Ferrari 365 California Spyder

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Ferrari
Ferrari 365 California
Ferrari 365 California
365 California
Production period: 1966-1967
Class : Sports car
Body versions : Cabriolet
Engines: Otto engine :
4.4 liters
(320 hp)
Length: 4900 mm
Width: 1780 mm
Height: 1330 mm
Wheelbase : 2650 mm
Empty weight : 1350 kg
Previous model Ferrari 500 Superfast

The Ferrari 365 California Spyder is an open sports car produced in 1966 and 1967, which belongs to the Ferrari 365 model family . As was common with Ferrari street models at the time, its name is derived from the displacement of a single cylinder (around 365 cm³) of the twelve-cylinder engine. The 365 California was the first and at the same time the most exclusive member of this broad model family and is considered the last small-series Ferrari with a front engine.

History of origin

Since the 1950s, Ferrari has been producing not only pure racing vehicles and regular street sports cars, but also very expensive and luxurious upper-class models, which were not tailored to motorsport, but to “elite customers”, especially in North America. This tradition began in 1952 with the 342 America . From 1964, the Coupé 500 Superfast, designed by Pininfarina , took on this role, which was the fastest Gran Turismo of its time with its 5.0-liter and almost 400-hp 12-cylinder V-engine . It was about twice as expensive as a Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud . Production of the 500 Superfast ended in 1966 after a total of 37 copies had been made. The successor is the 365 California, which was presented at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1966. Its designation referred to the 250 GT Spyder California manufactured from 1957 to 1963 , which had played a similar role in the Ferrari program; however, there was no technical or stylistic relationship between the 250 GT California and the 365 California.

Model description

landing gear

With the exception of the (only) prototype , the Ferrari 365 California had the technically unchanged chassis of the 500 Superfast (Tipo 598), which in turn can be traced back to the chassis of the 330 GT 2 + 2 . The front wheels were individually suspended on double wishbones of unequal length with coil springs (trapezoidal arm axle). At the rear, Ferrari built in a rigid axle on semi-elliptical springs with additional trailing arms and coil springs. There were hydraulic telescopic shock absorbers at the front and rear. In particular, the rear rigid axle was criticized as out of date when the car was presented.

body

As was customary at Ferrari at the time, the body of the 365 California was designed by Pininfarina. The front came - with the exception of the additional pop-up headlights - from the 500 Superfast. The executive designer was Tom Tjaarda . His draft was received inconsistently. Sometimes the body is described as perfectly shaped, while others consider the styling to be unbalanced and criticize a “strange mixture of curves and lines”. The California had some unusual design features. These include the functionless side ventilation openings that extend over the doors and the rear fenders and into which the door handles were integrated, as well as the retractable fog lights. The arrangement of the taillights, in which angular and round shapes were combined, took up a design by Tjaarda for a Lancia-Flaminia coupé from 1963. The flat structure had large front and rear overhangs. With a total length of 4900 mm, it was one of the longest series-produced Ferraris.

engine

The 365 California was powered by a 4390 cc V12 engine known as the Tipo 217B . The basic structure was based on a construction by Gioacchino Colombo from 1947. Ferrari had largely redesigned Colombo's twelve-cylinder for the 330 model family released in 1961 ; in particular, the engine block was redesigned while maintaining the cylinder bank angle of 60 degrees. That 4.0 liter engine called Tipo 209 was enlarged to 4.4 liters for the 365. The engineers achieved the increase in displacement by enlarging the bore from 77 to 81 mm. The stroke (71 mm) remained unchanged. The engine had an overhead camshaft for each bank of cylinders and two valves per cylinder. Three double Weber carburettors (type 40DF) were used to prepare the mixture. The engine's output was given as 320 hp.

The production history

Ferrari produced a total of only 14 copies of the 365 California, including a prototype in January 1966 and a small series between August 1966 and October 1967 with eleven left- hand drive and two right-hand drive vehicles . They were all created with a high proportion of elaborate manual labor at the body construction company Pininfarina.

The prototype with chassis number 8347 from January 1966

Pininfarina completed the first 365 California at the end of January 1966. The left-hand drive vehicle was given the Ferrari chassis number 8347; Pininfarina himself had it under his order number 99647. This 365 California had the function of a ready-to-drive, fully equipped prototype and was the only one based on a Tipo 571 chassis, as used by Ferrari in the Gran Turismo Coupé 330 GT 2 + 2. In March 1966 Ferrari presented the vehicle at the Geneva Motor Show; for this it was given a new paint job in a darker night blue and an interior made of beige cord instead of a fashionable black and white fabric.

Eleven other left-hand drive vehicles from 1966/67

The response to the new, open model was so positive, especially from the United States , that Ferrari immediately commissioned Pininfarina to produce eleven more vehicles of the 365 California with left-hand drive; there they received the order numbers 99649 to 99659. However, production could not be started immediately for two reasons. On the one hand, the series vehicles were to be built on the somewhat more modern Tipo 598 chassis, as used by Ferrari for the 500 Superfast top model, which was also largely handcrafted at Pininfarina; this resulted in minor design changes compared to the prototype. Furthermore, the previously issued Pininfarina orders should be processed; so the last five Superfast coupés of a total of 37 since 1964 and twelve Superfast coupés of the series II from 1965 were created. The Pininfarina order number 99648 was also in between, probably one of the sensational Ferrari 365 P Tre Posti for Fiat boss Gianni Agnelli (chassis number 8815GT) or the American Ferrari importer and racing team owner Luigi Chinetti (chassis number 8971GT).

Pininfarina completed the eleven left-hand drive vehicles individually, including only two in 1966 (chassis numbers 9127 at the end of August and 9447 in mid-October). In 1967, one each followed in February and March (chassis numbers 9631 and 9801), three in April (chassis numbers 9849, 9889 and 9935) and one each in May, June, July and October (chassis numbers 10077, 10155, 10327 and 9615). Depending on whether the order came from continental Europe or the United States, the vehicles were equipped accordingly; they differed in the details of the vehicle lighting , the instrumentation on the dashboard and possibly the ancillary units on the engine.

Two right-hand drive vehicles in 1967

Right-hand drive cars were not initially planned as it was unclear whether there would be any need for the open model, particularly in the UK . In fact, two orders were received from there: The tenth Ferrari 365 California (with chassis number 9985) was also produced under Pininfarina order number 99677 in May 1967 and the fourteenth and last (with chassis number 10369) in the same year.

The individual vehicles

As far as is known, today (as of 2017) only one of the fourteen Ferrari 365 California is considered lost or destroyed. Most of the remaining thirteen have now been restored , some of them in concours condition. Some have been firmly in the hands of collectors - some for decades - while others have been auctioned off as high-priced investment objects at the most well-known automobile auctions in recent years - some of them repeatedly .

  • Chassis number 8347 : Ferrari sold the prototype to a well-known Italian publisher at the end of July 1966 . It still exists in private ownership today, successively in Italy, Belgium and again in Italy. A sale offer of $ 780,000 is known from June 2001 .
  • Chassis number 9127 : The second vehicle with a light blue metallic paintwork and ivory-colored interior went to the US Ferrari importer Luigi Chinetti and found its first buyer in 1967. From 1968 to 2005 it remained in family ownership, initially with a dark blue paintwork and wine-red interior, later dark red on the outside and brown on the inside. It was offered multiple times in the 1990s at prices of at least $ 595,000. In 2005, the auctioned Indian businessman Vijay Mallya , now known as Formula 1 - racing team owner , the convertible at a price of 736,000 euros for his car collection.
  • Chassis number 9447 : The third vehicle with light red paintwork and light brown interior found an Italian buyer at the end of 1966; In 1967 it served as a Ferrari exhibition vehicle at the Turin Motor Show and later moved to the United States. After several changes of ownership and a restoration in California in 1980, it is a permanent part of the collection of the Thomas C. Crawford Auto Aviation Museum in Cleveland , Ohio .
  • Chassis number 9615 : Started fourth, the vehicle with a silver paintwork and black interior was only completed in October 1967 and was the only one to be delivered to Spain . The recipient was Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Martinez ("Ramfis" Trujillo), the son of the dictator of the Dominican Republic Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina, who was killed in an assassination attempt in 1961 in Spanish exile . In December 1969, Trujillo and his Ferrari collided head-on with the Jaguar owned by Teresa Beltrán de Lis y Pidal, the Duchess of Alburquerque , near Madrid . She died on the spot; Trujillo suffered severe facial injuries and died ten days later of pneumonia . The Ferrari wreck was bought by two British people one after the other before it was rebuilt. After another change of ownership and a restoration by the British Ferrari specialist Terry Hoyle, the vehicle has been owned by a British Ferrari collector since 1987. The convertible, which was given a dark green paintwork with a light brown interior during the course of the restoration, now has a silver-gray metallic paintwork with a black interior.
Ferrari 365 California Spyder, chassis number 9631
  • Chassis number 9631 : The vehicle, which was completed in February 1967, served as an exhibition vehicle at the Geneva Motor Show in March and at the New York International Auto Show the following month . After several years in the service of a US leasing company, it was in very poor overall condition and was for sale in 1971 for $ 8,500 with 56,000 miles . In 1976 the first full restoration was unsuccessful due to a serious accident that was soon to come. A Ferrari collector had the 365 California restored at Ferrari and Pininfarina in Italy the following year. After his death in 2005, the vehicle, now in concours status, was auctioned several times, most recently in 2010 for 880,000 US dollars. Today the Spider has its original appearance again with a beige metallic paint with a light brown interior. In the mid-1970s it was temporarily orange with black synthetic leather trim.
  • Chassis number 9801 : The sixth vehicle of the series received US equipment and also served as an exhibition vehicle at the New York International Auto Show. Like the third, it is bright red, but with a black interior. It went into US private ownership through Ferrari importer Chinetti. In 1985 a Swiss dealer offered the 365 California for 200,000 Swiss francs . Since then it has been owned by an American collector who had it completely restored by the Italian specialist Allegretti in Modena .
Ferrari 365 California Spyder, chassis number 9849
  • Chassis number 9849 : The seventh vehicle also received US equipment and was sold to New York City via Chinetti . By 2007 it found several new owners in the US before it was bought by a Briton for 728,000 euros . From 2010 to 2016 the 365 California belonged to the German entrepreneur Alexander Rittweger in Munich , developer of the Payback cards, who eventually exchanged it for a Maserati 3500 GT Vignale Spyder, among other things . The originally white vehicle with black interior was repeatedly given new paintwork in the 1970s, from green to wine-red, on to silver-gray, dark blue and silver. It has been black on the outside and brown on the inside since a restoration in the 1990s. A silver paint job with a black interior was followed by a return to the original white exterior color in 2016.
  • Chassis number 9889 : The eighth car received a European equipment and went to the family of an Italian fashion designer , where it remained for 34 years. It has had multiple owners in the United States since 2001. Documented is a sales price of $ 410,000 in 2001 and a sales offer of $ 650,000 in 2003. As from the beginning, the convertible is painted in light blue metallic and has a black interior.
  • Chassis number 9935 : The ninth vehicle received US equipment and was again sold through Chinetti in the USA. After a year in the service of a leasing company, it had several owners in the US, since the mid-00s-year one in Canadian Montreal . The red paintwork with white interior and white hood is striking.
  • Chassis number 9985 : The tenth vehicle was the first with right-hand drive and special British equipment. Ferrari delivered it to the British importer Maranello Concessionaires under Colonel Ronnie Hoare . Only the fourth owner, a British real estate agent , used the convertible for a longer period from 1969, in the Bahamas from 1977 , and had it restored in Florida from 1983 to 1985 . It was repainted from midnight blue to red and parts of the interior were changed from beige to black. The 365 California has been owned by a British man since 1986, who first had it brought to Japan and then back to Great Britain in 1989.
Ferrari 365 California Spyder, chassis number 10077
  • Chassis number 10077 : The eleventh vehicle received US equipment, ruby-red paintwork and light brown interior. It has been in the United States since its delivery and has been part of the Nethercutt Collection in San Sylmar , California , founded by the American entrepreneur and collector Jack Boison Nethercutt (1913-2004) since the 1980s . It has been shown repeatedly at well-known concours competitions.
  • Chassis number 10327 : The penultimate vehicle was completed with US equipment at the end of July 1967 and delivered to its first owner overseas at the beginning of October, presumably via Chinetti. For around eleven years, it was owned by two executives at a US electronics company. After that, the 365 California had several different owners from the USA, including actor Charles Bronson for several years from 1999 . From 1968 to 1994 the cabriolet lacked the typical fold-out auxiliary headlights in the front of the vehicle due to an accident with subsequent repairs at Chinetti . The originally light red vehicle with an ivory-colored interior was initially given a white, then a light brown interior and finally a wine-red paint job. An offer for sale for $ 1.5 million is documented for 1990 and an actual sale for 1993 for $ 346,000. Auctions in 1999 before and in 2005 after a restoration were unsuccessful with maximum bids of $ 500,000 and $ 550,000, as the agreed minimum price was not reached. On the other hand, auctions were successful in 2007 with a sales price of $ 1.375 million and in 2013 with $ 2.97 million. The buyers have so far remained anonymous.
  • Chassis number 10369 : The fourteenth and last copy of this vehicle model was also completed and delivered in 1967. It was metallic blue with a beige interior and the second with right-hand drive and special British equipment. The buyer was the London real estate speculator Harry Hyams; After a serious traffic accident with an army truck in 1969, Hyams had the vehicle restored at Pininfarina the following year and equipped with an electric drive for the convertible top . It remained in the family until 1999 and was at Carrozzeria Zanasi in Italy that summer. There is no reliable information about the further whereabouts.

Technical specifications

Ferrari 365 California Spyder data sheet
Engine: 12-cylinder V-engine (four-stroke), fork angle 60 °
Displacement: 4390 cc
Bore × stroke: 81 × 71 mm
Performance at 1 / min: 235 kW (320 hp) at 6600
Max. Torque at 1 / min:  377 Nm at 5000
Compression: 8.8: 1
Mixture preparation: 3 downdraft twin carburettors Weber 40 DFI
Valve control: One overhead camshaft per cylinder bank, chain
Cooling: Water cooling
Transmission: Five-speed gearbox, stick shift
Front suspension: unequal length double wishbones , coil springs, stabilizer
Rear suspension: Rigid axle on longitudinal leaf springs, additional trailing arms and coil springs
Brakes: Disc brakes front and rear (diameter 27.2 / 27.38 cm), brake booster
Steering: Recirculating ball steering with servo
Chassis: Steel tubular frame
Body: Aluminum sheet, not load-bearing
Wheelbase: 2650 mm
Track width front / rear: 1440/1470 mm
Dimensions: 4900 × 1780 × 1330 mm
Empty weight: 1320 kg
Top speed:  245 km / h
0-100 km / h:
Price (DM): approx. 80,000 (1967)

literature

  • Ulrich Bethschneider-Kieser: Faces in the crowd. Comparison: Iso Rivolta IR 300 from 1964 versus Ferrari 330 GT 2 + 2 from 1965. Motor Klassik, issue 6/1991, p: 8 ff.
  • Matthias Braun, Ernst Fischer, Manfred Steinert, Alexander Franc Storz: Ferrari road and racing cars since 1946 , 1st edition Stuttgart 2006 (Motorbuch Verlag). ISBN 978-3-613-02651-3
  • Peter Braun, Gregor Schulz: The great Ferrari manual. All series and racing vehicles from 1947 to today , Heel Verlag, Königswinter, 2006, ISBN 3-89880-501-8
  • Godfrey Eaton: The Complete Ferrari . Cadogan Books, London 1985, ISBN 0-947754-10-5 , pp. 92f., 131-135, 140-150, 163/164, 353f.
  • Brian Laban: Ferrari . 1st edition 2006. London (Parragon Books). ISBN 1-40547-015-1 .
  • David Lillywhite, Halwart Schrader: Classic Automobiles . Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-613-02552-3 .

Web links

Commons : Ferrari 365 California  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Matthias Braun, Ernst Fischer, Manfred Steinert, Alexander Franc Storz: Ferrari road and racing cars since 1946 , 1st edition Stuttgart 2006 (Motorbuch Verlag). ISBN 978-3-613-02651-3 , p. 147.
  2. ^ A b c d Brian Laban: Ferrari . 1st edition 2006. London (Parragon Books). ISBN 1-40547-015-1 , p. 54.
  3. ^ A b c d Peter Braun, Gregor Schulz: The great Ferrari manual. All series and racing vehicles from 1947 to today , Heel Verlag, Königswinter, 2006, ISBN 3-89880-501-8 , p. 71.
  4. ↑ http://auto.ferrari.com/en_EN/sports-cars-models/past-models/365-california/ Rear suspension live axle, radius arms, semi-elliptic springs, coil springs over telescopic shock absorbers
  5. ↑ The Ferrari 365 California Spyder on the website www.ultimatecarpage.com (accessed on July 13, 2017).
  6. ↑ a b c The Ferrari 365 California Spyder on the web portal barchetta.cc with 14 subpages , accessed on July 24, 2017 (English).
  7. ↑ The Ferrari 365 California with chassis number 8347 on the web portal barchetta.cc , accessed on July 27, 2017 (English).
  8. ↑ The Ferrari 365 California with chassis number 9127 on the web portal barchetta.cc , accessed on July 27, 2017 (English).
  9. ↑ The Ferrari 365 California with the chassis number 9447 on the web portal barchetta.cc , accessed on July 27, 2017 (English).
  10. ↑ The Ferrari 365 California with chassis number 9615 on the web portal barchetta.cc , accessed on July 27, 2017 (English).
  11. ↑ The Ferrari 365 California with chassis number 9631 on the web portal barchetta.cc , accessed on July 27, 2017 (English).
  12. ↑ The Ferrari 365 California with chassis number 9801 on the web portal barchetta.cc , accessed on July 27, 2017 (English).
  13. ↑ The Ferrari 365 California with chassis number 9849 on the web portal barchetta.cc , accessed on July 27, 2017 (English).
  14. ↑ The Ferrari 365 California with chassis number 9889 on the web portal barchetta.cc , accessed on July 27, 2017 (English).
  15. ↑ The Ferrari 365 California with chassis number 9935 on the web portal barchetta.cc , accessed on July 27, 2017 (English).
  16. ↑ The Ferrari 365 California with chassis number 9985 on the web portal barchetta.cc , accessed on July 27, 2017 (English).
  17. ↑ The Ferrari 365 California with chassis number 10077 on the web portal barchetta.cc , accessed on September 15, 2017 (English).
  18. ↑ The Ferrari 365 California with the chassis number 10155 on the web portal barchetta.cc , accessed on September 15, 2017 (English).
  19. ↑ The Ferrari 365 California with chassis number 10327 on the web portal barchetta.cc , accessed on September 15, 2017 (English).
  20. ↑ The Ferrari 365 California with the chassis number 10369 on the web portal barchetta.cc , accessed on September 15, 2017 (English).
  21. ↑ http://auto.ferrari.com/en_EN/sports-cars-models/past-models/365-california/ Steering servo-assisted recirculating ball