Rebuilding a Dream

He got to the spray booth in time to see the body of the 1974 Ferrari 365 GT4 BB roll out onto the shop floor.

They were right, its beauty was timeless and garbed in the new red cloak it had a purity of design and line that stood up to the very best that the Post Fuel era had yet managed to produce.

They’d bought him here to perform an act of necromancy. To breath life into this exquisite antiquity.

Parts lay strewn around, a few actual originals like the body itself, but mostly pulled off the shop’s 3D printer. Nerves and excitement at the task made him shudder slightly but the familiar, androgynous voice of his ‘Webcrawler Inc’ research programme calmed his thoughts.

Surveying the strange artefacts he listened to the voice:

The Berlinetta Boxers, both the 1974 365 you see before you and the 1976 512, were the last entirely hand built production cars ever made by Ferrari. Because of this and its purity of design the 365 GT4 BB became a favourite with collectors at the end of the 20th Century and throughout much of the 21st Century, until the Internal Combustion engine was banned.

The engine you see before you was, or more accurately is, a 4.4 litre 12 Cylinder which can deliver 344 Horse Power and produces a top speed in excess 175 mph. This was an incredibly quick road car for 1974.

Much of its performance was derived from the fact the the engine was mounted in the middle of the car. This was an innovation that Ferrari had trialled on the 1967 Dino model. But take note, while the Dino mid mount was transverse across the car, the 365 has a longitudinal mounting.

You’ll see the four Weber triple choke carburettors and the five-speed manual gearbox which is fitted into the rear transaxle. This model also has four- wheel independent suspension, coil springs and anti-roll bars to provide a smooth ride on the frankly awful roads of the 20th Century.

The wheelbase you’re working with here is 2515 mm and it has a dry weight of 1235kg. Astoundingly this was considered very light for the day but as you can see it required hydraulic disc breaks on every wheel to stop it.

You’ll find all the schematics and plans on your screen. It’s worth remembering that this was a luxury vehicle when it was in production and came factory equipped with air conditioning. That thing that you are contemplating with understandable confusion is a Voxon radio. It sits in the dashboard and was an early in vehicle entertainment system.

On the subject of sound it is interesting to note that in 2062 Ferrari patented the engine noise of the 365 and it has since been used as standard on all their Supercar EV models.

The voice went silent.

He opened his toolbox and set about rebuilding a dream.