The Ferrari Daytona is the favorite classic sports car of Paul Katsus, and the favorite of many Ferrari collectors. Paul Katsus would encourage all readers who follow classic cars to research all the accolades this car has received. The official factory name for the Ferrari Daytona was the 365 GTB/4. The Daytona name was courtesy of the media rather than Ferrari in honor of Ferrari’s 1-2-3 finish in the February 1967, 24 hours of Daytona Race in Daytona, Florida, USA. The cars were produced from 1968 to 1973. The Daytona was introduced in 1968 to replace the 275 GTB/4. The engine output was a healthy 352 horsepower and the car could reach 174 mph. The 0-60 mph time was a quick 5.4 seconds. New safety regulations in 1971 called for a new headlight setup to replace the headlights behind a fixed plexaglass cover. The issue was resolved by the installation of retractable pop-up twin headlights. On a TV talk show the Daytona designer, Leonardo Fioravanti, was reported to have stated that he designed the car in seven days. The total the number of Daytona’s from the Ferrari experts is put at 1,406. This total number of cars includes 158 right-hand-drive coupés, 122 factory-made Spyders, and 15 special competition cars in three series with modified bodies and in various high output engines.
The Daytona received instant worldwide media fame when in 1971 Brock Yates and Dan Gurney (famous race car drivers of the day) competed in the Cannonball Baker Sea To Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash. Hollywood was quick to immortalize the race and the Daytona with the movie “The Cannonball Run” starring Burt Reynolds. In this United States coast to coast car race, the Ferrari driven by the pair of professional race car drivers won with an average speed of 80.1 miles per hour completing the New York to Los Angles run (2,878 miles) in 35 hours 54 minutes. It was Dan Gurney, who stated to the media”We never once exceeded 175 miles per hour”
The fact that the Daytona was voted top sports car of the 1970s by Sports Car International magazine in 2004 is testament to its elite status of one of the finest sports cars ever produced by Ferrari. Add to this that Motor Trend Classic named the 365 GTB/4 and GTS/4 as number two in their list of the ten “Greatest Ferraris of all time”. Paul Katsus would encourage all readers to pull out the stops to see one of these magnificent automobile masterpieces.
Month: December 2015
BMW M1
The BMW M1 was the first classic BMW Paul Katsus saw at his very first BMW Owners Club meeting. Although, Paul Katsus works as a service consultant a major electric utility company, he has studied much about BMW.The BMW M1 was the first true sports car manufactured by the BMW, although it had been racing cars from the 1920’s. The BMW M1 model year ran from 1978 to 1981, with only 453 units built. Lamborghini agreed to build a production racing car in enough quantities for homologation but the financial situation at Lamborghini caused them to drop out of the project forcing BMW to produce the car themselves. But not before he Lamborghini body was designed by Giugiaro, giving the car its Lamborghini wedge type styling cues. The M1 was and still is, the only mid-engine sports car to be mass produced by BMW, even though the actual hand built production of the car was handled by Baur (a BMW contractor)
The six cylinder engine was a twin-cam M88, and displaced 3.5 liters. The engine had six separate throttle bodies, four valves per cylinder and produced 277 horsepower at 6,500 rpm. The engine produced 243 ft. lb. of torque @ 5,000 rpm. The street version performance was a 0-60 mph time of 6.5 seconds, while 0-100 mph came at 13.3 seconds. The M1 had a top speed of 164 mph. There were faster cars of the day but the car made up for this by being the easiest to drive of the supercars, with its outstanding handling, and overall sophistication. The turbocharged racing versions were capable of producing 850 hp. The highly collectable BMW M1 is one of the rarest BMW’s around. With an original selling price of around $60,000, fine examples sell today for $600,000 and more. Paul Katsus would recommend the BMW M1 to any car collector looking for a car that would be a rapidly appreciating addition to a car collection.
1970 – 1972 Buick GSX
Paul Katsus has followed muscle cars since his early years in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Paul Katsus would like to share some information on a little known muscle car from Buick. In 1970 Buick wanted an entry into the ballooning muscle car market. Being a part of General Motors, Buick searched for what parts were available corporation wide and came up with the muscle car to be known as the Buick GSX. With the Buick Skylark as a base, they were starting with the same platform as the Chevrolet Chevelle and Pontiac GTO.
For power Buick used a 455 V-8 that produced 350 horsepower and a astonishing 510 lb-ft of torque. The torque figure topped the listed torque of any other car of the period, including the Hemi Cuda, in fact it was not topped until the 2003 Dodge Viper . The horsepower number was considered underrated with the true horsepower actually 390 – 395 horsepower, with the optional Stage 1, which bumped up the output by 10 horsepower. An outstanding muscle car with luxury to boot. The 0-60 mph came in at 5.8 seconds and had a quarter mile time of 13.8 seconds at 105.5 mph.
Not many GSX’s were built. Introduced in late 1970, 278 standard GXS’s were built and 400 GXS’s with the Stage I performance packs. In 1971 and 1972 just 124 and 44 units were built. These Buicks are highly collectable muscle cars. Matching numbers cars today will bring more than $200,000 at auctions. Paul Katsus has only seen a few examples of this rare car and suggests if you see one at a car show or auction, snap a picture of a piece of Buick history.
AMX – American Motors Muscle
Paul Katsus has always liked the AMX – American Motors answer to the pony cars of the 60’s and 70’s. Paul Katsus would like to share some information on this little known muscle car. With the popularity of the pony cars, American Motors decided to throw their hat into the ring and the AMX came out in 1968. Originally the AMX was intended to be a fiberglass car but cost considerations prohibited the implementation of the idea. Designers wanted the AMX to be sleek, stylish, and unique. The back seat was eliminated making it the only car other than the Corvette to have two seats.
Power for the AMX came from a variety of four barrel small block V-8 engines. Standard equipment included: a four speed manual, traction bars, dual exhaust, and wide tires. With the “Go-Package” you would receive a 390 V8, special styled steel wheels, heavy duty suspension, extra cooling capacity, and other high performance improvements. With the 390 V8 the AMX could lay down some serious performance. A 0-60 time of 6.6 seconds and the quarter mile came in at 14.8 seconds proved the car to be very competitive at the time.
The AMX two-seater was only produced for three years (1968-1970) with just over 19,000 units produced. Why was it produced for only three years? Because the demand for two-seater sport cars was down and insurance companies were demanding excessive rates for high horsepower cars. Today the car is popular among collectors and its value continues to appreciate. The car was attractive, had a range of V8’s, and most importantly it was attractively priced. Paul Katsus and AMX collectors considered the AMX to be under appreciated and under rated compared to other muscle cars of the period.
Paul Katsus, Service Consultant at CenterPoint Energy 