Ferrari 365GT4 and the Supercar Caps of 1970s Japan

Ferrari 365GT4 2+2 Coca-Cola Crown Cap from 1970s Japan

A Bottle Cap with an Unusual Resume

This is a steel crown cap — the metal lid sealed onto glass Coca-Cola bottles, roughly 26mm across — with a color-printed illustration of the Ferrari 365GT4 2+2 on its inner face. The car is depicted in green, alongside its name and the word “Italia.” It was not sold separately or packaged as a prize: it came on the bottle. You bought a Coke, opened it, and found out which car was inside.

Coca-Cola Japan ran multiple themed crown cap series throughout the 1970s, when glass bottles were the standard format. Subjects ranged from animals and national flags to supercars. The “Italia” label on this particular cap suggests the series was organized by country of origin, implying a set that covered different vehicles from different nations across a full run.

The Supercar Boom That Put Ferraris on Bottle Caps

The Ferrari 365GT4 2+2 was built from 1972 to 1976 in Maranello, with bodywork by Pininfarina. In the name, “365” is the per-cylinder displacement in cc, “GT4” denotes the grand touring four-seat configuration, and “2+2” describes two main seats plus two in the rear. The engine was a 4.4-liter V12. Within Ferrari’s range it was the comfortable long-distance machine rather than the outright sports car, and it gave way to the 400 series in 1976.

The timing of this cap series aligns with Japan’s Supercar Boom, a cultural phenomenon running roughly from 1975 to 1979, when European performance cars — Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche — became objects of intense fascination for Japanese children. Merchandise flooded the market: cards, stickers, model kits, promotional items of every kind. Coca-Cola Japan’s supercar crown caps sat squarely inside that moment.

Crown cap collecting, or oukan atsume, was already an established pastime in postwar Japan. Because glass-bottle soft drinks were ordinary daily purchases, the caps were technically waste that spontaneously became collectibles. The variety of Coca-Cola designs made completing a full set a recognizable childhood goal of the era. Japan’s glass-bottle distribution declined sharply from the 1990s onward, leaving surviving caps as physical records of that specific period in the country’s consumer culture.

Three Collecting Worlds in One Small Disc

The appeal today crosses several fields at once. A single 26mm piece of steel carries the Ferrari name, Coca-Cola’s brand presence, and 1970s Japanese print production — placing it across automotive memorabilia, Coca-Cola advertising collectibles, and Showa-era vintage goods simultaneously. The coexistence of Japanese characters and Western alphanumerics on the face is a visible marker of its Japan-market origin.

Whether the cap carried an official Ferrari license is unconfirmed; licensing practices in the 1970s Japanese market were considerably more relaxed than today’s standards. The green illustration may reflect a printing decision rather than any specific production color of the actual car. The 365GT4 2+2 is not Ferrari’s most prominent nameplate — production figures are estimated at roughly 525 units, though sources vary — but it is well recognized among core vintage Ferrari enthusiasts, giving this small promotional cap a more specific appeal than its humble origins might suggest.