“Legendary” is a term The Oxford Dictionary defines as something which is “remarkable enough to be famous”. And yeah, Oxfords are always right, they say! But in my dictionary, Legendary refers some act, some accomplishment which has the impetus in it to raise eyebrows of men even when they hear about it a century later, or maybe a few centuries later; something which can still inspire a potter’s boy of owning the bird like machine that once-in-a-while swarms over his head; something which can give, maybe a 40 year man to be the youth icon of his country.

And the Mother Nature has indeed graced The Planet Earth with personalities, feats and events, in every single field which keeps inspiring people in some nook and corner of this planet.

Being a so-called auto freak, I have always been in an awe, following “Ferrari”- its development as a trend-setter, the legacy that the company holds, the “fairy-tale like” lives of the people involved with the Italian giant, and the red goose bumps that it serves you on a platter when you read about it, hear about it or watch a video on it on the internet. And then you do not stop hearing about the strange things that their models have achieved in their run up to being the world’s most beautiful and the most astonishing and the most beautiful and the most……

One such model of theirs is the Ferrari 365GTB/4 aka “Daytona”. The name Daytona was given to it by the people instead of the company as a memorabilia of Ferrari’s 1-2-3 finish at the 1967 24 hours Daytona. The Daytona succeeded the 275GTB/4 in the Ferrari;s line of production cars and also marked the last front engine Ferrari before the company moving into Fiat’s hand.

Daytona. designed by Leonardo Fioravanti at Pininfarina, boasted 4.4 litre V-12 engine and could give 352 horses their run for the money @7500 rpm. The fact that Fioravanti came up with this beautiful sleek design in just 7 days puts this automobile in a completely new arena. Launched at the 1968 Paris Motor Show, the Ferrari Daytona coasted a heavy $10,000. Ferrari had launched the Daytona in a direct competition with the mid-engine classic Lamborghini Miura. The car hit the highly appreciated 174mph barrier in that era and till date does Enzo proud when people talk about it.

Yes the Ferrari’s have never been questioned of their stature in the automotive sector, but every now and then you hear a so called “petrol-head” putting his old fashioned debate of The Ferrari vs The Lamborghini vs The Porsche vs….. and so does the fool carries on…..But wait a minute, are we worth even commenting on the kind of cars these “legendary” automakers have been producing!    .

There are many cars like The Daytona in the history of car making that make us go WOW!

But The Ferrari Daytona was one of its kind, never was it created before and never can it be created again. The Bible says that – “In six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”  Maybe the seventh second of the seventh day was dedicated to the Daytona. Maybe.

In the end, I leave you with a gem of a documentary on the beautiful, gorgeous Ferrari Daytona aka , 365GTB/4. In the meantime, it is important for you to know that am not a Ferrari-head, just, a petrol-head!

By the way, what do you think of the term “Legendary”…..

Keep thinking.

Adios,

Krish.

Documentary on Ferrari Daytona: