(first posted 8/3/2018) Steve Cropley was originally employed as a writer/editor of the Australian Auto Magazine, “Wheels”, before emigrating to the UK where he became editor of British Auto magazine, “Car”. He eventually became an impassioned Ferrari owner himself when he bought and wrote about his ownership of an early, lighter fiberglass bodied, carburetor Ferrari 308 GTB — one of the retsina 308’s — before the 308 GTB’s were built with steel bodies. Cropley always communicated his love of Ferraris to his readers.
Ferrari has used varying nomenclatures in naming its cars. In the case of the 365 GT4BB, the 365 is the displacement measurement of each individual cylinder of the 12 cylinder engine. The GT refers to this being a Gran Turismo type car capable of traveling in comfort for long distances. The 4 references that this is a four cam engine, with two cams on each cylinder bank. The BB stands for Berlinetta Boxer. The Berlinetta is a sports coupé typically with two seats, but also including 2 +2 cars.
The Boxer part of Berlinetta Boxer for this series of production Ferrari’s is actually a marketing falsehood. These flat 180 degree twelve cylinder engines are actually flat 180 degree engines with each pair of cylinders sharing a single crankshaft crank journal rather than having 180 degree opposed separate journals seen in true boxer type engines like the VW four cylinder engines or the 6 cylinder 911 Porsche engines. This Ferrari 180 degree flat 12 design of a single crankshaft journal for a cylinder pair was also used by Porsche for its successful racing 12 cylinder 917 Race cars.
So this Ferrari engine, in actuality, has a traditional Ferrari V12 crankshaft architecture with the angle between the cylinders flatted to 180 degrees instead of the traditional 60 degree “Vee” used by the classic Colombo and Lampredi Ferrari V12’s–hence it is a flat 180 degree V12.
The “Boxer” was produced in three distinct series from 1973 to 1984, replace in 1985 by the “Testarossa”
The design leadership of the 365 GT4BB was led by Leonardo Fioravanti of Pininfarina, who was also the chief designer of the Ferrari Daytona.
The later model Ferrari 512BBi captured in the wild, in Ohio.
Ferrari has had frequent inconsistencies in naming its cars. In replacing the 365 GT4 BB, the replacement was called the 512 BB (1976-1981) meaning five liter displacement, 12 cylinders, and BB, Berlinetta Boxer. the 512BB was later updated with Bosch fuel injection and became the 512 BBi, with the “i” meaning injection. The BBi was the last series produced from 1981-1984.
512 BBi captured again, same day, in Hinckley, Ohio.
Conventional where the Countach was revolutionary. Still I love both (almost) equally. Saw one on the road many years ago, but I imagine these have become trailer and track queens – with very little reason to drive one on the road when most owners probably have a Dino GT for that.
Don, you obviously mean something like this Dino being driven and enjoyed during the 2018 Spring Thaw Rally in British Columbia. Maybe in Aus, Boxers are garage queens, but here in the States and in Canada, and at least in Ohio and in Ontario, some are definitely driven, as I have seen.
Here is a pic of a 512 BBi with BBS wheels on the road in Northern Ohio during early Spring 2016. Definitely stunning classic Pininfarina styling to see on the road.
Another view of the 512 BBi during Spring 2016.
Vic, I seem to remember the original 365 version of the BB not being compliant with US regs, and there being a company that was doing some serious mods in terms of emissions and bumpers (and more than doubling the sticker) on the car used for the story.
I live in a suburb which is pretty much the centre of seeing new McLarens, Lambos and Fezzas on the road – a daily occurrence. I see the occasional 308 GTB/S, Dino GT and recently caught a 365 2+2 curbside though under a cover. The last time I saw a BB on the road was years ago. I thought they were not on US roads, but the 512 version must’ve have made its way through the red tape.
Don, in the 1980’s extending into the 1990’s, Dick Fritz who had worked with Luigi Chinneti at NART (North American Racing Team) started Amerispec after discovering an importation loop-hole allowing legal importation and then be allowed a reasonable length of time in order to legally federalize the “grey market” imported Ferrari’s, primarily Boxers to be compliant with USA federal crash and emissions standards by installing internal door guard beams within the door, by reinforcing bumpers to be crash compliant (sometimes with ugly results), and by installing catalytic converters within the mufflers for emission compliance. Making the Boxers emissions compliant was actually made easier, according to Fritz, with the advent of the Bosch K Jetronic fuel injected 512BBi’s.
Boxers would be bought in Europe for mid-80’s prices of about $30,000 to $40,000, converted at reasonable cost in the US, and then sold profitably in the range of $60,000 to 70,000 (US dollars). Others joined Amerispec in this profitable conversion business, and, ultimately it is believed, that conservatively, approximately 350 + Boxers were imported and converted for the grey market demand in the USA. Considering that total Boxer production was approximately 2323 cars, this estimate of about 350 (and perhaps higher) Boxers represented a significant portion of production arriving in the US during the Grey Market importation boom years.
The late 1980’s Ferrari grey market boom coincided with the late 1980 to early 1990’s Ferrari Market buying frenzy (think of the historical centuries ago Dutch Tulip Mania) until the Ferrari price crash of the early 1990’s brought the market to reality, like a typical stock market crash. Amazing, that Ferrari prices could actually crash or stabilize at one point, especially since prices now only seem to go up, seemingly unstoppable on their way up, Tulips again? .
http://classic-cars-talks.blogspot.com/2013/03/lord-brockets-butchered-beauties.html
I have that issue! And have many of Steve’s stories under my belt.
Who would’ve thought there’d be 512BB’s in Ohio 🙂 A great find and an interesting car. They are definitely around but in very small numbers, even in the typical enclaves in CA and the east. But yeah, I’ve seen more F40’s and 288GTO’s (with pics) in the flesh on the road than BB’s (all in CA). TR’s and if course the various V8 cars used to be extremely common comparatively speaking in SoCal at least, but I suppose with a few hundred federalized BB examples over here I’d venture that even if driven, it’d be less of a regular occurrence and more of a special occasion drive (for most, but not all).
I just checked out that Classic Cars Talks site. Looks like lots of interesting info there, and lots of photos. Thanks for the link!
A good friend owned a federalized 512 BB in the early ’80s, and once left it with me for three weeks while he was on vacation. After putting gas in the tank, you could actually see the needle drop after very slight useage. It was an extremely powerful car, but ergonomically the later Testarossa was much more civilized. The BB, however, had charisma and looks to spare .
From page 9(including magazine cover) of this article:
“On its tall tyres, built to tolerate a fair bit of camber change, there is
practically no sign of the tramlining under brakes you in all moderns
shod with stiff-wall, low-profile rubber.”
So while the above is common knowledge among suspension and tire engineers, why has the combination mile-wide, low-profile tires on rims or wheels large enough for 737 Max landing gear, curried succor on every commercial mass production, from the budget Nissan Sentra to Chrysler 300M, from Ford Explorer to Cadillac Escalade, not to mention most EVs?
It isn’t necessarily so. While tramlining under braking is more a function of tire width rather than sidewall height if I am not mistaken, a lower and stiffer sidewall pays high dividends in cornering. Cornering is done more often than slowing on a poorly surfaced/aged road that will cause tramlining so it’s considered more important.
Most people (even on sites such as this one) still think that any 50-aspect tire is identical to any other 50-aspect tire in respect to sidewall height (and all 60s are the same, as well as all 40s etc) and that all of these are low profile and have less sidewall height than whatever was offered “back in the day”. That is not true. As the “Tire Whisperer” you likely know that the 50 (or 60 or 70 or 35 or whatever value is the second numeral in the tire designation) is merely a ratio, as it denotes the sidewall height not as a definitive numeral but as a percentage of the width of the tire. So a 225/50-15 tire will have a sidewall height of 112.5mm (50% of 225) whereas a 305/40-17 will have a sidewall height of 122mm (40% of 305), or almost 10mm MORE sidewall height relative to the “higher profile” aforementioned 225/50-15 tire.
Older tires had massive sidewall aspect ratios but often very narrow tread widths. Modern tires have much wider tread widths but smaller aspect ratios but often still have sidewalls that aren’t much smaller as an absolute measurement.
And of course to some extent, modern car buying society finds that a larger wheel is generally more attractive than a smaller diameter wheel so that’s the other part of it. Only the off-roading segment of the population is looking at the tire itself more than the wheel it is wrapped around and they are all about maximum sidewall to reduce puncture potential in a pinching situation.
It is the overall ratio that I take issue with.
I grew up driving on tires with a higher percentage of sidewall to width, and I like the heavier, self-centering feel they lent.
With lower profile combos, driving feels more intense, less relaxing, even to some degree when the cold pressures on the vehicle placard are maintained within plus-minus 1psi.
And yes, the elephant in the room: LOOKS
Looks are in fact, among the car-buying public, the number one reason for the lower sidewall, greater rim diameter trend of 2000 – present.
I am not concerned with the appearance of either more sidewall and less wheel, or less sidewall and more wheel.
I concern myself with which I find more satisfying to drive, and even if in the minority nowadays, my leaning is toward higher-aspect tires of lesser relative width. Steering that requires constant micro-corrections, and is hyper-sensitive – turning the steering wheel from straight ahead to 11 or 1 o’clock producing a sudden 90 degree turn, in a four door sedan, is just not my bag!
To be fair, Jim, the author spoke only of the old-fashioned sidewall height being there to tolerate (road) camber change on braking (not poor surfaces), and even more specifically, the first emphasis in his description is on the “stiff wall” of more modern low-profilers as a culprit for tramlining. The UK is full of off-camber-cornered little roads with 60mph limits, and the stiff sidewall of a modern seems very likely to steer one about as much as the width itself in the Welsh conditions in which he was belting this Ferrari.
He’s in any event making the point overall that the car is a practical one for speedy road use, ground clearance included, which even by 1990, the supercars increasingly weren’t (let alone now). Part of that is indeed a product of stiff-walled rubber-band tyre-wrappings, so the Tyre Whisperer does have a point (as did Cropley), though I do understand you were largely pointing out a common misunderstanding about the ratio and sidewall height thing. I also agree with TTW that the overdone tyres can make moderns tiresome to steer nicely, especially with the usual no-idea electric PS feel.
Steve Cropley is one of those quiet but highly influential figures in motoring journalism. His writing is entirely unflashy, yet it gets one’s attention and is properly full of information, something often a bit hard to come by in Ferrari coverage as it’s usually full of breathless blather.
I’m glad he’s still around, but alas, the days of a long and sweetly photographed piece such as this have gone for good.
I’ve written here before of the fundamental influence a small coterie of linked Aussie automotive journos have had on the English-speaking world of motor-noting: perhaps this is as good an illustration as any as to why that has been so extensive, as it is neither fawning nor foolishly glib. The only downside of that influence is that The Clarkson itself was much-influenced by the classless cheek of the Australians, and, whilst he spun that into his own passable comedic career, his approach then infested the style of every wannabe blowhard since, and largely ruined the field.
I’m glad the Testarossa cops some condescension in this article, as I’ve always thought it an ugly and silly machine, but I’ve got to ask, am I the only person who thinks the Boxer is (whisper it) just a tad kit-car-ish itself?
In any event, it’s startling to see it priced at 150K 1990 quid! A quick glance online shows them to be no more than that right now.