The debt of the Ferrari 12Cilindri to the Ferrari Daytona, Hollywood icon

No car from the 1970s exudes more Hollywood charm than the Ferrari 365 GTB/4, colloquially known as the “Daytona.” Not only was he coveted by movie stars and rock gods, but he had several memorable on-screen appearances himself. One of them played an important role in Robert Altman’s ode to film noir, starring Elliott Gould, The long goodbye. Perhaps most famously, a convertible version appeared in 1976 A star is born, with Kris Kristofferson behind the wheel and Barbra Streisand in the passenger seat.

Today, just as that film inspired an acclaimed remake a few years ago, the 365 GTB/4 is enjoying a revival. Flavio Manzoni, head of design at Ferrari, likes to suggest that all of the Italian exotic automaker’s cars are current, reflecting their times. But he didn’t shy away from discussing the historical inspiration for the brand’s new $459,000 two-seater, the 12Cilindri. Manzoni made it very clear that the front end and overall shape echo the Daytona.

The Daytona was released in 1968, a paradigm-shifting year in world history, marked by student protests, political assassinations, preparations for the moon landing, and the emergence of a new generation of Hollywood auteurists.

Automotive design was then, as always, both a source of inspiration for and a response to popular culture. The late 1960s saw the emergence of a more planar and angular language in cars, less ornate and more aligned with the brutalist trend that was taking hold in architecture. Luxury vehicles have become more like bunkers – which is reasonable given the social unrest, bombings and kidnappings taking place on the streets of cities around the world. Sports cars and supercars followed a similar trend, becoming lower, sharper and more creased, almost as if they wanted to sneak under or through detection.

The Daytona contributed to this trend. Unlike its direct predecessor, and almost all previous Ferraris, it did not consist of voluptuous, rounded shapes, with prominent eye-shaped headlights and a taunting grille. Instead, it featured a razor-sharp bow that seemed to not care if it met your gaze, and a pinched, nearly invisible grille veiled beneath its hidden pop-up headlights. It was a radical break with the past.

Its attractive, edgy exterior, sleazy tumbled leather and tiger-striped seats, rocket-shaped dashboard, and propulsive 347-hp V12 engine made it a real hit. The car significantly outperformed its predecessors, as well as its competitors. And he was especially popular in the entertainment industry during the Me Decade.

Pink Floyd founder Roger Waters bought one, as did Eric Clapton. After his resoundingly successful album Goodbye yellow brick road Elton John splurged for a new one. Richard Carpenter, who with his sister Karen formed the soft rock duo The Carpenters, owned one and featured it on the cover of the group’s 1973 platinum album. From time to time. One was purchased by famous daredevil Evil Knievel, who sold it a few years later to New York Yankees slugger Reggie Jackson. Academy Award-winning director Sydney Pollack also bought one.

Later, in the ’80s, Van Halen singer Sammy Hagar bought one used. And actor and race car driver Patrick Dempsey got one, later saying it was the worst car he ever owned.

The Daytona appeared in important films at the time. In addition to his roles in The long goodbye And A star is born, it was one of the cars stolen in the original 1974 version of the car heist film Gone in 60 seconds. And before Crocket and Tubbs traded it in for a Testarossa, car-obsessed Michael Mann chose one as his car of choice for his 80th birthday. Miami Vice TV detectives, even though it was a replica, not a real Ferrari.

The new 12Cilindri shares a silhouette with its predecessor from the 70s. Like its ancestor, it also sports an extremely powerful V12 engine. This also marks him as being outside of time – albeit in a perhaps retrograde way. While the rest of the auto industry turns to efficiency and lower emissions through turbocharging and electrification, Ferrari’s thirsty, if melodious, V12 is an anachronism, a sort of vafanculo to climate crises.

But isn’t that what a Ferrari is supposed to be? Like the superstar musicians, actors and athletes who have long worshiped at its altar, an outrageous sports car is a boisterous middle finger to the demands of so-called normalcy, brasher and bolder than convention could ever allow. Will he have the success of his ancestor? We’ll have to wait and see – and watch the streets of Beverly Hills, Malibu and Los Feliz – once the car officially begins deliveries in America early next year. Our hypothesis is noisy if!