‘The steering wheel is very big – you can’t just flick it, you turn it like a truck. ‘It’s so beautifully set up, an absolute delight,’ reports Andrew. With the long expanse of dual carriageway soon devoured we hit an A-road and settle into a relaxing cruise. ‘You can pootle round as if you’re in a Fiat Panda then squeeze the throttle and, whoosh, you’re off down the road.’ ![]() Approaching a roundabout, Andrew double-declutches down through the ratios and takes it in third. ‘Beyond 4500rpm that soundtrack from behind sings better than any Brits winner,’ roars my driver. Each gear sounds better than the last, with their respective crescendos interrupted only by the purposeful clacking of the gearlever on its metal gate. ‘And then lay down the power.’ As he does so the smile spreads further across his face. ‘On the way up, change slowly and purposefully,’ says Andrew, repeating his newly learned gearbox mantra. ![]() The rear squats and massive reserves of power barrel us forward, accompanied by a sensational soundtrack as the low-speed mechanical chunterings are swallowed whole by the six carburettors’ wild intake blare and a four-pipe symphony emitted from behind us. He manoeuvres the elegant elongated snout out on to a dual carriageway and squeezes the throttle. ‘But it’s really forgiving if you treat it well but firmly.’ ‘I thought it would be a highly strung supercar,’ says Andrew. Open roads, blue sky, drop-top Daytona and a full tank of petrol – life surely can’t get much better than this. ‘But do you know what? I’ve met my hero and we’re getting on well.’ Spencer says he’s happy with how his new protégé has been handling the car, so I replace him in the passenger seat and we’re off. First impressions, Andrew? ‘It’s blinking cold with the hood down,’ he replies. ‘But it’s just had a new clutch and is well prepared so you should be okay.’ ‘Usually,’ his chaperone replies as they gently thrum away. ‘So, it’s first to third gear from cold?’ he asks. The car’s owner has asked Spencer to accompany Andrew initially and as they settle into the luxuriously trimmed cabin Andrew attempts to redeem himself by demonstrating some Ferrari knowledge. ‘You’ve driven a Ferrari before?’ asks Spencer. ‘In that hue, the shimmer of the blue against that tan leather interior, I think you just can’t buy a better piece of art.’ I can only agree with him the Blue Dino Metallizzato paint and contrasting interior look glorious and, personally, I can’t think of a more gratifying form of art than a classic car. He sent it to California where Ferrari converter Richard Straman transformed it from a Berlinetta to a Spider. This 1972 Daytona has covered just 8045 miles from new and was originally a UK car that found its first owner in Australia. Behind the wheel is Spencer Herbert, sales manager at Kent-Based Ferrari specialist Barkaways, where the car is for sale. ![]() His reverie is broken, first by the din of 12 cylinders firing belligerently to life and then by the sight of the object of his lifelong passion edging out into the courtyard. ‘Gosh, how I loved every detail of that car – the V12 engine, the interior with those seats that looked so comfy, the rear lights that were works of art in themselves, the exhausts poking out menacingly, the H-gate gearshift, the pop-up lights, and those indicators…’ Today it’s no mass-produced supercar substitute that we’re here to drive – it’s the real deal and Andrew’s growing excitement at the prospect of its arrival is palpable. ‘But even this connection evaded me because he went and bought a Triumph.’ġ972 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Spyder by Straman road test ‘I tried ever so hard to get my father to buy the then-new Rover SD1 3500 just to have the Daytona-inspired wraparound indicators,’ he remembers. Back then he coveted two Ferraris – the Dino, brought to him in left-hand-drive form by Tony Curtis via TV show The Persuaders, and the Daytona. ‘You know exactly what the car’s going to do and it rides the road perfectly – I can’t fault it’įor me all the Ferrari numbers and designations were confusing as a youngster and they still are, to be honest,’ says Andrew Martin. We give one lucky reader the drive of a lifetime in a Ferrari Daytona Spider. COVER The List We put reader and former TVR owner Andrew Martin into a Ferrari Daytona Spider conversion – does the once-in-a-lifetime top-down blast live up to the V12 dream? Ferrari Daytona one reader 352bhp. We put him behind the wheel of a Spider conversion to discover if the V12 reality matches his dream. ‘You just can’t buy a better piece of art’ Andrew Martin has lusted over the Ferrari Daytona since he was a lad.
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