During the late sixties, Fritz had developed a handful of 330's and 365's modified with automatic transmission. But despite demand for an automatic model originating from North America, the 400 wasn't legal for sale in the USA without certain EPA and DOT modifications that forced the price above $100,000 - this in the late 1970’s when a 250 GTO cost about the same. The GT4's chassis was fundamentally unaltered in its transition to the 400, most changes being focused on the engine, now a dual overhead camshaft 60° V12 of 4.8-litres. 4823cc was achieved thanks to a bore and stroke of 81 x 78mm respectively, the latter having been stretched by 7mm (from 71). Output remained at 340bhp although this was achieved at 500rpm less than before, compression and carbs also going unchanged with an 8.8:1 ratio and six twin choke Weber 38 DCOE sidedraughts. Transmission was either a conventional five speed manual or a three-speed GM ‘Turbo-Hydramatic’ gearbox as used by Rolls Royce, Jaguar and Cadillac. The auto box worked well and not as much performance was lost as some people had been expecting. Automatic examples are referred to as 400 A's while the five-speed manual's are 400 GT's. A few distinctive visual changes were made to all 400's to help differentiate them from preceding GT4's. At the front, a small lip spoiler directed more cold air into the engine while the tail featured a pair of circular light clusters at each side, those triple exhaust outlet pipes being replaced by more familiar sets of two. Further alterations came in the form of five-bolt light alloy wheels to replace the GT4's knock-off items but otherwise, Pininfarina's creation was little changed. |
