The attraction of a replica or kit car build is obvious: save thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars over the real-world model it’s based on. The Ferrari Daytona coupe and Spider is perhaps one of the most recognized kit cars out there, with a starring role in the 1980s television drama Miami Vice and making a regular appearance in car shows and retirement communities shortly after companies like California Custom Coach began producing them. This particular car is an unfinished example being sold without an engine or transmission, and bidding is sitting at $8,100 with no reserve.
Before we go any further, I want you to notice something: take a look at that Mustang in the background. It’s obviously lowered quite a bit but it’s riding on OEM Porsche 911 wheels, a design affectionately known as the “Lobster Claw.” If that vehicle and this unfinished Daytona kit are any indication, the seller certainly isn’t scared of a project. The Daytona Spider has incredible proportions and while most kits fall short of ever truly replicating the original lines, this California Custom Coach edition does a better job than most. One of the first things I would do is source a set of 15” Cromodora alloy wheels to bring the look closer to the original configuration.
Another aspect of Daytona replicas that often doesn’t match the original is the seat upholstery pattern. Daytonas had this very specific pattern with the black stripes on the door panels and inserts on the seats, and oftentimes, kit cars don’t feature this critical detail. While it’s still never the same as the seats found in the real-deal Daytona, it at least looks closer to being factory correct at first glance. As you can see, this car is unfinished inside as well, with exposed wiring around the column and clearly some missing trim around the instrument cluster and center console. Other California kits I’ve seen show what looks like a very nice console with a Ferrari-style gated shifter, and there appears to be the battered remains of a console in the trunk.
The California kit cars were almost always based on a 70s-era Chevrolet Corvette, and the seller confirms the chassis is indeed from a 1970 Corvette. This also would typically be the source of any running gear on a kit car like this, with a standard-issue 350, and more than a few of these came with a 5-speed manual. I’m not sure if that transmission would also be GM-sourced, but regardless, the next owner of this Ferrari Daytona kit car will have a blank canvas to work with. Hopefully, a Daytona kit car like this will end up with a more exotic engine and transmission combo than a garden-variety 350, but the first priority will likely just be returning it to running, driving condition. Find the Daytona Spider kit car here on eBay where it’s offered with no reserve.
I’ve been looking for one of these kits for a long time, but this mess is too far gone at this price, the kit was only 4K when new & the donor car would’ve only been a few K more. The dash cluster is a web of mismatched wiring, the interior is missing components & will need a re do & who knows what lies under the body, not to mention a car that was once a manual converted to an auto, I’ll pass on this one.
Looks like someone took a body and dropped it on a dirty frame. I really don’t want to know what else was done wrong.
Is that a hood bubble? Why would anyone do that to a faux ferrari. Kinda messes up to whole illusion.
We could have the best of both worlds, V12 Ferrari and stay GM in the engine bay with a 702 V12 GMC.
To my knowledge this California kit car is a replica of a McBurnie replica, that wasn’t all that accurate to begin with. The Corvette C-3 windscreen is nowhere near as steep and long as a real Daytona’s. The body is also narrower than the real thing so as to fit Stingray underpinnings. The wheelarches are also oversized for the same reason. A dead-giveaway that these C-3-based Daytona-inspired cars are not real, is that real Daytonas have small wind-wing side windows adjacent to the main windows, while C-3s didn’t have them…and by extension neither do the American replicas.
I have seen really accurate Daytona replicas in England that can really pass for the real thing, until you look at the engine and see that the V-12 is from Jaguar…such as the Southern Roadcraft replica.
I’d rather have the ’70 Vette body back than a fake Ferrari.
it says ended US $9,250.00
22 bids Ended
shame, while not totally accurate, would be a fun project if the buy in was not a lot, sigh