Jay Leno drives a 1971 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona.

Posted on January 28, 2023
Classic cars
Jay Leno drives a 1971 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona.

Jay Leno doesn't own a Ferrari, but he likes to showcase them on his YouTube show, Jay Leno's Garage. This episode features a true prancing horse classic, a 1971 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona.

The car is owned by Ferrari collector David Lee, who also brought a Ferrari 288 GTO and a restomodded Dino to the garage in an earlier episode. These cars are great, but no Ferrari collection is complete without a Daytona.

The Daytona was introduced at the 1968 Frankfurt Motor Show in the form of the 365 GTB4 coupe as the successor to the 275 GTB4, a distinctive front-engined version of the classic Ferrari mid-engined that was then the focus of the world's wealthy It contrasted with the Lamborghini Miura.

Ferrari did not officially call the car "Daytona." It began as an unofficial nickname for Ferrari's 1-2-3 finish in the 1967 Daytona 24-hour race, but it quickly caught on. Ferrari also developed a racing version, the GTB4 Competizione, in 1971.

A convertible version of the 365 GTS/4 was presented at the 1969 Frankfurt Show. It was equipped with a folding soft top, but retained the same mechanical package as the coupe. Namely, a 4.4-liter V-12 engine producing 347 hp and 318 lb-ft of torque was mated to a five-speed manual transmission with a gated shifter.

Ferrari sold both coupe and convertible Daytona models through 1973, with 122 convertibles, according to the automaker, accounting for about 10% of sales (the car shown here is one of 18 painted yellow). Due to their rarity, convertibles are far more valuable. Coupes are typically worth $600,000 to $700,000, while convertibles can fetch as much as $4.5 million, Lee said in the video.

Some owners cut the roof off their coupes because of the convertible's higher value, but this car is the real deal. Watch the full video as it is a rare opportunity to see it in motion.

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