The other Daytona - not from Ferrari
03/11/2013
When you hear "Daytona" and think of cars, you immediately imagine a Ferrari 365 GTB/4, which was given the nickname of the famous race track in the USA. But there was another Daytona before the 365 GTB/4 appeared in 1969.
In 1966, Carlo Bernasconi announced that he would produce his own coupé called "Daytona" in small series. The tubular frame chassis and the self-designed aluminum body were built by Neri & Bonacchi in Modena. A 6.3-liter V8 engine from Chrysler was planned to be installed at the front. The independent front suspension and the De Dion axle were in line with the conventions of the time, while the pleasing design was reminiscent of a mixture of Dino and Lamborghini Islero, neither of which were available to buy in 1966.
At the time of the announcement, however, some things were still unclear, not least the financing required to build the sports car in a purpose-built workshop.
Bernasconi, a car dealer specializing in Italian and foreign luxury cars, was then probably unable to find the solvent backers, as the project later disappeared. What a pity! As a consolation, the photo of the prototype is also available in high resolution in the Zwischengas archive.
