1971, 365 GT4 BB (Kyosho, diecast)
At its introduction, the 365 GT4 BB also offered additional creature comforts in the form of standard air conditioning, a radio and electric windows. The combination of the car’s high performance and Pininfarina’s aggressive styling meant that sales remained relatively buoyant despite the recession caused by the oil crisis, and in three years almost 400 were produced.
The 365 GT4BB made its public debut on the Pininfarina stand at the 1971 Turin Show, but it would be almost two years before it reached the production line, where it would run until 1976. No doubt the long gestation period was due to it being a completely different concept to any previous Ferrari 12-cylinder series production road car, with its mid-mounted flat-12 engine in unit with the transmission.
Ferrari already had vast experience of the mid-engine layout with their single-seater and sports-racing models, together with the two 365P “Tre Posti” (three seat) concept road cars produced by Pininfarina in 1966, and the V6 Dino series. However, the 365 GTB4 “Daytona” was selling well, and the factory no doubt thought it prudent to show the new car early, and assess client reaction to what was a radically different top of the range model, and also give them time to test it extensively.
When the 365 GT4BB did go into production, the “Daytona” continued in production alongside it for a few months. Between 1973 and 1976 a total of 387 examples were produced.
The model title followed standard Ferrari practice, with the number “365″ referring to the swept volume of a single cylinder, the number “4″ relating to the total number of camshafts, and the “BB” suffix stood for “Berlinetta Boxer”. The “Boxer” part of the model name was a reference to the opposing banks of cylinders’ operating order.
However, the name was more an analogy with the company’s flat-12 Formula One engines, as the engine of the 365 GT4BB did not operate in true boxer engine sequence, where opposing pistons travel in opposite directions as the crankshaft rotates.
As with the 365 GTB4, which became commonly referred to as the “Daytona”, so the 365 GT4BB and the subsequent 512 development models, have generally been called “Boxers”. Due no doubt, at least in part, to the tongue tripping numbers and letters model designation.
auto.ferrari.com