FERRARI 365 GT4 2+2
THE PERFECT PORTRAIT
Words: Alessandro Marrone
Photography: Giorgia Rossi
It’s easy to say “I always wanted a Ferrari”, or that during college I’ve bet with my best friend on who would buy it, that “if you love cars, you can’t but go crazy for a Ferrari”, and so on, with the usual commonplaces. I do not really know what happened to me – at some point I started to think about it, to better focus some confused idea, to play with cars as a child and here I started to understand: definitely a Ferrari, absolutely a V12 courtesy of Eng. Gioacchino Colombo, with Pininfarina’s lines (Leonardo Fioravanti), zero-electronic, no fuel-saving compromise – something before “walking Sundays” (for those who have enough decades on their shoulders to remember that). The fabulous 70s and it didn’t take much to fall into the Ferrari 365 GT4 2+2 net: I remember being stroked by the contrast of the “stylish” lines with the ferocity of over 300 hp … and the idea of having four seats intrigued me.
So it started the chase, about two years to find her, a 1973 girl with no makeup shadow (I mean electronic devices), 6 powerful 38 Weber double body to power 12 cylinders of 365cc each (hence the name): driven, some obvious problems but nothing to fear, fast bargaining, it’s mine! Then restoration works started, not big things for my good luck, but during 5 years of fixing something here and there have gone and when it comes to Ferrari, sometimes the wallet cries … for example, the oil change needs almost 18 liters! I can’t deny that I had thought about divorce, but I only needed to start the engine, take a few miles with windows down, reaching 4000 revs and peace was done. Surfing through the internet I realized that there are many enthusiasts of this Queen of the Understatement, I found the Club F400 (the 365 lived 17 years of evolution – from 1972 to 1989 – becoming 400, 400i and 412) based in Paris and with enrolled members from all over Europe, who organized a week around Maranello and I immediately joined with enthusiasm.
It was a wonderful experience not only for visiting many famous brands (including Lamborghini, Ducati, Maserati, Pagani, Museo Righini), but especially for meeting with many friends who share a passion and some “fundamental” principles such as the V12 as the maximum engine expression. And I do not intend to make those who are content with more gross divisions angry. In particular, it was exciting to hear Eng. Leonardo Fioravanti describeing the birth of this grandma, as the Commendatore (so he still calls Enzo Ferrari) described the mission of a Ferrari V12, with the horses in front of the chariot, four seats and with a line expressing only one concept in its highest shape: ELEGANCE.
Here is the Ferrari 365 GT4 2+2: a true Ferrari in evening dress, a comfortable lounge that can reach more than 200 kph in a few seconds, with four people and their luggage on board – in my opinion it is a perfect symbol of the 70s, with their values and many contradictions.
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That instant, that short and unexpected moment that triggers a whole series of mechanisms, first of all the 12-cylinder bark that invades the air, spit out of the two couple of exhaust pipes. You’re immediately press down to the seat and the look fervently seeks the needle of the tachometer, savoring its inexorable climb to over 6,000 revs that allow the 365 to sing a melody of other times. The sound of the gearing, that metallic sound bouncing between the gear shifting and the release of the clutch pedal – I am working to lower the window and let the situation definitely take over me. The road in front of us is free and the driver next to me has no intention of lightening his right foot: a classic Ferrari on a deserted mountain road is an incitement to commit a crime, the devil tempting shakes our hand and sits on the rear seats, enjoying a spectacle that transcends the most picturesque and hyperbolic of tales, redefining a driving experience that perfectly combines the feelings that a vintage car can give and the sense of speed and adrenaline that 340 horses – still to be tamed – are able to pour on a road full of fast and straight corners, tossed almost there to scare the most demanding engines. The edges of the 365 GT4 design best its dimensions, it is a great grand tourer that offers comfort and space for four people and their luggage, but once you leave your wife and children at home, you can satisfy that insatiable need to shake your legs, throwing yourself in a curve as you would never have believed it possible. It has hundreds of facets, and with that prancing horse up there leading the road with pride – it’s just a perfect portrait.
We chose Monte Fasce for a whole host of reasons, as much as the colors of autumn represents the perfect frame for the Colorado Brown of the body: a different choice than usual for a model that is noble not only with the most classic Ferrari red. They say that elegance is an inherent value, and the wow factor of the 365 is the exclamation mark on Pininfarina’s wonderful design, a logical work that crossed many years going to be the lines for the following 400 and 412, but sitting in the passenger compartment of this 365, immersed and pampered by soft beige leather armchairs, it is as if I almost managed to touch the exclusivity of something that opened a new road, not only in terms of design but by going to fully meet the need to give birth to a great sports car able to combine Maranello’s sporting pedigree, to day-to-day usability. Having a 4.390cc V12 and 422Nm is not just an extremely current specification – in purely numerical terms – it is the awareness that the car can change its nature depending on the driver’s minimum request. I feel like calling it an emotional car capable of mirroring the mood of those who holds the steering wheel, for the fact that once you get on the asphalt of the ‘Fasce, it’s easy to lose control and getting into a sort of sensory catatonia, further accentuated by the marriage between chassis and suspension. The approximately 1,800kilos are felt, especially during the most decisive change of direction, but what impresses the most is the urge to keep running – after all Ferraris were born to run – without much meditation on the fact that it was produced in only 521 units, without wondering what we could find after the following corner. All that matters is not to interrupt the song of that divine musical instrument consisting of four overhead camshafts, two valves per cylinder and 340 purebred stallions that when we stop on the side of the road for some photo stop, they desperately ask to be unleashed again, let them be free to live their own nature, free of electronic leashes, devils who have now accustomed us to a more sterile relationship with sports cars.
Enzo Ferrari worshiped this car, a line that does not need to scream over its excesses, but which, with its gentleness and style, can thrill and reveal an ever-new detail, depending on where you look at it. Those sharp edges, those straight lines that can really hurt you, a symbol of an apparently distant time, and which will never come back, are the legacy of one of the most exciting work of an all-star team, which with the providential support of Engineer Fioravanti succeeded to put an indelible and unmatched signature in the automotive world. And then its retractable front headlights, the chromed profiles along its body, or those five-star-shaped wheels, not to mention the six rear lights, embedded in a mask that contrasts perfectly with the sinuous tail. It is not humanly possible to grasp every detail with simple eyes, probably despite over 40 years we are still not capable, we are not ready. As we will never be able to get used to that heat coming up in our stomach, as soon as we open the door and drop ourselves into the passenger cabin, reaching for the three-spoke steering wheel that prints you into the retina the image of speed, that rampant pony we all know. A look in the rearview mirror, time to give life to the V12 and with that petrol fragrance that enters your nostrils you have one of the clearest emotions you can live at hand: driving the dream of a lifetime, driving what for our friend Marco has been a dream come true. A conquest kept in the garage, but also used for what it was meant since its very first conception: go fast and thrill.
FERRARI 365 GT4 2+2 (1972-1976)
Layout – front-engined, rear wheel drive
Engine – V12 cylinder 4.390cc
Transmission – 5-speed manual gearbox
Power – 340 hp @ 6.200 rpm
422 Nm @ 4.000 rpm
Weight – 1.800 kg ca.
Acceleration – 6,6 sec.
Top Speed – 245 kph