari Daytona - The Fairest Fast Car Of Them All?

Words: Amazosan

Pictures: Nicholas Mee cars

The Jaguar E-type is not the most beautiful car of all time. The Ferrari 365 GTB4/GTS4 is.

Now before you put hands to keyboard or storm the bastille of Amazo Tower voicing your disagreement, let me tell you why I think this is the case. For all of its beauty, the E-type does have some details that jar, to my eyes; the wheels are just a touch too inboard, the way the top of the door is built up to meet the straight window line look almost like an afterthought. And speaking of afterthoughts, the windscreen not only looks way too upright for the rest of the profile, but looks completely surplus to requirements, not surprising when you consider that the E-Type's lineage is effectively the C and D-Type Le Mans racers. Now, I'm not saying it's ugly (it's still a beautiful car) but when you're running the slide rule of absolute beauty over it, it just seems to fall down at the last few millimetres.

The irony of comparing a period Ferrari to the E-Type is more complex than you may think. Considering that on its release, Enzo called it "The most beautiful car ever made", it probably motivated him to top it, as cars such as the 250 GT Lusso, 275 GTB/4 and Dino 246 are signs that Il Commendatore probably had one eye on the Coventry cat. But rather than paying homage to it, Pininfarina's Leonardo Fioravanti took a completely different approach and designed a car with no stylistic connections to the past; the Daytona was born.

It was effectively the last hurrah of the front engine V12 Ferrari sports car (the 365 GT4 2+2/400/400i was based on the Daytona's underpinnings, but was more of a grand tourer, the later 456 served a similar purpose) until the 550 Maranello of the 90's. The 365 GTB4/GTS4 - the 'Daytona' moniker allegedly honours Ferrari's 1-2-3 finish in the 1967 Daytona 24 Hours with the 330P4 - was a development of the the 275GTB/4; a steel body by Scaglietti and underpinned by a tubular frame chassis. The wheelbase was the same (94.5 inches), but the track (56.7 inches front, 56.7 inches rear) was widened by half an inch. Suspension is classic 60's Ferrari; upper and lower wishbones, coil springs, telescopic dampers and beefy anti-roll bars front and rear. Controversially, Ferrari persisted with a steering box when the likes of the Miura and the E-type had steering racks; another sign that the Daytona was the last of a line. Like any Ferrari of the time though, the Gioacchino Colombo-designed V12 was it's crowning feature, taken out to 4.4 litres, 352bhp and 318lb/ft for this outing. But despite journalists of the time raising an eyebrow as to it's running gear and the engine placement, with unkind comments along the lines of the car being obsolete at launch because of the Miura, the car was proved to be more capable than Lamborghini's flagship.

But it's the styling that really marks out the Daytona to the casual observer; Fioravanti took a clean sheet to the familiar mechanicals and created a design that really is timeless. Remember, the family cars at the time were the likes of the MKII Cortina and the Vauxhall Victor FD, while the recently introduced Series II E-Type had lost a little of the delicacy of the Series I. The lines are tight, there's no unnecessary ornamentation and the whole shape flows from bumper to bumper. Traditional Ferrari cues such as Borrani wire wheels and the four exhaust tips fit in perfectly, while the twin rear lights (first seen on the previous year's Dino 206) were to become a styling signature right up to the 612 of 2004. And the whole shape just looks fast, without trying too hard; the likes of the 250 GTO and 275GTB/4 also look fast but are styled more aggressively to accentuate that. The Daytona tells you that fact at no more than a visual whisper. I get the impression that Fioravanti drew three lines that defined the shape and the rest was mere details; it's probably the way the E-Type was also styled, but I think that Fioravanti's pen was just that much slicker than Malcolm Sayers on this occasion.

-Amazosan

NB the car here is actually for sale here; POA, naturally.

An E-Type In New York

A classic does not go out of fashion. Put the icon in question ten years, twenty, fifty, one hundred years later from it's original environment and birthdate, it is still beautiful.

The Jaguar E-Type is a classic. It's line is timeless. Jaguar proves this once again with pictures of the E-type, which celebrated earlier this year the fiftieth anniversary of the car's launch in the U.S. (as the XKE) at the New York Auto Show. More than two-thirds of all models built were sent across the Atlantic, establishing a special relationship that persists to this day.

This car was loved by celebrities, including Steve McQueen, Tony Curtis, Britt Ekland and Brigitte Bardot, amongst others. On first sight of the E-Type at its launch, Frank Sinatra is reputed to have said: “I want that car and I want it now”.

Jaguar Cars did a photo shoot to mark the event, which was also an opportunity for them to compare old with new with the inclusion of the XJ, then recently launched in the U.S.

Jaguar’s Design Director Ian Callum explains why the E-type is such an icon, like we need to be told:

“The E-Type was ahead of its time, just as the XJ is now. Williams Lyons’ philosophy was all about taking that next step. He was very adventurous and knew that it is Jaguar’s job to break the rules. He never looked back, always forward.”

The legendary E-Type sports car is a machine so beautiful that an opalescent dark blue 1963 Open Two-Seater holds a permanent place in New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Ian Callum explains, “Part of the purpose of a Jaguar is to look beautiful. We always tryto make our cars visually that little bit wider, lower and longer. That’s what our proportions are about. When you see them together, the XJ and E-Type speak the same language.”

According to Callum, the E-Type demonstrates the overriding principle of sports car design: minimum bodywork encapsulating maximum performance. He explains: “The excitement and beauty of the car were almost created as a by-product. You’ve got beauty derived from its scientific purity of surface and excitement from its proportions.”

A question Callum is often asked is whether he would design another E-Type. His answer is always the same:

“I would refuse, it had its time and place. What I will do is create something as dramatic now as that car was then and I think the XJ achieves that.“We still work very hard to get the proportions of our cars as tight to the mechanicals as possible. Unlike the E-Type, of course, the XJ has to carry five people in total comfort but the principles of wrapping the body around the package to create exciting proportions are exactly the same now as they were 50 years ago.”

While I personally think that comparing the 'E' with a mere modern Jaguar saloon, and a fairly generic-looking one at that (despite the attempt to reflect some glory from it's hallowed ancestor) is tantamount to treason, I do agree with his sentiments on the E-Type.

A car forever young.

A Beautiful Car Moment In An Unlikely Film

Everyone remembers the start of the Italian Job; the Miura working its way up the old road in the St. Bernard valley towards the Great St. Bernard pass and the road to La Thuile, south of Courmayeur, where the Miura crashes in the tunnel. It's a great non-car chase car moment in film. Well I've found another in a completely unexpected place.
Silver Streak.
Yeah, that's right, the Gene Wilder/Richard Pryor comedy.
Beautiful cinematography accompanied by a gorgeous Henry Mancini-composed soundtrack.

Of course everyone who's seen it remembers it for this (and the yellow X1/9 of course):