1974 Ferrari 365 BB

VEHICLE DESCRIPTION

Delivered new to Australia in October 1974 via the Victoria-based importer WH Lowe, this beautifully presented Ferrari 365 BB was displayed at the Melbourne Motor Show early the following year. 

Chassis number 18159 was originally finished in Argento with a Beige interior, and the first owner was Dr John Pierce. In November 1980, Pierce sold the Ferrari to Barry Batagol, a marque enthusiast who also owned a 400 Superamerica, a 750 Monza and a 512 BB. His wife Cheryl subsequently drove the 365 BB in a Ferrari class at an Alfa Romeo Owners Club sprint at Winton Raceway in Victoria, and she not only won the Lance Dixon Trophy for the fastest Ferrari, but also the CF Barnes Trophy for being the fastest lady driver on the day.

In spring 1981, the pinion shaft broke in the original transaxle, a common fault with early Boxers, so Ferrari supplied a replacement unit from a 512. He subsequently sold the original unit to New Zealand, and the history file includes a number of letters regarding the replacement and sale.

Batagol offered the Ferrari for sale in October 1986, by which time it had covered 23,000 miles. It was acquired by Barry Jorgensen the following month, then sold to a UK-based owner in mid-1988. It was put into dry storage in 1989 and emerged in time to be sold by RM Sotheby’s at its Paris sale in 2014. 

The 365 BB was subsequently recommissioned and returned to the road, with invoices showing that it was looked after by noted marque specialists such as Bob Houghton and Cotswold Prestige Cars. More recently, it has benefitted from further restoration work that’s included a respray in its original Argento. Between 2015 and 2017, the engine was removed, cleaned and painted, a new flywheel was fitted. The suspension was also removed, inspected and rebuilt at the same time, the five-spoke Campagnolo wheels were refurbished, and the brake calipers were stripped and replated. In Summer 2024 the cambelt was replaced, the carburettors were rebuilt, and ancillaries such as the starter motor and alternator were overhauled. 

The end result is an exceptional example of this strikingly charismatic Italian supercar, which is now being offered for sale with an extensive history file that includes the UK Service Record and the Instruction Book, as well as a complete tool kit.  

MODEL HISTORY  

Developed as a replacement for the front-engined Daytona, the Ferrari 365 GT4 BB was first shown at the 1971 Turin Motor Show before being put on sale two years later. It was the first mid-engined road car to carry the Ferrari name and – like the Scuderia’s contemporary Formula 1 cars and sports-prototypes – it featured a flat-12 powerplant.

The 360bhp, 4390cc unit used belts rather than chains to drive its overhead camshafts, and it was mounted longitudinally, with the five-speed gearbox positioned underneath. When Motoring News tested a BB in July 1974, it said that, at high revs, ‘the engine is really howling… a beautiful, hard, cammy noise that is unmistakeably Ferrari’. 

The clean, angular Pininfarina styling laid down a template for mid-engined Ferraris that would last until well into the 1980s. Beneath it lay a blend of unitary construction around the cabin and a tubular structure elsewhere, while the bodywork was made of steel – apart from the doors and the nose and tail sections, which were aluminium. 

Inside, air-conditioning was standard and road-testers complimented the comfort levels and general ease with which this latest two-seater supercar could be driven. It came at a price, though, with only a handful of ultra-exclusive cars from Mercedes and Rolls-Royce costing more than the 365 GT4 BB when it was launched.  

Motoring News recorded an unofficial 0-100mph sprint in 12 seconds while carrying a full load of fuel, and the Road & Track testers reached a top speed 175mph. There was a competition-spec version, too – the BB LM, which was raced by the likes of legendary Ferrari concessionaires NART and Ecurie Francorchamps. 

Only 387 examples of the 365 GT4 BB were built before it morphed into the 512 BB in 1976. This new model featured an enlarged 4942cc engine but was still fitted with Weber carburettors. These were finally phased out on the 512i, which was introduced in 1981 and represented the final stage in the development of the BB before it was replaced by the Testarossa in 1984.