Well it says Luigi Chinetti and NART on the back so I would guess that he built it for his NART team. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Racing_Team and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrari_Daytona#365_GTB4 have some more info but no photos but that would appear to be the car.
Vin # 15965 engine 15685GT . First time showed in Geneva Salon of 1975 . Body work by Giovanni Michelotti for Luigi Chinetti of the North American Racing Team (NART) . Ciao Andrea
Two mine pictures of that car taken at Geneva Salon. Ciao Andrea Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Looks like a cross between a period vintage Corvette and a Daytona. Michelotti had some interesting bodywork on Maserati's in the 60s as well.
More modern pictures...competing at the Finali Mondiali at Mugello in 2008. Paul Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Somebody please correct me if I've mixed up any of the details, but this is how I understand it: In 1974, Dan Ward commissioned Chinetti to build a one-off comp Daytona and then compete with the car at Le Mans before turning the car over to Ward. Chinetti had 15965 (a Euro "Tipo A" Daytona) sent to Michelotti for the complete rebody. Once the rebody was complete, the car was shown at the 1975 Geneva Salon and was then sent to Gianni Diena of Sport Auto in Modena to be prepared for Le Mans. While with Diena, the engine from Daytona Comp s/n 15685 was installed. The car was entered in the 1975 Le Mans 24 hours but never competed, as Chinetti withdrew the entire NART team from the race in protest (more on this some other time). Ward finally took delivery of the car. I'm not sure how much he paid in total - he probably provided funding for the rebody and race prep along the way - but I understand that he paid less than the original agreed-upon purchase price since the car had not competed at Le Mans as promised.
Sorry, but I don't recall Dan having anything to do with the reconstruction of the car; I thought he bought it after it was rebodied. But Jeff raises an interesting "off-topic". I had been to LM with Frank Mir's Daytona in 1973, so when the opportunity came to go again in 1975 with the 308GT4 I jumped at it. I was puzzled, before the race, to note that the NART mechanics were just "making work", i.e. moving the wheels from one car to another and then back again, etc. Then, Luigi C. got into a monumental dispute with the organizers over whether or not the 308 was a production car. The end result was Luigi removing all cars entered under the aegis of NART from the race. Since Luigi had his "own restaurant" and his "own hotel" for the use of his various hangers-on, I have always wondered exactly when the idea of team withdrawal came about. But what do I know? Now back to the subject...
Ed, off topic or not I would enjoy hearing more from someone on the ground about how all of it went down. Did Bill Schanbacher already own the GT4 at that time/had he been the patron for its creation? Jeff
The car was being offered by Jean Guikas (GTC) in Marseille a few years ago, but was sold to a Swiss buyer who has used it in several high-profile events since. Are you sure it's being offered for sale again?
