I always wanted one of these! Exactly why, I’m not sure, perhaps it’s the typical flashy red finish, the unmistakable Ferrari growl, the chrome shifter gate, the unique star wheels, and the inimitable Ferarri panache that just meshes perfectly. Whatever it is, I’ll likely never fulfill that want but one can always dream on. And that’s what I’m about to do with this exceptionally fine 1982 308 GTSi. It’s located in North Smithfield, Rhode Island and is available, here on eBay for a current bid of $52,100 with five bids tendered so far.
In production from 1975 through 1985, the 308 in all of its incarnations, GTB, GTS, GTBi, and GTSi is one of Pininfarina’s most iconic designs – it is immediately recognizable. Being a 1982 model, this Ferarri is technically a GTSi, one of approximately 1,700 fuel-injected examples that were produced between 1980 and 1983.
Claimed to be a 27K mile example, this Ferarri shows as new. The seller makes a curious statement, however, “This is a great car it has had some paintwork done. I just had the Ferrari Dealer re-paint the rocker panels under the car as well as remove any rust from lower door jams“. It seems odd that with only 27K “pampered” miles that rust would be an issue – chips from road-rash perhaps, but rust? Whatever the case I can’t find a reason to give this Ferarri a single visual demerit.
The thing that is surprising about a 308 GTSi is its seeming lack of hubba-hubba under the boot. It’s a fantastic sounding mid-mounted 2.9 liter V8 but it only generates 202 net HP in Federal trim. But then again, those were the times as auto manufacturers struggled to meet the competing goals of improved fuel mileage and cleaner air. And, if you convert the engine size to cubic inches, you end up with something in the range of 175 or approximately 1.1 HP per CI, pretty respectable really. No mention is made as to how this Ferarri runs or drives but it is mentioned that the mechanical servicing is up to date and a $5,000 belt change was recently performed ($5k?? maybe I don’t want one of these after all!). The chrome shifter gate that I mentioned earlier is to help facilitate gear changes with the five-speed manual transaxle.
What else would one expect to find with Ferarri red other than tan leather upholstery? It appears as one would expect and is the perfect complement to the vibrant red exterior. I’m not certain if a different color was offered but if it were, I don’t believe that I have ever encountered it. The seller makes mention of driver’s seat bolster wear and it is evident in the image – seems unwarranted with such low mileage. The driver’s seat bottom also has a more “pressed-down” appearance than its accompanying passenger twin but that’s it for observable wear; the rest of the environment is in no need of attention.
So, do I still want a Ferarri 308? Nope, I’ve moved on and am not interested in performing gymnastics to get in or out of a low-slung, high-style car (or spending $5K on cam belt replacement). But I still enjoy the visual statement and the sweet sound of the mill from Maranello. It would be interesting to hear from anyone who owned, or currently owns, a Ferarri 308 – what were/are your likes and dislikes?
(T.C. has just fixed the Ferrari)
T.C.: That’ll be fifty bucks.
Magnum: Fifty bucks? What for?
T.C.: Well, there’s something known as parts man.
Magnum: Fifty bucks for spark plugs?! Cmon!
T.C.: That’s right.
Magnum: Look, I gotta run. I’ll see you this afternoon.
T.C.: Hey man, it’s Friday. I need the fifty bucks to buy a fuel pump for my chopper.
Magnum: Well, all I’ve got is a twenty.
T.C.: Alright man, that will do for right now.
Magnum: T.C.! You mean you’d let me drive out of here broke?
T.C.: Well that’s the way you ALWAYS drive in! The money Thomas.
Magnum: Ok, I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll loan you ten until this evening.
T.C.: You’ll loan me ten? You OWE me fifty!
Magnum: That’s right, which I don’t have, so I’ll loan you ten to keep you afloat. You can pay me back when I pay you the fifty.
T.C.: Whoa, whoa, whoa. What’s with this Abbott & Costello routine? – You owe me fifty, you loan me ten? Forget it!
Magnum: Oh, ok. Thanks, I owe you one.
(Magnum drives off)
T.C.: You owe me one? You owe me fifty!!
Excellent!
LMAO, Bluetech!
Cheers
GPC
classic !!!
@bluetec320
That was fantastic! I hope you copy/pasted that. As for the spark plugs, I don’t think fifty bucks would procure plugs for my Toyota Tacoma these days. These 308’s are what pops in my head when I hear “Ferrari”.
I had a very good looking girlfriend once…she turned out to be “a Ferrari that didn’t run…”
I would prefer the Bugatti in the background!
Pretty sure that’s a replica… wheels are wrong, radiator shell is wrong, louvred are wrong. It’s just wrong, man!
Yep, definitely the Magnum PI theme song going through my head now. Good one, bluetec 320.
I remember the episode where Magnum got chased down by two roughs in a ……Pontiac GTO I think. Sounds right.
Yup, a white GTO, 1971 I think. They gave him a Hell of a run too. One of Magnum’s narrations in the episode was “there is always a faster car”…meaning the GTO.
I owned a 1980 version just like this from 1985 to 1991 and in that time I put 72,000 miles on the car. It was literally my daily driver. Sold the car with just over 90,000 miles on the clock in June 1991 for $3,000 more than I paid for it. At the time it might have been the highest mileage 1980 GTSi on the planet.
My second best time behind the wheel was at the 1990 FCA National meet at Watkins Glen.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/amzn-author-media-prod/rsag2g20ur7u6j9odm8lm07oee._SX450_.jpg
At the time, I owned a mobile electronics store in New Jersey (Kartunes Mobile Electronics) and with the guys in my shop, fabricated a ski rack for it, added rear studded snow tires, then with my girlfriend at the time drove it to Whiteface Mountain in upstate New York (where the 1980 Olympics were held). I blew out on what was basically the upper portion of the Olympic downhill run, got bruised over 50% of my body but broke no bones. Thankfully she owned a manual transmission car and she had no problem driving home. (I should have married that girl.)
I can’t remember what I had for breakfast this morning but still remember the car’s VIN, 34047. Some day I’ll track that car down, it’s now probably a low-mileage example. You know how those things go.
Easily the best six years of my life (I’m now 66).
Every car enthusiast should own a Ferrari once in their life. For someone with a lot of cash burning a hole in their pocket, this looks like a good example of an iconic Ferrari of that era.
Dude, that is a fantastic story! Kudos to you. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻😁
Pretty car for sure, but how many of us can fit in one? The crazy parts costs alone (aimed at the 1%) turn me off. Of course, at my age and infirmity, I am not a potential buyer anyway, but I would discourage any younger person to steer clear of this. You can get a much more reliable, more powerful, and far cheaper car then this image maker. Of course, maybe the buyer here wants that, not an actual driving experience.
I don’t know…I have a 911SC in the garage as my weekender. These were marketed as the competition. I’ve done some research in the past and I don’t think the upkeep is much worse. If you buy a well-maintained specimen, the operating costs may not be particularly prohibative. I read that these are among the most easily worked-upon Ferraris for an amateur.
remember the classic race 911 vs 308 in Against All Odds
one of my favorite movies
A friend has a repair service and one of his customers has one of these. He found that a lot of the parts cross to readily available parts for other European vehicles.
sure most of the yellow box parts are expensive, but if you can wrench yourself, it could be rewarding…i mean even my 20 year old Audi has a few $$$ parts
You can’t beat the visual appeal of these. I think it’s fantastic that in the early 80s you could buy something so starkly futuristic looking. A cousin of mine owned one. He was into exotics (had a countach for a while as well). This was the 90s and I remember thinking that the depreciation on them must have been horrible. I can’t recall how much he paid exactly, but I don’t believe it was above 20k. I had these on the vehicle bucket list but once I researched and found out about service costs, I gave up on owning one.
Someone in my town has a black 308 gts with tan interior. I actually like that color a little more than magnum red. I see him drive it occasionally on weekends. One Sunday morning he and I wound up pacing each other on A1A with me in my daily, a black 87 corvette convertible. We ended up side by side first at a light where a lot of people cross to the beach. People wanted pictures and we wound up holding traffic for a couple cycles. Obviously the Ferrari was the draw, but I felt pretty darn cool with a color matched vette in the next lane. I wish I had one of the pictures for myself, I imagine it looked like a scene from an 80s movie.
I had a 308 quattro valve and a 328…loved them both :-) Just something special about an older Ferrari
$5k on a cam belt replacement is way too low!!
I had a 79 GTB and wish I kept it It. When I was looking the Fiberglass carburetor model no one wanted. Now it a money car. Nice looking car but underpowered.
always wanted one of these, but out of my league …with that said, about 10 years ago a small used car lot pops up in my town with some older bmw’s jags and 911’s, and a silver 308 with a 101k miles on it and they still wanted $29,999…it was cool seeing it running around town, i guess the lot owner kept mostly for himself…..
When I saw this ad I guessed that it would be IMPOSSIBLE to not read Magnum PI references. I was right…but not surprised! I don’t think a single 308 will EVER come up for sale without some mention of Magnum PI…just like you will never be able to drive one without someone that day uttering the words “Magnum PI”. Should we consider these sports cars cursed?… Equally annoying was that Hillerman guy in the TV series…an American actor…putting on one of the fakest British accents I have ever hear…yet almost everyone in the colonies thought he was English! Agh!…
A number of Ferraris require the engine to be removed to change the cam belt. I think the 308s are one of these – correct me if I’m wrong.
That of course, explains why it’s so expensive.
actually you can get thru the fenderwell to do the belt change and clutch job on these, but with that said, if it needs a lot of seals it’s probably better to pull it. I know there are quite a few guys on ferrarichat.com that do their own maintenance, the header on the front side is a bitch from what i read, as well as the gas tanks…..
Very nice looking car but patheticly slow. A Chrysler mini van would leave this in the dust.
Mark; Apparently, the folks buying Ferrari 308’s these days (at $60,000+) aren’t doing it for the performance. :-) :-)
Your right…. They look great but, expensive to maintain and patheticly slow.
Mark wrote: They (Ferrari 308s) look great but, expensive to maintain and patheticly slow.
I did a quick search and found a site that estimated $4,000 a year, on average, for 308 maintenance services. I think I should stop gripping because my Infiniti dealer charges $40 for a full-synthetic oil-and-filter change. :-)
I remember some years ago a mention of: “when these drop below 40K, pick up the best low-mileage one you can find….preferably the 4 valve”. This one just sold for $65,100.00. Certainly a handsome mid-engine V8 Ferrari with classic touches, like the gated shifter. Would I (or have I) ever fit comfortably. Nope. Height and limbs all too darn long…