Attention to detail doesn't even begin to explain it.
Ah, the Ferrari 365 GTB/4 “Daytona”, the end of an era, or at least the cut-off for our Vintage Ferrari forum. Sure there are debates on the definition of vintage cars and their specific time period, but here at FerrariChat we have decided the Ferrari 365 GTC/4 is the last of the vintage Ferraris. But wait, as you astute Ferrari enthusiasts may have noticed, I switched the GTB with GTC. Yes, technically the GTC/4 is not the Ferrari Daytona and it is indeed our Vintage Forum cut off. However, the GTC was based on the Daytona and went out of production before the Daytona. So for all intents and purposes, the Ferrari 365 GTB/4 “Daytona” is the last ‘vintage’ Ferrari around these parts. And here’s the deal, if you think this is complicated, that is exactly the point and just the tip of the iceberg. When it comes to Ferraris, especially older ones, being specific matters greatly. That’s why we have a whole thread discussing which way the dash toggle switches flip. So is it up or down?
If only it was that simple. You see, there are many ways to approach this problem. Well, maybe problem is the wrong word, how about puzzle? Because the simplest answer here is just have the switches operate however you wish. After all, it is your car and you probably have the resources to achieve your goal. Ah, but that is not the point. Being a part of the Ferrari community often comes with the expectation that you respect your car so as to not molest it with modifications or changes that are not original. And herein lies the puzzle. How do we define original? More specifically, how do we identify how the switches ‘should’ operate?
First of all, original can be defined as how the Ferrari left the factory. This is straight-forward except for the obvious missing information. We don’t always know the exact configuration of every car when it left the line. Some F-cars were modified slightly by dealers before being sold to the first owner, and some owners may have changed their car themselves over the years. For example, OEM parts are increasingly hard to find for early HVAC systems, which means that the dash switches may have been situated based on unoriginal parts. And all of these changes from factory original could easily have happened before the Daytona reached the level of collectibility that now has us talking about toggle switches.
So you have a vintage Ferrari Daytona and you don’t know how the switches came from the factory, or how/if they have been modified over time. What does the owner’s manual have to say about them? Nothing? Ok, that is… unsurprising. It looks like your only option is to find other Daytona owners and see how they have solved the puzzle. But first, this discussion would not be complete without a borderline philosophical component, namely the ‘logical’ direction of the switch placement. You may not know how Modena placed the switches, but you can solve the puzzle or otherwise justify your decision by discussing how they should be placed logically. As you can tell, this is yet another rabbit hole.
Light switches, at least in the USA, generally operate with up being ‘on’ and down being ‘off’. As one user put it, “...logical arrangement is DOWN for OFF. We always set up race cars that way, because in a panic situation, the easiest and normal motion is to sweep the hand DOWN.” But even that user admits it’s not necessarily a solution for the Daytona puzzle. Luckily, the Ferrari community has fairly official answer outside of this ‘logic’.
Ultimately, all we needed to solve this puzzle is for owners of the most ‘original’ Daytonas to share the arrangement of their switches. And as mentioned earlier, the changes over the years on many of these cars creates an inherent originality issue, but there seems to be an emerging pattern, moving towards consensus. The switches ‘officially’ flip down for ‘on’ and up for ‘off’, which is not ‘logical’ but seems to be technically ‘original’. So there you have it. If you believe the switches should operate in the most original manner, down is on. And of course if you think that is illogical you can flip ‘em. But you could do that from the very beginning, so where’s the fun in that? ;)
