Graph of the Week: Ferrari Daytonas at Auction
Arguably the last great Ferrari of the 1960s and the first great Ferrari of the 1970s, the 365 GTB/4 Daytona has the angular styling cues of future supercars while retaining the front-engined V-12 layout of the great GTs of the ’60s. The fastest production car in the world when it came out, the Daytona also had competition success with numerous GT class wins at Le Mans in the hands of privateer entrants. It’s therefore one of the more famous and collectible classic Ferraris, but because there were over 1,200 of them built, they are a somewhat regular sight at collector car auctions.
Since 2008, the average sale price at auction for Ferrari Daytonas has increased 125 percent, with 130 examples sold (53 of them by RM) and a steady trend upward from 2011 on that corresponds with growth in the greater classic Ferrari market. That market has seen a bit of leveling off so far this year, though, and that is shown on this graph as well. While overall numbers at the recent Amelia Island sales were strong, pre-1975 Ferraris did not do as well. Of the two Daytonas in Amelia, one hammered not sold at Gooding for $650,000, and another sold at no reserve at RM for a final price of $605,000—the lowest public sale since early 2014. That example, though, was both modified and in below average condition, and therefore an outlier at the moment.
Top-notch examples, on the other hand, seem to still command top dollar. The high point on this graph was a Daytona that sold at Bonhams Scottsdale in January 2016 for $1,155,000. With low original miles on a matching numbers drivetrain and well-restored, concours-proven condition, it’s a stark contrast to the RM Amelia car. The other seven-figure result on the graph was a recently restored prototype sold by RM in Monterey last year. While results for lesser examples seem to be flattening, the best examples can still bring top money.
