When it arrived at the supercar scene back in 1968, the Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona was billed as the fastest road car in the world. It was particularly favoured for its abilities as a GT car for travelling long distances at relatively high speed and comfort. While Ferrari officially stuck to their V12 naming convention, where the number 365 came from as the size of displacement of each cylinder, it was famously known as the “Daytona” with respect to Ferrari’s 1-2-3 win at the Daytona 24 hour race an year before the 365 GTB/4’s launch in 1967.

This certain Ferrari belongs an yet another famous British musician, Sir Elton John, a Ferrari enthusiast of his own. This Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona was under the singer’s ownership between 1973 – 1975, and it is currently going on auction Silverstone Auctions. Believed to have been purchased from his album success “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” the car was under the famed musician’s ownership for nearly 16 years.

More on the Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona

In 1966 Lamborghini debuted with the mid-engined Miura, which was a rocketing hit for the then young Sant’Agata based Italian carmaker. This also meant that the man from Maranello had to create an alternative that, if couldn’t blow the Lamborghini off the table for its looks, would give it a deep shrug when it came to performance and handling.

The Ferrari 365 GTB/4  had to keep up the Ferrari faith, while uphold the “Daytona” moniker that it was so enthusiastically awarded with. It was given a 4.4-litre 4-cam V12 that produced 352bhp. This was quite a bit, in face absolute supercar-like, considering a car 59-years ago, and certainly enough to give the GTB/4 the “fastest road car in the world” title. Back in the early 70s, the Ferrari 365 GBT/4 was capable of reaching 175mph (281kmph), which was higher than the Lamborghini Miura. The handling of the front engined Ferrari was specially impressive as the 5-speed gearbox was mounted at the rear amounted for perfect weight distribution that would make the car more predictable to drive.

Picture Credit: Tim Scott – Fluid Images via Silverstone Auctions