1974 Ferrari 365 GT4 BB

By the dawn of the 1970s, it had become clear that Ferrari's front-engined, Daytona replacement would have to position the engine behind the driver in order to remain at the forefront of the supercar market. The Miura was selling well, Maserati had just introduced the mid-engined Bora and even the cut-price De Tomaso Pantera offered an exotic badge and layout for less well-heeled mortals.

Despite the fact that replacing the Daytona, long regarded as the ultimate Grand Tourer, seemed an impossible feat, the all-new 365 GT4/BB appeared on the world stage at the 1971 Turin Motor Show and received a rapturous reception. With streamlined, low and extremely aggressive lines, it was the first production Ferrari to be fitted with the boxer-type 12-cylinder engine derived from the F1 unit. The technical approach taken was completely different from that adopted on all other Ferrari models produced so far, and the architecture was not that of the classic front-engined V12s who's longitudinally-mounted engine featured opposing cylinder banks. The two Bs stand for Berlinetta Boxer and the 'Boxer' reference was derived from the fact that the cylinder banks form an angle of 180 degrees, producing an engine with a flat, rectangular shape enabling the cars centre of gravity to be lowered. With the BB, close attention was also paid to the transmission, with the gearbox positioned under the engine next to the oil sump. From a technical standpoint, this solution rendered design and construction considerably more complex and consequently, the gestation period for this model took longer than usual, however, it was definitely worth the wait.

Engine displacement was 4400cc, with 380bhp and a top speed of around 180mph and these outstanding levels of performance led the 365 GT4 BB to be crowned the fastest car in the world when it was unveiled. The tubular steel spaceframe chassis was reinforced by the addition of integral steel panels around the cockpit section, making it virtually a 'monocoque' construction and the wedge shape of the nose appears to owe quite a lot to the 1968 Pininfarina P6 concept car. The lower section of the nose featured a full-width aluminium egg-crate radiator grille, from the top edge of which an indent line ran around the body perimeter, visually creating an upper and lower half and rendering it even more streamlined. This separation was emphasised by the two-tone paint: satin black on the lower part, and the chosen body colour on the upper part. The contrast gave the car a super sporty, modern look, pre-empting a trend that is still in vogue today.

Between 1973 and 1976, just 387 Boxer 365s were produced with just 88 in right-hand drive and only 58 of those destined for the UK. This fabulous example is one of just 29 that remain taxed/SORN’d in the UK today. Ordered new by Maranello Concessionaires Ltd for their Chairman, Colonel Ronnie Hoare, on 2nd May 1973 to be used as their official demonstrator, the car was specified in Blue Metallic Dino 106-A-72 with a beige interior, as can be seen on the copies of the original invoice and delivery sheets on file. This would appear to be the 40th 365 GT4 BB produced and was the second of the 58 365 GT4 BBs officially delivered to the UK. Naturally, as Maranello’s new model, it featured in numerous magazines including Motoring News on 14th July 1974, Motorsport September in 1974, Autocar on 5th October 1974 and Motorsport in June 1975.

Pleasingly, the car’s history file has a detailed summary of its ownership history including when it was bought and sold, to whom and where it was located. It’s believed to have been resprayed in the late 1970s in Rosso Corsa and then been exported to a private individual in Oklahoma in 1983. He subsequently moved to California before moving back to Texas, hence its Texas Certificate of Title dated 1985. They spent $15,000 with Bob Smith Coachworks in Texas before selling the car in 1987 to Roy Fish of Daytona Imports who shipped the car back to the UK and sold it to an individual in Surrey. Having only owned the car for a matter of weeks, the Boxer was sold to our vendor in December of 1987, and it has remained in his care ever since.

Passionately owned for 35 years, this matching-numbers Boxer is surely one of the best. The massively detailed lever-arch history file contains every quote and invoice during our vendor’s ownership in addition to detailed history from previous ownership. From invoices within the file, it appears that the car has benefitted from over £120,000 spent with various marque specialists since 1987 including Maranello Concessionaires, Prestige Coachworks and Maranello Surrey, on its maintenance, engine rebuilds and restoration. The Ferrari had covered around 31,000 miles at the time of our vendor’s purchase and the current mileage is still only just over 53,000, however, they feel that they have done everything they want to do with the car including road trips and the occasional hill-climb/timed sprint when their main competition car was in need of work.

As mentioned before, the car’s history file is substantial and potential buyers might want to invest an hour or so going through it. We picked out the following:

• The engine was rebuilt/refreshed by MCL in 1990 at a cost of £7,000
• During 2006/7, Prestige Restoration carried out a substantial cosmetic and mechanical restoration including new sills with new metal fabricated and welded in, rust work sorted on front and rear clamshells, engine rebuild with all new belts, all of the necessary parts resprayed including the lower half of the car in the correct satin black, the wheels in silver, the engine resprayed in the correct colours, front and rear clamshells and the roof
• From 2010 to 2020, the Boxer was maintained and serviced by NBA Sportscars in Surrey with invoices totalling over £10,000
• QV London changed the cambelt and performed a major service in 2015 at a cost of £4,149
• Most recently, marque specialists Rardley Motors Ltd performed an engine out major service in June 2021 including cambelts, auxillary belts and related tensioners as well as general maintenance at a cost of £5,757
• The file contains every MOT Certificate from our vendors ownership except for 2003 and 2006/2007 when its restoration was being undertaken.

The car retains its original under-hood toolbox with original tools and spares, original space-saver spare wheel, original jack bag with jack, original owner's manual fabric case with manual and radio information, and two sets of keys one with the original Ferrari key fob.

In generally excellent condition, this UK-supplied, right-hand drive, matching numbers 365 GT4 BB is a fine example of one of the last truly hand-built Ferraris and would be a great addition to any collection of important Ferraris. Succeeded by the heavier, less powerful and more abundant 512 BB, the 365 BB remains the connoisseur's choice with the market continuing to confirm this.