For Sale at Auction: 1975 Ferrari 365 in Carmel, California

Chassis No. 18127

When Ferrari unveiled the 365 GT4 BB at the 1971 Turin Salon, it marked the most radical technical departure in the marque's history to that point, marking the move from a front engine to a mid-mounted one. Yet for all its novelty, the Berlinetta Boxer was in many ways traditional Ferrari, the product of steady evolution rather than reinvention.

The engine reflected that approach. Rather than design a new unit, Ferrari took the Daytona's four-cam, 4.4-liter V12 and flattened it to a 180-degree layout, retaining the same bore and stroke and the 365-cc per cylinder that gave the car its name, fed through four Weber 40 IF 3C carburetors. To package engine and transmission within a road car's wheelbase, Ferrari mounted the transmission beneath the crankshaft, an elegant solution the boxer configuration made possible.

The chassis followed established practice too, utilizing a tubular frame fitted with a molded fiberglass structure that formed the wheel arches, bulkheads, and luggage and battery compartments. Suspension was independent all round, drawn from the company's mid-engined racing experience. Clothing it was a Pininfarina body whose roots traced to the 1968 P6 prototype, a shape that carried the Daytona's aggressiveness into a lower, mid-engined form. Testing the Boxer in 1975, Road & Track recorded 175 mph and called it "the fastest road car we've ever tested."

The Berlinetta Boxer was never officially sold new in the United States, but that did not stop American enthusiasts from importing examples and driving them at home once they had been fitted with the safety and emissions equipment federal law required. That process was the focus of Car and Driver magazine's November 1976 issue, headlined "Ferrari Berlinetta Boxer: Legal at Last!" and featuring chassis number 18127 on its cover. The article recounts the considerable effort that Dr. Norman D. Shutler, a Deputy Assistant Administrator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, put into making the Boxer street-legal in America, and it pictures chassis 18127 in federalized form, wearing a single driver's-side mirror and substantial energy-absorbing bumpers front and rear. A plaque inside the driver's-side door jamb still records that the Ferrari was federalized by Amerispec, and it is said to have been the first such example brought into the United States.

Bruce Weiss of Melbourne Beach, Florida, bought the Boxer in 1984, and invoices on file show that he had it serviced by Shelton Ferrari in Fort Lauderdale several times between 1985 and 1986. The record picks up again in August 2002, with the car still in Weiss's care, when British-Italian Motorworks carried out substantial work including a complete engine rebuild, totaling $30,575. The file continues into 2005, by which point Motorcar Gallery in Fort Lauderdale had taken ownership and had the car serviced at Foreign Cars Inc.

Stewart Bartley acquired the car in January 2006, and over the next nearly two decades it received careful, well-documented maintenance recorded in an extensive history file. Between 2006 and 2014 alone, more than $65,000 was spent on service, including a major engine-out belt service in 2011. That summer's work by Dew Motorcars Corporation also took in a clutch rebuild, new CV joints and shocks, and an alternator rebuild, among other tasks. More recently, in March and April of 2024, Grand Touring Enterprises serviced the cooling and electrical systems, with attention to the fan motors, alternator, and voltage regulator. That work also resolved steering-column switch wiring problems, serviced the oil pressure sending unit, and included a thorough interior and exterior detail.

Today the car remains finely preserved, with its Nero hides and Daytona-style seat inserts set against its rare Giallo Fly paint. Rounding out its presentation, it comes with its Cromodora spare, tool kit, the November 1976 issue of Car and Driver magazine, extensive documentation, and the front and rear impact bumpers fitted during federalization. The present owner acquired the car at Broad Arrow's 2025 Amelia Island Auction and has continued its diligent preservation. It should be noted that the engine, bearing number "18127," has been over-stamped per Marcel Massini's report.

The Berlinetta Boxer marked a major turning point in Ferrari design and engineering, and as one of the rarest production Ferraris of the modern era, this first-series 365 BB would be deserving of a place in any collection of high-performance sports cars.