365 GTB/4 (aka Daytona) production had ended by then. Though that was a genuine 170 mph car, probably as much as 174-5. It had been replaced by the 365 GTB/4 BB , Ferrari following someone else's mid-engined lead just as they had in F1. In this case, the Miura. And the first Berlinetta Boxers were reportedly slower than their Daytona forebears, Ferrari did some fettling to get them to be as fast.

But for the purposes of Jeff's article, that's still faster than a Countach so we can't even go with fastest production car for that - especially as a non-factory spec one like this wouldn't count, it would go in the "modified" section. Given that late model Euro 5000S QVs with 455 bhp, uprated tyres and various aerodynamic addenda fell well short of 190 mph, I doubt a 400 would have gone anywhere near 200, however modified the engine. I'd take any supercar performance claim from the period with a hefty pinch of salt - they're about as reliable as any Vector's claimed top speed...

It wasn't until the Porsche 959, whose top speed fell tantalisingly close to 200 mph, but Porsche only claimed 198 mph, that a carmaker was really refreshingly honest about top speed. Ferrari just topped it with the F40. That was a great time for world's fastest car, the sophisticated advanced Porsche versus the brute force lightweight F40, separated by just 3 and a bit mph.

Not that either Porsche or Ferrari were that concerned about the 200 mph mark - both their domestic markets use kilometres as the unit of distance after all...