Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. The Masterful Niels Van Roij Design Daytona Shooting Break Hommage
A one-off creation honouring a one-off creation.
Our country isn’t exactly known for its coachbuilding work, yet if you dig a little, you do come up with some seriously impressive craftsmen creating some seriously impressive cars. We’ve covered the likes of Maturo, for instance, who hand-build Lancia Deltas and 037s to be better than when they left the factory new. There’s also Donkervoort, who produces some of the wildest, most driving-focused sports cars on the planet. And then there’s Niels van Roij, a name you might recall from the Autoforma Norrsken P1800 ES, a restomod of Sweden’s famous Shooting Brake. Speaking of Shooting Brakes, Van Roij has now pulled the covers off a project that has been years in the making and is a true one-off coachbuilt beauty that honours another true one-off coachbuilt beauty. This is the Niels van Roij Daytona Shooting Brake Hommage, paying tribute to one of the unlikeliest yet captivating Ferraris ever made.
The 1972 Inspiration
The Daytona 365 GTB/4 is considered to be one of Ferrari’s greatest sports cars and revolutionary in terms of design for the brand. Penned by Pininfarina, it broke with the otherwise swooping, sensual style to a sharper, more wedge-shaped profile. In production from 1968 to 1973, the Daytona got its name from the public rather than Ferrari themselves, as a commemoration of the 1-2-3 finish in the 1967 Daytona 24 Hours race. The 365 GTB/4 part of its name references 365cc per cylinder, with four overhead camshafts, meaning it comes with a 4.4-litre Colombo V12 that produced around 350 horsepower. It came as GTB or GTS, which stands for Gran Turismo Berlinetta, or coupe, or Gran Turismo Spider, for the convertible.
The Daytona 365 GTB/4 had a solid racing career, and even featured in the cult TV show Miami Vice, although it was long out of production by then. And in fact, it was a Daytona-replica based on a C3 Corvette that was used for most of the action scenes, but that’s beside the point. One of the more outstanding iterations of the fabled Daytona is this 1972 Shooting Brake, created by coachbuilder Panther Westwinds in Surrey, England, despite originally being a US-delivered car. Commissioned by Luigi Chinetti Jr, the legendary Ferrari importer for America, the car was converted from red to black, with a tan interior and a striking Shooting Brake bodystyle. The roof section was extended and given two gullwing-style doors and a large glass tailgate to allow access into the ‘cargo bay’. To this day, it remains one of the most unique-looking Ferraris in existence.
Ferrari 599 GTB underpinnings
Although it’s unconfirmed from the details Niels van Roij released on the Daytona Shooting Brake, it’s actually based on the Ferrari 599 GTB that was in production between 2006 and 2012. This front-engined V12 sports car sort of recalled the essential shape of a Grand Tourer, and thus the Daytona GTB 365/4 this homage references. It’s also unclear if anything has been done to the engine and drivetrain, but it seems unlikely at the moment. If so, that means the owner of this stunning one-off has 6.0-liter V12 at its disposal, which produces 620 horsepower and 608Nm of torque. With it, the original 599 GTB hit 100kph from standstill in 3,7 seconds and soldiered on to a top speed of 330kph.
The Daytona Shooting Brake Hommage
Using said Ferrari 599 GTB as a starting point for a unique Shooting Brake based on the 1972 original one-off is actually quite clever. Although a fair bit larger than the 1972 Daytona, the overall proportions are quite similar, with a long nose hiding a V12 engine, and a rear overhang that’s perfect for the conversion into a shooting brake. Making its public debut at the Royal Automobile Club and this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, the Daytona Shooting Brake Hommage has been years in the making by Dutch automotive designer Niels van Roij and his team of specialists.
From the outset, the similarities are very striking, with a deep black paint job, gullwing-style doors over the rear cabin and that vertical rear window. The work done to the car to achieve this is absolutely outstanding, and not just about extending the roofline and calling it a day. It took more than 15,000 hours from start to finish to complete, with the body being formed entirely out of aluminium and carbon fibre, with a seamlessly integrated roofline extension to create that unique Shooting Brake profile. It really is a bumper-to-bumper redesign, perfectly reflecting the Chinetti’s original vision, yet modernised to meet today’s standards in design, comfort and performance.
The nose has also been remodelled to look like the sharp front-end of the Daytona, and even more so of the original Daytona Shooting Brake from 1972. The graphic amber line running across the nose has been restyled and is now a full-width light bar, with bespoke headlights in a matte black housing left and right, a Daytona badge below it and a large grille with hand-formed vertical vanes underneath to send air to the engine. The cover for the V12 has also been sculpted to reflect the Daytona’s engine cover, with the signature dual vents allowing air and heat to escape from the engine bay. Around the back, the details continue, with the pair of butterfly covers for the rear deck, and so on.
On the inside, every panel has been redesigned as well, although the Ferrari 599 GTB’s origins can be spotted with the controls for the lights on the left side of the steering wheel and the controls for the transmission, for instance. The seats are covered in quilted leather, and the gauge cluster has been moved to the centre, just like it had been in the car from 1972. However, instead of the walnut trim, Niels van Roij opted for carbon fibre instead. The luggage compartment, as mentioned, accessible through those two very cool Gullwing doors, is also fully trimmed to perfection, with CNC-machined aluminium runners, and more carbon fibre and leather.
The sculpted back reveals a carbon fibre diffuser with dual twin-exhaust tips, and that signature vertical slab of glass. Integrated into the design are LED taillights, once again echoing the original Chinetti design. Front to back, the Daytona Shooting Brake Hommage is an expertly crafted one-off that wouldn’t look out of place parked outside the Casino de Monte Carlo, the laws of Pebble Beach or indeed, the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
For more information, please visit NielsvanRoij.com.
Editorial Note: All information used and images portrayed in this article are sourced from and used with permission of Niels van Roij Design and Bonhams Cars, unless stated otherwise.
