Ferrari 365 GTC/4 – Cult Classic, Not Best Seller
October 27, 2023
Every red-blooded car nut has their dream pin-up when their lottery numbers come good, but chances are the Ferrari 365 GTC/4 won’t rank highly on the hit list. GTO, Dino, Daytona, Boxer, 288, 512 TR, Enzo – to name just a few are odds on favourites, yes, but certainly not a Prancing Horse that you couldn’t put a face to let alone bet on. And that’s a real shame as this short-lived stopgap ’70s GT was essentially the iconic Daytona but for all the family to enjoy. Until the launch of the ’80s Mondial, the words family, four-seater and Ferrari didn’t sit well together but Enzo wanted to change all that a decade earlier starting with a replacement for the old 365 GT 2+2, a descendant of Ferrari’s first 2+2, the 250 GTE of 1960.
Launched at the spring 1971 Geneva Motor Show, the GTC/4 (four donating four camshafts rather than seats and GTC standing for Gran Turismo Coupe) was as bold and dynamic as any Ferrari that came before, even though the model was little more than a resourceful adaptation of the 365 GTB/4 – better known as the Daytona.
The new Pininfarina-credited (it’s said that others such as Aldo Brovarone and Fillipo Sapino did the bulk of the work) GTC/4 was also a watershed for Maranello as it heralded a major styling shift; exchanging the rounded classic curves for a sharper suited look although still unmistakably a Ferrari. Best of all, the GTB’s DNA was clear for all to see, including the lidded headlamps. However the shape unfortunately gained the “Gobbone” sobriquet – that’s Italian for hunchback. Harsh.
Admittedly it’s not the most beautiful Ferrari ever penned (but that’s like saying Michelangelo’s The Torment of Saint Anthony isn’t his best work) and the most notable break from Maranello tradition was the new shrouded protective impact absorbing front bumper ‘snout’, a necessary pandering to the impending US safety legislations which also dictated the look of later legends such as the Dino 308 GT4 and the GTB/GTS sports cars – and don’t forget our MGB of course!
As the GTC/4 was designed as a smooth, easier going GT to essentially satisfy the lucrative US market, the Daytona platform required considerable modification to make it family friendly. Its rear-mounted transaxle (for optimum weight distribution) had to be ditched for a conventional gearbox and rear axle layout, for example, to enable a rear seating plan to be installed. And to emphasise the GTC/4’s touring role the Daytona’s legendary V12 4.4-litre ‘Colombo’ V12 was clipped by 32bhp to only 320bhp which – when an imminently more affordable Ford Capri 1600 GT only unleashed 86 nags – was still big power by 1971 standards. And while both V12’s peak torque figures were quoted at a lorry-like 318lb ft, the softer and sweeter engine tune enabled the punch to ooze through at a lazier 4000rpm rather than the Daytona’s headier five-five on the rev counter.
In further defence of its GT billing, the cabin was made notably plusher than the Daytona’s, as well as looking less swinging ’60s. The GTB/4’s racing-style seats were replaced with more sociable alternatives for the benefit of rear seat passengers (the smaller the better) and drivers also benefited from power steering and air conditioning – both most welcome as the former was pretty hard going in town, and back then Ferrari barely paid lip service to trivial matters such as heating and ventilation.
With a price parity in the GTC/4’s favour of just £22 back in 1972, any well-heeled Ferrari fan must have sorely needed those tortuous fold down rear seats which at best could scarcely accommodate two small bambinos in exchange for the £9970 asked. As a selfish pleasure the GTB/4 was streets ahead. Autocar’s road test quotes 174mph and 0-60mph in 5.4 seconds as opposed to the GTC/4’s claimed 163mph and 6.5 second time honoured sprint – hardly tardy even today it must be said. The softer suspension understandably slightly blunted the car’s edge and poise but the better ride trade off was far more in keeping for a long distance GT and it was still judged as one of the better driving supercars of its era.
The influential American Road& Track magazine concluded in 1972 that the GTC/4 “is a Ferrari for the mature enthusiast” while a year later our own Autocar – after praising the revised engine’s improved refinement, power steering that didn’t feel like one and the softer (now verging on too soft…) ride – went on to view the GTC/4 as the more “habitable model and a better compromise for everyday use”. A retrospective look by Supercar Classics in 1987 backed Autocar’s verdict and thought that respect was now long overdue. “The Daytona is certainly faster, stronger in aggression. But is it any better?” was the rhetorical question. “It’s time the GTC/4 emerged from the shadow of the 365 GTB/4…one of the best compromised cars to emerge from Maranello, high in spirit and practicality… a winning combination” was that magazine’s answer.
Frequently mocked as the ‘Forgotten Ferrari’, Gobbone suffered a sadly short shelf life, dropped by 1973 having sold a respectable 500 cars (under 30 rhd) against the Daytona’s tally of a smidge over 1300, albeit accrued over six years. Who knows, had the 2+2 stayed in production for as long, perhaps it may have at least matched those of that two-seater icon? But no matter how well received the GTC/4 was, the model was always sentenced to an early death from birth; a stop-gap until the origami-folded 365 GT4 2+2 of 1973, sporting a razor sharp appearance and a six inch added wheelbase for passable rear seat accommodation, appeared on the scene.
The bigger-engined, lustier 400GT revise for ’76 even sported an automatic transmission option – a Ferrari first – to enhance its GT credentials before the all change V8, mid-engined and not to say sadly surprisingly middling Mondial 2+2 joined it in 1980 to become another Maranello misfit. That said Ferrari managed to shift some 8000 of those.
But it was back to the future some 20 years after the GTC/4’s launch when Ferrari debuted the 456 GT; a gorgeously curvaceous 2+2 with a monster of a V12 up front where it belonged. It was another Maranello masterpiece just like the misjudged GTC/4 always was, and still is. A cursory search on Car & Classic unveils a rather tasty assemblage of examples to choose from for any discerning collector so if you’re feeling frisky for a Ferrari that’s just a little more exclusive, a little more left field, but still an absolute crowd pleaser then the 365 GTC/4 is definitely the car for you.
