STORY OF THE DAY: Ferrari Presents Its Flat-Twelve Berlinetta in Paris

On 1 January 1973, the Ferrari 365 GT4 BB was presented in Paris. The occasion was a public presentation rather than a competition event, and the P designation therefore carries no racing result. The model represented a fundamental change in Ferrari’s highest-performance road-car architecture.

The Berlinetta Boxer succeeded Ferrari’s front-engined twelve-cylinder grand tourers with a power unit positioned behind the cabin. The change placed the car’s mass more centrally and brought production-car design into closer alignment with principles already established in Ferrari’s Formula One and sports-prototype programmes.

Its 4.4-litre twelve-cylinder engine was installed longitudinally above a five-speed gearbox in a tubular chassis clothed with Pininfarina-designed bodywork. Despite the Boxer name, the opposed cylinder banks shared crankpins, making the unit technically a 180-degree V12 rather than a true boxer engine.

No competition driver belongs to this presentation entry. Its human story lies in the collaboration between Ferrari’s engineers, Pininfarina’s designers and Scaglietti’s craftsmen. Their work established the mechanical and visual foundation for the BB family and the later competition derivatives developed from it.