By the mid-1970s, the worldwide trend in sports car design had evolved from the curvaceous and flowing shapes of post-war air tunnels to the air-splitting power of aggressive, crisp geometric shapes—what would famously become known as the “wedge” era. Always at the leading edge, Ferrari itself began evolving wedge-shaped designs, while in the United States, Luigi Chinetti, the US importer and North American Racing Team (NART) Principal, commissioned his own iterations. In the mid-1970s Chinetti ordered no fewer…
By the mid-1970s, the worldwide trend in sports car design had evolved from the curvaceous and flowing shapes of post-war air tunnels to the air-splitting power of aggressive, crisp geometric shapes—what would famously become known as the “wedge” era. Always at the leading edge, Ferrari itself began evolving wedge-shaped designs, while in the United States, Luigi Chinetti, the US importer and North American Racing Team (NART) Principal, commissioned his own iterations. In the mid-1970s Chinetti ordered no fewer than five 365 GTB/4 Daytonas to be rebodied by Giovanni Michelotti—each individually built with myriad distinguishing details, but sharing an angular, blade-like shark-nose motif, with a single unwavering beltline from nose to tail. They were, in many senses, the most aggressive Daytonas ever built.