Let’s look at 475,000 pound sterling value for money!
Of course it is highly debatable what is actually value for money and there will certainly be those who think that no car can be worth 475,000 pounds. I, for one, think that is a very reasonable amount for today’s car which is why I chose it as our Prime Find for this Saturday.
First of all it is a Ferrari “Daytona”, officially known as the 365 GTB/4. With around 1,400 cars assembled from 1968 to 1973, it is not the rarest of Ferraris but it is certainly an icon nonetheless. The non-plus-ultra Grand Touring car, fabulously devoid of racing pretensions, clad in a beautiful Pininfarina design and in fact just what customers needed. At the time it was criticised for being conservative when compared to the radical new Lamborghini Miura – but it was actually both faster, more practical and altogether better. Even so, Ferrari succumbed to the pressure for a mid-engined car and came up with the Berlinetta Boxer with largely the same disadvantages as the Miura – and ironically, even Ferrari’s own contender still wasn’t faster than the Daytona.
Since then, the Daytona has risen to recognition as one of Ferrari’s all-time greats although it took many, many years before Ferrari built up enough courage to manufacture something even vaguely similar. When they eventually did, the 456GT could easily have used the legendary Daytona as its inspiration – and probably did. Only it didn’t turn out near as pretty.
Most Daytonas were left hand drive but according to the seller, this is one of 158 UK-supplied right hand drive cars. And again according to the seller, it is supposedly in brilliant condition. As I haven’t seen it I wouldn’t know, and for a car like this I certainly would bring an expert anyway. But for now at least, let’s just presume it’s as good as they claim – photos below are provided by the vendor and are a mix of pictures from 2017 and 2019:
Then there is the Elton John-connection. As the seller states, the car was registered to one “Mr Elton John, of 14 Abbots Drive, Wentworth, Surrey” from 1973-1975 – which sort of surprises me, as I was under the impression that this wasn’t actually his real name? Either way, he was (is?) supposedly a great Ferrari enthusiast, with the Daytona later being joined by a Berlinetta Boxer as well. The seller furthermore states “We understand that Sir Elton purchased the Daytona in 1973 from the proceeds of his famed album “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” which featured such timeless hits as “Candle in the Wind” and “Saturday’s Alright for Fighting”.”, which to me sounds highly speculative but is of course a nice story and also covers two very different hit songs from his hand: While I personally can’t stand the former, I quite like the latter which also suits the Daytona much better. At this point, some may ask whether the celebrity factor counts at all, but I think it does.
Still, how does one explain that the 475,000 pounds asked is indeed good value? Well, in this case there is actually something to compare it with, as the exact same car was sold at auction in 2017 for all of 551,250 pounds. Tragically the then-buyer of the car passed away this year and the family entrusted the same auction house where he acquired the car to sell it once again. It was on auctioned on September 21st with an estimate of 425,000-475,000 pounds – and did not sell. It is now advertised at the high estimate, but I would assume there is room for negotiation. Could this car be bought for a cool 100,000 pounds cheaper than in 2017? Most likely…
Would that be a good deal? I think it would. So much so that we’ve elected to dub it our Prime Find of the Week, actually. What do you think?
With our Saturday instalment of Prime Find of the Week, we’re offering our services to the classic car community, by passing on our favourite classic car for sale from the week that passed. This top-tip might help a first-time-buyer to own his first classic, or it could even be the perfect motivation for a multiple-classic-car-owner to expand his garage with something different. We’ll let us inspire by anything from a cheap project to a stunning concours exotic, and hope that you will do the same.
Just remember – Any Classic is Better than No Classic! We obviously invite our readers to help prospective buyers with your views and maybe even experiences of any given model we feature. Further to that, if you stumble across a classic which you feel we ought to feature as Prime Find of the Week, then please send us a link to primefindoftheweek@viaretro.co.uk