1970 Ferrari Daytona Spider Tribute

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Way back in 2004, I had the opportunity to see one of the few genuine Ferrari Daytona Spiders ever built in the flesh. It was being serviced at the Ferrari Dealership and the service techs were kind enough to let me take a close look at it. I don’t recall what 365 GTS/4 Spider values were at the time, but I don’t believe they had reached over a million dollars yet, but I’m sure they were starting to inch their way towards it. Today, factory-built Daytona Spiders trade hands for well over a million, if not two, and Daytonas that have been converted after the fact can fetch over $500k. And with those numbers in mind, I can actually understand why someone took their 1981 Nissan 280ZX and modified it to look like a Daytona Spider. Now, I would encourage anyone to undertake this kind of customization, but this example looks to be a fairly convincing tribute and will cost you about a million dollars less to buy! If you’re as intrigued by this Daytona ZX as I am, you can find it here on eBay in Scottsdale, Arizona with a current bid of $5,000 and no reserve.

The seller states that the body is a Daytona ZX, but was built before they owned the molds for the body. That seemed like an odd statement to make, but a quick search reveals that someone is in fact making and selling the body panels to convert any 280ZX into a Daytona-styled car. It’s safe to assume that the seller is the same person that is making and selling them. It looks like a rather daunting task, so I would probably buy one already done over building one myself. Of course, I’d really want to see the car in person before bidding, as it looks like there’s a lot of cutting and reinforcing involved. I’d also want to see if these conversions are as striking as the real thing.

Of the things that struck me about the real Spider was its proportions. With the top down it reminded me of a shoe, with its long front end and what seemed like a relatively small cockpit, but in a good way. Once you see under the hood, the proportions make sense, as you need a lot of room to keep the bulk of the 4.4-liter Colombo V12 and all of its ancillary systems behind the front wheels. I hope this tribute has the right dimensions to give it that same look. Of course, under this hood, you aren’t going to find a V12. Right now it’s empty, but a small block V8 should fit easily enough and could be made to produce as much, if not more, horsepower as the Ferrari V12.

Tributes and replicas of high-end supercars have long fascinated me. I get a major part of a Lamborghini or a Ferrari is the looks, but the performance and experience should be the most important factors. With just 122 factory Spiders having been built though, very few of us will ever get the chance to experience one (even if money wasn’t part of the equation). Which makes cars like this more interesting to me. Can it recreate enough of the experience of the real thing to justify all the work it’s going to take to build? Or would it just be better to buy a nice Nissan 280ZX and enjoy it for it what it was, a fun-to-drive affordable sports car? I haven’t driven a real Daytona or a replica, so I honestly can’t say, but I sure would be happy to do a comparison. If anyone of you happens to have a Daytona I could borrow, let me know!

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Comments

  1. angliagt angliagtMember

    In the ’70’s,I used to detail cars.A guy named Ted had me do
    a Moto Guzzi motorcycle.Then he brought by a Maserati mistral,and
    then a Ferrari Daytona.
    It was converted to propane to get it into the US.He told me that
    he paid $10,000 for it,but was going to get $12,000 when he sold it!
    I drove it around the block.It wasn’t very impressive to drive in town,
    but would’ve been a blast going through Nevada!
    Ted was from PA.,& had the local BMW bike dealer (Pacific BMW)
    for a short while.Wonder whatever happened to him (& the car)?

    Like 5
    • RC Graham

      @angliagt – Good experience. Thanks for giving us the ride-along.

      Like 2
  2. Tom

    To me this is just trailer trash …. would not give it a second look

    Like 6
  3. Stan StanMember

    Propane Ferrari Daytona ?

    Sure beats the old ford LTD and chevy caprice taxis i had to fill w stinky cold propane 🧊

    Like 2
  4. George

    There was Macburnie making corvette based cars, and also kits for the 280z. Ferrari sued and had all of them stopped.

    Like 5
  5. Bill D

    Maybe if you’re Sonny Crockett.

    Like 6
  6. Eric_13cars Eric_13carsMember

    About 20 years ago there was a California company (Modena Enterprises???) that made a kit car replica of the Spider. I think they may have been sued by Ferrari and went out of business, or at least were forced to stop offering this replica. It was really a good one too. I used to have their ad but it’s long gone now.

    Like 1
    • douglas hunt

      yea, those Modena Spiders used 302 ford engines, they were very well made cars to be honest…..

      Like 0
  7. Araknid78

    Uh…No

    Like 0
  8. Araknid78

    Uh…No!

    Like 0
  9. Arthur Brown

    Just remember that the original Cannon Ball Baker Sea to Shining Sea
    Memorial Trophy Dash – the first time – to see how it would work- was done by Dan Gurney and Brock Yates in a Ferrari 365 GTB/4. Yates recorded that through the mountains in California “Dan Gurney hits 193 mph. Brock Yates proves Ban don’t wear off.”

    Like 2
    • RC Graham

      @Arthur Brown – I remember that… And if you want a fun movie, based on the Rallye (Memorial Trophy Dash), Get a copy of “Gumball Rally”. Just guilty pleasure everywhere. Always one of my favorite Saturday Nighters, and light years better than the Burnt Reynolds garbage.

      Like 2
      • Jerry

        @RC Graham – I agree about Gumball Rally. It is a far better movie than Cannonball Run. Especially any of the scenes with the Daytona and Cobra side by side going at it. Raul Julia was hilarious as the Italian race car driver hired by the Daytona owner.

        Like 2
      • douglas hunt

        yep, that movie was my introduction to the Daytona. Raul Julia was a hoot, and i was sold on Italian cars forever.
        and, I remember looking thru the Hemmings issues as a just graduated high schooler, wishing I had been born a bit sooner as the Hemmings ads were full of grey market boxers that the importers were trying to unload, I just remember all of the “must go” and “need gone before end of month” ads.

        Like 3
    • David Harold

      The Cannonball Daytona hit 173mph…famously quoted by driver Dan Gurney concerning his and Yates coast-to-coast run, “at no time did we exceed 175mph” .

      Like 1
      • RC Graham

        Oddly, the published top speed of my 2000 Corvette is 173. It’ll never see more than a momentary 100 once or twice, while I have it.

        Like 2
  10. Howie

    The crappy trailer might be worth more.

    Like 3
  11. LD71

    if their web site is up to date, I’d go for the velo rossa version. The origianal Z used for this one on eBay looks pretty ratty, rather start with a
    better base. Yes, these can be considered pretty tacky, especially given values of Z cars these days—but the gallery photos show these conversions coming out pretty good https://www.ztrix.com/rebody-kits/velo-rossa

    Like 0
  12. Joe Haska

    In general I hate kit cars, however I guess because this kit is of a very rare car, it doesn’t bother me so much. I think its because, I don’t realize how bad it really is. Having said that and living in Phoenix AZ., this car would be a very bad idea. Scottsdale AZ. is one of the most pretentious cities in the United States. That fact is based on the statistics, that there are more Plastic Surgeons per capital in Scottsdale than anywhere else in the world. It is definitively not the place to show off in a wanna be Ferrari, you will not be well recieved.

    Like 2
    • LD71

      Maybe they need to re-position this one for Scottsdale, instead of a Ferrari replica, how about a Datsun Z car with a bit of plastic surgery? ;-)

      Like 0
  13. Laurence

    From what can be gleaned from the limited pictures, the dimensions are not very accurate. Yes, there is a “more or less” Daytona look, particularly from the front and back, but the profile is shorter…because a 280 ZX is shorter…and the doors at the top have a higher look. Therefore this is not a proper “replica” of a 365 GTS; it is a Ferrari Daytona-inspired car. Finding an accurate clone is quite rare. The McBurnie “Miami Vice” replicas were more accurate than this re-bodied Datsun, but still didn’t look real, because the dimensions were not totally accurate–not quite as wide, with bigger wheel arches to accomodate the C-3 Stingray underpinnings, and with no side wind-wing windows…and a Corvette windshield as opposed to the much more flatly-angled real one… The only Daytona replica I have ever seen that comes really close to capturing the real appearance and performance of the real McCoy, is an English replica made by Southern Roadcraft. Really hard to tell from the real thing, and powered by a tweaked Jaguar V-12.
    In closing, here is a bit of trivia about the real Daytona: when doing a complete tune-up (every six thousand miles), to get to the two back spark plugs to either clean or change them, the whole windshield and its frame have to come off, because it is literally impossible to get to those plugs any other way. If this were an English car one would never hear the end of it, but because it is a Ferrari, that tends to be viewed as a cool part of Ferrari ownership…

    Like 3
    • michaeltee

      I think you have the wrong car in mind. The comp daytona raced at sebring I worked on had the plugs on top and very easy to change. The windshield would not need to be removed

      Like 1
  14. Matt C

    There was a kit car you could build on a corvette chassis with a V8 in it back in the late 80s early 90s that was dimensionally exact as they had used a real Daytona for the mold. I wanted to build one badly as they were a decent replica . Unfortunately the kit car company went as far as to include Ferrari badges … you know the rest, Ferrari sued them and they had to buy back every one they sold. I was hoping this was one of the cars they missed. A friend of mine had 3 ferraris in his garage and I always joked I could sit on the bumper of one and touch the other 2 … one was a magnum PI 308 .. that was the cheapo of the 3. The others were 64 265 GT convertible he ultimately restored and the other was a GT Lusso that I rode in .. he sold them to a company in California that rents them to movie studios, he got $400K for the pair. Within 10 yrs they were around a mil each

    Like 1
    • douglas hunt

      actually those were the Mcburnie kits.
      but they were stretched to mate to the c3 frame……….

      Like 1
      • Matt c

        You could buy the kit or a complete car , the place was in Rowley Ma. Unfortunately they didnt survive the lawsuit

        Like 0
  15. douglas hunt

    I remember when one of the major car mags did an article on the then owner of the cannon ball Daytona. Now blue and restored the guy talked about going down a rabbit hole with cue tips etc cleaning everything and then being afraid to drive it too much.

    Like 1

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