Tag Archives: Cannonball

Faster Than A Ferrari – Cadillac Coupe de Ville

In 1971 Cadillac introduced the forth generation Coupe de Ville with hitherto record braking 62 inches of front shoulder room and 64 inches rear shoulder room. Novel features included windscreen wiper blades that were hidden from view belw the bonnet / hood line when not in use.

Cadillac Coupe de Ville, Classics at the Castle, Sherbourne

A 375 hp 7.7 litre / 472 cui V8, carried over from the third generation Coupe de Ville, with three speed automatic transmission powered the 4,900lb vehicle that measured 225.8 inches from stem to stern.

Cadillac Coupe de Ville, Classics at the Castle, Sherbourne

Legend has it that the third placed Cadillac Coupe de Ville of Ron Herisko in the 1971 Cannonball Run, by dint of traveling a further distance between New York City and Redondo Beach, California had manged to average 82 mph for the journey as against the 80 mph Dan Gurney and Brock Yates averaged in their Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona. In 1972 Steve Behr, Bill Canfield and Fred Olds won the Cannonball out right driving a Cadillac Coupe de Ville.

Thanks for joining me on this “Faster Than A Ferrari” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Outlaw Racer – Ferrari 365 GTB/4

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Launched in 1968 the Ferrari 365 GTB/4 replaced the Ferrari 275 GTB/4 and to this writers mind represents the pinnacle of front engine rear wheel drive fastback GT cars. Until outlawed by US legislation in 1971 the 365 GTB/4 came with headlights mounted behind acrylic glass covers.

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This most stylish of vehicles is powered by a 347 hp Lamperdi inspired twin overhead cam 60º V12 stretched to 4390 cc / 268 cui motor, each cylinder with a volume of 365 cc from which the model gets its name.

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To optimise the weight balance and handling the gearbox is mounted as part of a transaxle just in front of the rear wheels.

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As one would of expect of a vehicle this cool to look at it has performance to match being capable of reaching 60 mph from rest in 5.4 seconds with a top speed of 174 mph.

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Competition versions of the 365 GTB/4 run by privateers with up to 450 hp counted amongst their successes a GT class winning 5th overall at Le Mans in 1971 along with GT Class wins in the same race in ’72, ’73, and ’74 scoring 1st to 5th in class in ’72, and five years after production of the model had ceased an amazing 2nd overall in the Daytona 24 hour race.

Dan Gurney and Brock Yates also drove a 365 GTB/4 2,876 miles from New York to Los Angeles averaging 80.1 mph to win the inaugural Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash in 1971.

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It is thought just 1,406 of these cars designed by Leonardo Fiorvanti of Pininfarina and built by Scaglietti including 122 Spiders and 15 lightweight competition vehicles. The high desirability of the rare Spiders has led to several Berlinetta models being converted and several companies have made Spider replicas with a variety of engines.

The 365GTB/4 was replaced by the rear engined 365 GT4 Berlinetta Boxer.

I hope you have enjoyed today’s Outlaw Racer edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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