1972 Ferrari 365

To Be OFFERED AT AUCTION at RM Sothebys The Monterey Auction event, 13 - 15 August 2026.
$2,000,000 - $2,500,000 USD

• The 37th of 121 Daytona Spiders produced
• One of only two examples finished in Nocciola over Nero Connolly leather; equipped with factory air conditioning
• Just three total owners from new; transacted twice through Chinetti Motors
• Proudly offered from the Herb Chambers collection; originally the cars second owner in 1973, reacquired in 2007
• Restoration completed in 2009 by F40 Motorsports in Portland, Connecticut
• Platinum Award winner at XIX Palm Beach Cavallino Classic in 2010
• Full matching-numbers example in rare color combination

The Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spider is one of the most spectacular open Ferraris ever built. It holds unique cachet among the marques vintage front-engine V-12 convertibles, combining rarity and arresting design, while occupying an important perch in the manufacturers genealogy.

In 1968 Ferrari announced the 365 GTB/4 berlinetta, introducing the companys first 4.4-liter dual-overhead-cam engine in a road car. Clothed in Leonardo Fioravantis revolutionary shark-nose coachwork, the model was actually a stopgap effort that surprised everyone with its sheer success while a forthcoming rear-engine flat-12 model remained in development.

With an impressive output of 352 horsepower, the 365 GTB/4 dethroned the Lamborghini Miura as the worlds fastest production car. As a direct development of the 275 GTB/4, it utilized dry-sump lubrication that enabled a lower placement of the engine, a five-speed transaxle that provided ideal 50/50 weight distribution, and all-wheel independent suspension. Wide wheels with superior tire contact and four-wheel disc brakes rounded out a superb all-around package that eventually proved its potency with three class victories at Le Mans and several years of dominance in Group 4 GT racing.

As with any successful Ferrari berlinetta, the Daytona was soon reimagined as an open-top variant that geometrically improved the style and experiential impact of the cars performance.

At the 1969 Frankfurt Motor Show, Maranello introduced the striking drop-top Daytona and revealed just how handsome the coachwork became when the roof was removed. Endowed with a purity of line and stance, the new spiders collectability was assured when only 121 examples were produced.

CHASSIS 14901: THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY

This Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spider was completed on 24 January 1972, the 37th of 121 Spiders built. It left the factory finished in Nocciola Metallizzato (106-M-27, a hazelnut-like shade) over Nero Connolly leather (VM 8500), in left-hand drive, with air conditioning, and being a US version, with instrumentation in miles. The striking and very 1970s color Nocciola Metallizzato turned out to be a very rare color on the Daytona Spyder. Only four cars were originally produced in that exterior color, and of those, only two were built with the elegant black interior. It was delivered new to noted Ferrari dealer Luigi Chinetti Motors in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Chinetti sold the Daytona Spider to its first owner Lawrence Boomer of Norfolk, Massachusetts, on 14 August 1972 for $26,500, with a copy of the invoice on file. Mr. Boomer would register the car at his Florida address and would own the car for about half a year, at which point it was returned to Chinetti on consignment and offered for sale as noted on a 9 January 1973 agreement letter between Mr. Boomer and Ivo Brillo, manager at Chinetti Motors.

Chinetti would subsequently sell the Daytona Spider with just 2,722 miles on it for $22,500 on 13 March 1973 to Herb Chambers of Connecticut, who traded in a 1973 Mercedes-Benz 450 SL; a copy of this purchase contract is on file. A few years prior, Herb Chambers had founded what would later become one of the largest independent office supply companies in the United States, called A-Copy Inc. and based in Glastonbury, Connecticut. Mr. Chambers registered the car under Connecticut vanity plate A-Copy and used the Daytona as a daily driver, commuting from his home in Old Lyme, Connecticut, to Glastonbury.

Just over three months after acquiring the Daytona Spider, on 19 June 1973, Mr. Chambers got into an accident in Glastonbury when an oncoming driver crossed the centerline. A few weeks later in July 1973, chassis 14901 was acquired by 1950s sports car racer turned Jaguar dealer, Jake Kaplan of Providence, Rhode Island, believed to have been purchased from the insurance company.

On 20 August 1973 Kaplan sold chassis 14901 for $13,600 to Ralph R. Britton, owner of Scuderia Foreign Car Service in Redondo Beach, California, with a copy of the purchase invoice on file. Britton began the restoration of chassis 14901 shortly after taking delivery, and by the mid-1970s the front end was fixed, now donning a fixed-headlight plexiglass nose. Britton commissioned Dennis Ercek Enterprises, also of Redondo Beach, to repaint the car a shade of lime green metallic, completed in May 1976. Copies of invoices from Brittons restoration work, including the repaint, remain in the cars history file. Britton in the early 1980s would move to Llano, California, and would go on to own the Ferrari for the rest of his life until his passing in 2007.

Ferrari of Denver subsequently acquired the car from the estate. A rep from the dealership reached out to Wayne Carini of F40 Motorsports in Portland, Connecticut, knowing he frequently had buyers for these types of cars and also possessed some early records from Chinetti Motors records, which sold this car twice. As luck would have it, Wayne knew the cars second owner, Herb Chambers.

Wayne reached out to Mr. Chambers with some information on the car and some photos, and shortly thereafter the two flew to Denver to inspect the car in person. On 8 November 2007 Herb Chambers, with the help of Wayne Carini, was able to reacquire his old Ferrari. In the 34 years since his initial ownership of chassis 14901 Mr. Chambers had sold his successful copy business and gone on to build one of the largest privately owned car dealership groups in the United States. Mr. Chambers entrusted the Daytona Spider to Wayne Carini and his team at F40 Motorsports to carry out a restoration which notably included refinishing the Ferrari back to its original factory shade of Nocciola as well as returning the car to the pop-up headlight design it had when new. The reacquisition and subsequent restoration were the subject of an episode of Wayne Carinis Chasing Classic Cars television show and later an article in Forza magazine.

In January 2010 chassis 14901 was shown for the first time following restoration at the XIX Palm Beach Cavallino Classic held at The Breakers hotel in Palm Beach, Florida, where it won a Platinum Award a true testament to the high-quality restoration. Its next showing was at New Englands premier collector car event, the 2010 Greenwich Concours dElegance. Later that month the Daytona was shown at the Hartford Concorso Ferrari meet in Connecticut. It has since resided in the private collection of Herb Chambers in Old Lyme, Connecticut, and has been shown occasionally at his dealership groups events.

Most automotive enthusiasts have a car they wish they had never sold, the one that got away. Few get the opportunity to rewrite that narrative. This Daytona Spider the 37th of only 121 produced, finished in the extremely rare and striking shade of Nocciola Metallizzato is one of those rare exceptions, cherished so much so by its second owner that, 34 years later, he tracked it down, reacquired it, and had it fully restored. It is the ultimate story of a lifelong automotive passion and proof that some cars never truly leave your system.
To view this car and others currently consigned to this auction, please visit the RM website at rmsothebys.com/auctions/mo26/.