The Daytona.
This car was a revolution in the cars brochure it said “new concept of
high-performance motoring”. The Daytona followed the ISO Grifo which was
designed by Giotto Bizzarrini as both a race and road-going car. By 1965,
Bizzarrini and Rivolta parted ways, but Renzo wanted to continue making race
cars and contest Le Mans. He persisted with the Rivolta chassis. The initial
performance of the car with the Chrysler 383 v8 was monumental. At least one
production version was made in 1965 for Carlo Bernasconi of Milan. Details
included a Corvette V8, a four-speed close ratio gearbox and a Power-Loc
equipped Salisbury differential. Suspension was double wishbones upfront but
the rear was quite complex. It used a de Dion-type axle with trailing arms and
Watts link with inboard disc brakes.
Ford GT40 crushed the Ferrari at Le Mans in the 60’s but 20 years later it was still Ferraris and Porsches winning the sales with highly profitable sports cars. In the domestic market the Corvette was also a great success though it never offered the same quality or feel as its European rivals. It looked like Ford was just letting go of a great opportunity to grab some profits with their own sports car. Two design houses that were part of this project Behind closed curtains Ford's very own Specialty vehicle operations (SVO) decided to work on creating a fast mid-engined sports car that would compete with the other fast European premium sports cars but at the price of a Corvette. The project started in late 1983 with the code name GN34. The project would use resources from around the world with Italian styling, British chassis engineering, European assembly standards and would also boast of the built tough reliability. The full details of this project was never fully revealed ...
Once again informative!!
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