Enzo Ferrari was renowned for his many great qualities: he was driven, competitive, decisive, proud and passionate. Or, if you happened to be on his bad side, he could appear obstinate, unfair, dictatorial, narcissistic and irrational. Sticking to the front-engine/RWD formula – the tried and true traditional layout, the one that made Ferrari a success – was a virtue that quickly became a sign of outmoded thinking. And being outmoded is potentially fatal to a supercar marque.
Almost kicking and screaming, the Commendatore had to concede that the future of high-performance cars would necessarily mirror what had happened on the racetrack. The engine was going to have to take centre stage and sit behind the driver, not in front of them.
The change had taken place in the late ‘50s for grand prix cars, spearheaded by the likes of Porsche, Cooper, BRM and Lotus. Feeling the heat, Ferrari made the jump to a mid-engine layout in 1961 with the V6-powered 156.
It did not take long for this new-fangled concept to migrate to civilian production. The first, in 1963, was the René Bonnet Djet (top left), joined by a budding De Tomaso in 1964 and the Lotus Europa (top right) in 1966. From that point, the floodgates opened. For MY 1967, De Tomaso dropped the Mangusta (middle right), Matra launched the 530 (middle left) and, crucially, Lamborghini stunned the world in general and Italy in particular with the Miura (bottom right). Even Maserati eventually joined the fray with the Bora (bottom left) in 1971, right after Porsche and slightly ahead of Fiat. But Ferrari remained aloof.
Well, Ferrari did not blindly follow the trend technically, but in practice, Maranello went ahead with the Dino GT project. It was launched in 1967, just like the Miura, but under the novel Dino marque and with a much smaller 2-litre V6. Enzo Ferrari felt that any car that bore a prancing horse had to have twelve cylinders, and said motor needed to be in front. The 365 GTB/4 Daytona, launched in 1968, exemplified this philosophy.
The Daytona did quite well in terms of sales. It was a beautiful machine and, though the engine remained up front, it had a very sophisticated transaxle IRS, at least. But Lamborghini had completely changed the ball game. There was no going back, there was only going amidships. Ferrari relented and work began on a true Miura rival.
Ferrari could have just dropped the Colombo V12 used in the Daytona in the new Dino-derived chassis, but instead they looked to their Formula 1 cars for inspiration and motorization. The first “flat-12” seen in a Ferrari was the 1.5 litre Tipo 207 used in the 1964-65 single-seaters, but this design was not particularly successful.
A completely new Tipo 001 twelve, this time in 2- and 3-litre form, was devised in 1968 and would power Ferrari race cars through to 1980. This was the engine that was to be the basis for the new mid-engined Ferrari.
Given that the new 12-cyl. was identical in displacement (i.e. 4.4 litre) to the Colombo V-12 used on the Daytona, the car was again to use the 365 numeral as its name. This reflected the displacement of one cylinder in cubic centimetres, and that was Ferrari’s practice for identifying their models at the time. The issue was that there were now a bunch of cars called 365, and this new one was completely different from all the others.
As is often repeated, it’s not a boxer or “flat” (as in horizontally opposed) engine, but rather a 180° V-12. It’s the opposite of a boxer, piston-wise. But that never made much of an impression on Ferrari’s PR department, who called the new car the “Berlinetta Boxer.” That BB appellation may have been more tongue-in-cheek than deliberately wrong, as at the time, “BB” was a very commonly used acronym for Brigitte Bardot. It was even a hit song.
And that BB monicker was justified, as this was quite a sexy-looking car. Leonardo Fioravanti, working for Pininfarina, is credited as the main designer behind the first mid-12-cyl. Ferrari. The shape was as modern as could be when it was first exhibited to the public in 1971, and it managed to remain so for over a decade.
This was partly due to another novel feature: this was the first Ferrari with fully integrated reinforced-plastic bumpers, and very well done ones, at that. US-bound cars still had bigger ones, which harmed the look, but at least it wasn’t terminally ruined like some exotics (see the Maserati Khamsin, for example). Between the unveiling of the prototype and the actual launch date, which took two years, the BB was given a distinctive triple taillight and triple exhaust theme.
The output of the 4.4 litre 12-cyl. is subject to a lot of discussion on various websites. Ferrari initially claimed 380hp and a top speed of 300kph, but there are a lot of doubters out there. Many say the real number would be much closer to 300-320hp, and that anyone trying to push one of these cars beyond 250kph is taking a huge gamble.
I actually found and photographed two 365 GT4 BBs. They were pretty much identical externally speaking, with the two-tone red over black paintwork that was quite popular with these cars. The most notable difference between the two cars was the season (one was caught in winter, the other in the summer) and the interior. The summer car had tan leather…
… while the winter car’s upholstery was black. The 5-speed transaxle is located right under the engine, not unlike the Miura. But the Ferrari’s gearbox, unlike the Lambo’s, does not share its oil with the rest of the engine.
Being launched right when the First Oil Shock was taking place cooled expectations for the BB. Additionally, the model would not be officially exported to the all-important North American market, as the engine could not pass emissions tests. A few enterprising folks managed to engineer a workaround, so a few did end up on that side of the Atlantic, but by and large, the new Ferrari did not sell all that well. When production stopped in 1976, the BB had only tallied 387 units.
Opinions are sharply divided online about the 365 GT4 BB. Some maintain it was the purest “Boxer,” its design unsullied by the flared wings and spoilers that would be used on its successor, the 512 BB. Others counter that these cars were far from perfect, being subject to twitchy handling at speed and pretty disastrous reliability.
Nevertheless, the 365 GT4 BB is a very important model in Ferrari’s history. The marque stuck with the “Berlinetta Boxer” formula for over 20 years with great success, especially with the legendary Testarossa. Not to mention the legions of mid-engined Ferraris that came after it, be they powered by 8- or 12-cyl. engines.
There is no question that this would be the best-looking flat-12 model of the bunch. But call me contrarian, it would be the last Ferrari bearing the 365 name on my personal list. A Daytona, on the other hand…
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Saw a red 365BB or 512BB, in Harrison Ohio of all places, in the late 80s. It was sitting at a helicopter place, corner of Kilby Rd and May Drive, with the rear “hood” open. That thing was beautiful. I think it’s the only one I’ve ever seen in the flesh.
I’m with you in preferring the 365 version to the 512 version. It’s a beautiful car but it doesn’t wow me like the Miura OR the Countach. Ferrari with these was kind of in an awkward place, with the power of hindsight Enzo’s ideal vision of V12 up front wasn’t an evolutionary dead end just because of the engine placement but sticking with the massive 12 cylinder. The Dino and 308 for being basically junior Ferraris were really came to exemplify the exotic performance Ferrari still is known for while the mid engine boxers never really amounted to more than GT car (which front engine was fine for without the various mid engine compromises(hence why Ferrari abandoned it after the 512m).
One big mystery to these who copied who with the pop up headlight/faux headlight turn signal treatment, Bertone or Pininfarina? They are way too similar in execution between the BB and Countach for me to believe parallel thinking, but both were basically designed at the same time
Mid engine racing cars weren’t a new thing in the ’50s; Mercedes had the Tropfenrennwagen in 1923 and of course Ferdinand Porsche’s mid-engine Audi F1 racers in the 1930s were very successful and influential.
My deeply-etched BB memory: in the winter of ’74-’75 there was a student at the University of Iowa from Saudi Arabia who brought a yellow BB to school with him. Not sure how he licensed it, as these were not legally sold here. He drove it all winter, thought the snow, ice and salty slush; it was covered in gray grime. He only puttered around town with it, to get from his apartment to the campus. It was very sad, and was the first step in my becoming jaded about supercars.
I didn’t understand the post to say that mid-engined racers were a new thing. What’s true is that if one looks at any F1 grid in the ’50’s, it’s practically all front-engined. Once Brabham (inter alia) “proved” the racing superiority of the mid-engine by winning the championship with the Cooper in ’59, the entire field had turned by about ’61. I understand the post to imply that if World Champion winners had such a layout, so should their road cars, and in this, Ferrari was slow, but I may be wrong.
In that context, it really doesn’t seem that those astounding but tail-heavy Audis were so influential, perhaps because they were notoriously really hard to drive. (That said, the C-type V16 is THE best sounding engine ever made).
You’re right; it was an unnecessary comment.
I don’t know if that would have jaded me. When I was a little kid I was absolutely obsessed with the first and “second” gen Dodge Viper, I had multiple model cars and everything. First one I ever saw in the metal however was on a textbook dreary wet late winter/early spring Chicago area day in a dumpy strip mall marking lot. It was filthy and its cockpit covered in the factory black canvas covering to make it weatherproof, but nevertheless I was still mesmerized as only a 9 year old would. The BB in that state I imagine I would as well, I find seeing cars like these in and of itself exiting. It doesn’t need to be in an exotic locale on the Mediterranean I’ll never visit. I don’t care who the owner is.
What jaded me on supercars was ubiquity and just a general lack of boundary pushing… to me pretty much every supercar is a knock off of the Countach(regardless of their capabilities eclipsing it), but I see McLarens as much as I see C8s or Dodge Hellcats, where’s the exclusivity? I’ve literally seen 2 Ferrari BBs in person in my life, and while it’s not my favorite supercar ever it’s properly rare.
I don’t think I expressed myself properly in my comment. It didn’t so much make me jaded about supercars but it did open my eyes to the reality that it was money that gained access to them, and not superior automotive appreciation, driving skills or some other meritorious qualities. It was my first experience at seeing someone buy a very fine expensive car and totally miss the point, to the point of blatantly abusing it.
It would have been one thing to see it once in the snow, but I was a bus driver that winter and I kept seeing it constantly; almost daily, being puttered around downtown without any respect for what it was.
This was just a year or so after the OPEC embargo/energy crisis, which added another layer to it: so this is where our suddenly much higher gas prices are going to.
It was just a necessary reality check. And FWIW, it was a bit more extreme that a Viper, which was an American car and not totally rare; these BBs were never sold here and they were at the very top of the super car pyramid, along with the Miura. Extremely exotic. And utterly abused.
Ah I think I understand that better. Yeah I think that is a good reality check moment most of us have at some point, we as enthusiasts often know about cars deeper than their owners, for us acquiring such a vehicle would be something ideally earned through passion, where the wealthy tend to buy them more as trophies to represent where they got in life, and of course sometimes it’s not earned and just mere genetic luck.
Plus as you alluded to the realities of owning such car diminish too, I think most of us grow up thinking we’d buy a Ferrari and that would just be our car…. Before we begin to value comfort, usability efficiency, safety, etc. most who have Ferraris have a normal car to not destroy it (and/or) themselves in the daily grind, which isn’t as glamorous as in our youthful fantasies. The student you saw tried living the fantasy, but in doing so it just became “a car.”
I didn’t mean to compare the viper in exoticness or pedigree by any means, that was just the first pseudo exotic I’d seen that was in a state that did not match my imagination.
The student you saw tried living the fantasy, but in doing so it just became “a car.”
The question is if it even was a fantasy, for him. I suspect it may well have been just because it was rare and expensive but that he apparently had almost zero actual understanding or appreciation for what this car was. If he had, he wouldn’t have treated it like this; it’s not like he couldn’t have afforded another car, or a taxi, or God forbid, ride the bus like all the other students did in the winter.
That’s what really rankled me; this could have been a Nova for all he really knew. Or so it seemed.
The exterior is still very attractive to me. The interior has a very dated mid-Seventies look. The Triumph TR7’s interior has the same boxy vibe but executes it in a less clumsy manner. My reference car, both inside and out, is the Jaguar E-Type Series 1. I’m not a fan of the “origami” designs that began appearing in the wake of the Countach.
Kind words for a TR7, Don!
Actually, it probably was the best dash/interior of the BL-era stuff. But the Ferrari has that smell…
I’d counter that the Ferrari TR looks a bit like its Triumph namesake, whereas the BB is very beautiful in the metal.
The BB body over a TR chassis would be a nice compromise, but the side radiators would preclude that.
I nevertheless was unconvinced by either of the V12s and always wanted a 246 or 308 GTS instead.
Odd as I may be – am – I do not like these, and time has ameliorated nothing.
They belong on David Bowie’s ’70’s foot.
Justy, please never stop posting! I’d miss your off-the-wall wit.
I’ve always thought the BBs look good in photos, and finally got to see one in the metal in 2021. Some Ferrari club members stayed at our Lodge, and among the entourage was a yellow 1977 512. Ex-USA, it arrived in NZ in 2009. Quite fascinating design in person, although I feel the yellow doesn’t photograph as well as the red. It had been a frosty night, so hearing it warm up from a cold start was quite a treat!