Can’t you just hear the conversation: “Pull over, honey, there’s a Ferrari in that field.” “A Ferrari in a field—you need Lasik.” “PULL OVER and let me check this out!” And what do you know—it turns out you’re right. That is a Ferrari, a 328 GTB from 1988, and it’s no barn find. It’s sitting out in the elements, waiting for what? Well, for tipster Rocco B to find its ad, here on craigslist. And for you, oh brave heart, to plunk down at least a bit less than the asking price of $50,000 and then to take it home. Your starting point will be Las Vegas.
The Ferrari 328 GTB is a mid-engined sports car that was released following the success of the 308 series. GTB stands for Gran Turismo Berlinetta, or fixed-roof coupe, as opposed to the 328 GTS, or Gran Turismo Spider, which was a targa-top model. The 328s ran from 1986-1989. The engines displaced 3.2 liters, as might be suggested by the name, and 8 cylinders. 1988 was an important year for the model, as it got updated to a more digital car than the prior analogue approach. Part of this was an upgrade to anti-lock brakes and associated suspension changes. This changed was not effective until about mid-year, so that the fully switched over cars are referred to as 1988 1/2s, according to online sources.
One of the great features of this model is that it apparently does not need its engine dropped for most services, unlike what other Ferraris demand. This of course reins in maintenance costs, perhaps to the point where the question “How much is that tuneup again?” is not something one must ask. That doesn’t mean that this particular Ferrari is going to be cheap to run. In fact, I’d be very scared by the fact that the car has a replaced engine, both because it’s not the original mill, and hence might take a value hit, and because there’s no way to know how much wear and tear has been done to this yellow wonder.
Speaking of which, the paint needs the serious help of an expert detailer. The seller describes the needs as for a polish and some TLC, but will that finish come back? And what’s the state of the mechanicals? Forget the engine and ask about all the hoses and rubber parts, the cooling system, and so on. What did that field do and how long was this car out there? The seller says this Ferrari is “great to keep or resale,” but I don’t know. It might be an even greater idea to just keep on walking.
More like, FOUND IT!! I’m sorry, you just don’t see Ferraris in a parched Nevada eguipment field with California plates. Someone made a promise they couldn’t keep,,,
Love the can if “Stink-be-gone” on the armrest!
Meager ad. It’s simply something none of us would even think existed. A trashed Corvette in a field, maybe. But a Ferrari? Obviously we would all love to hear the back story.
It’s not even a real Ferrari 328, just a replica built on a Fiero frame. Hard pass. ..
Really? This is a replica/kit car!
Go to the Craig s List listing you will see more info price drop and more pictures
i’d like to find out about a bb512 any info available-?
Craigslist ad says it’s a fiero based kit car
The add was changed/modified after the seller was called on it. He originally tried to pass it off as a real Ferrari- hence all the comments that you see here.
Now it does, I don’t think it said that at first, plus there are photos of the interior , which are fiero’s
1000 on new engine. Hmm….
Guess that process didn’t go well.
Thats funny, I have a Ferrari in a field for two years, it’s only about twenty-five feet from a main road and very easy to see. No one has ever seen it because they all have their beaks in their phones.
I have a friend with a 512BB sitting in a field now for 2 years.
And it runs great, or did until he parked it. Also has a 308 doing the same thing. Both in excellent shape.
There are more than a few things wrong here. Looking at the bodywork and the lines it seems this may even be a kit car or knock off of a real 328! Hmm. ???
Ya, it’s a kit car, and not even of a 328, it’s a 348 kit car.
No, a 348 had side strakes like a Testarossa. Just a bad, Fiero-based 328 body kit.
You can see the Fiero interior in the pictures.
Wow, this one sends me back to my grade school years in the early 50s. We were living in a semi-modified barn on a slough with a big grassy field across the gravel road. There was an old green tractor abandoned in the field and some of us kids pretend to drive it. Just possible there are a few kids near this one that can pretend “road trips” in it and get some real use out of it like we did that old tractor. Otherwise??
C’mon Barn Finds, it’s still many months to April Fools Day!
Please tell me you didn’t actually think this was a real Ferrari.
Just for reference, here’s a real yellow 1988 328 GTB.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1988-ferrari-328-gtb/
“Hey, Elmer, look what I found when I cut back the weeds!”
Looks like a Pontiac Mera.
Run Forest, Run!!!!!!!!!!
This is so obviously a kit car, I don’t know how this could be mistaken for a real Ferrari. That’s some pretty poor fact checking/writing.
The first clue should have been that it’s a Ferrari in a field :-)
I believe all kit cars had one piece door windows and flared fenders. And some had side marker lights below the belt line, like this one.
All things you can see from 50 yards away.
And the GM mirrors…
It says it is a automatic, that should be a hint. At best $10k-$12k.
Before I even read the description, I was thinking “kit car”, albeit a nicely done one. Immediate tip offs are the Enkei wheels, Fiero mirrors and door glass/shape.
Team as others have called out this is not a true Ferrari. It is a kit based on a Pontiac Fiero. This is absolutely not worth $50k. In the condition it’s in, and the questionable desirability of these Fiero/Ferrari’s which have untouched Fiero interiors and underpinnings and engine, may be more in the $5k range.
… yeah, and the gas filler cap on the left rear quarter. I wonder who ‘fooled’ this seller into thinking he had a real Ferrari?
The seller probably knows exactly what he has but some poor hapless buyer (maybe a young dreamer with stars in their eyes) should beware. This seller should be called out on Craigslist as an obvious fraud.
I disagree: if a buyer actually buys this car thinking it’s a real Ferrari then he deserves to get frauded.
I’m a big Barn Find fan with much respect for BF. I noticed something of a disclaimer when the writer said it was not a barn find. Barn Find you have a rep with me that I’ll stand up for so l have to wonder what this AD was all about? Please don’t let something like this happen and we’re not in on the joke 🤣
looks, comfort, sound, drivability, all so tempting BUT…
‘left standing’ is THE worse fora car. Outside (never mind S. Nevada) AND…
a finicky ferrari~
Boy, “..greater idea to just keep on walking…” sure fits 4 me.
I’ll just watch from here
This should “stay in Vegas”. In fact stay in the field to rot like the piece garbage it is. There, I said it!
Waiting for an “OOPS” from Brian K…
Guy knows it’s a California car from the plate. No interior shots, need keys for that. Doesn’t have the knowledge we do to know it’s a Fiero. It ain’t the dude’s car.
Not a Ferrari guy but if its the real deal … someone should give the owner a biff in the head !
Someone needs to be prosecuted for false advertising, maybe Barn Finds but definitely the seller of an obviously fake faux-rrari. I’m surprised BF hasn’t taken this post down or at least edited it to call out the fact that this is a Fiero and most certainly NOT A FERRARI. Can’t believe Craigslist hasn’t taken this ad down yet. A Ferrari 328 with an automatic transmission? Only 45k miles and it’s for sale for a measly $50k? Someone needs to send the Nevada State Police to their house to kick this guy in the junk.
gijoooooe, Did you think that Barn finds was actually advertising this car, whatever it may be?
I didn’t know it was a replica, and quite frankly, couldn’t care less. We had a lot of fun with the post as if it was a Ferrari, and given the location, could easily have been one stashed away. Fact is, I bet the law is still looking for many that had “gone missing”.
Ummmm… maybe? No one said the post was tongue in cheek, or a straight up joke. I would hope that Barn Finds wouldn’t participate in fraud, but the Craigslist post seems like the seller is completely serious, hence why I want to kick him in the junk.
Not a true Ferrari! Kit car yes! Pontiac yes! How can you tell. 1… Only 4 pictures. 2… The wheels not from Italy! 3… Exhaust pipe only right side! 4… The top of dash it’s a Fiero! 5… The gaps are horrendous! 6… It’s a con game!! And all the comments agree this is fake!! The seller thinks we are stupid!! We are car fanatics and we know better!! 🇺🇸🐻🇺🇸
And no interior, or engine photos. And no close up photos.
If I didn’t live clear on the other side of the country, I’d be tempted to go to the seller’s house and kick them in the junk myself. What an obvious fraud!
Judging from the CL map, I’m roughly five miles up the road. Y’all want me to go over and administer a solid behind-kickin’? :P
Looks like a Pontiac Mera- these were knockoff built of the Fiero and sold new at Pontiac dealerships. Production stopped after, guess who, sued Pontiac for copyright infringement etc. Be fun to play around with at 5k..50k… not so much… GLWTA
I think you nailed it, Tommy T- good eye!
https://pontiacmera.com/
The seller here tells of a 3.2 V8, which the 328 would have, but the Mera had a 3.4 V6. Is he confused? He goes on to give a phone number which is a legitimate Las Vegas area code but the only place that looks like that in the photo around LV MIGHT be on Mt Charleston.
No photos of the interior, no photos of the underside, no photos of the engine compartment, no explanation as to why a Ferrari was left somewhere in this condition-either a seriously deluded owner or a seriously dishonest scamster looks to be wanting to score on someone’s lack of followup IMO.
You are 100% that it looks like a Pontiac Mera. I never heard of them. I found this on the internet…… https://pontiacmera.com/
LMAO. Come on, man.
Only 1,000 miles on replaced engine, and may need t be replaced again???.
I dont’ think it is original:
wrong interior, false wheels, strange shield on front..I think is a replica kit car
So, in short, the guy really did need LASIK.
Fierrari, instead, the ad should have said.
I was looking, in 1978 for a Ferrari only because we were in my Daytona and she saw a field of Ferraris in a Santa Barbara gas station.
Maybe maintenance, naaa, fuel, gas.
I told her, they live at the mechanics shop, and you pay the maintenance (rent), and take it for a spin Sundays.
That is when I talked her into a Lotus Esprit. Yes, still rent payments to the mechanic’s shop.
But tons less.
When I saw this field find, but a find only to the finder, not the owner or land owner.
I wanted more, as to, Why?
Story did not get that part.
So, I knew some ferrari geeks, who never touch the stuff, would know, say, mention, condem, whatever happened here.
No matter, I will never have that ambitious thought, Gotta Have It.
These pictures are not from Las Vegas- they were taken wherever the seller found it in California. He’s now dreaming of hitting it big on a flip.
The car is as big a fraud as the seller. Man I hate these kit cars. There’s now a Corvette on BF’s with Ferrari Daytona bodywork.Who buys these things except wannabe’s?
These kind of cars are great conversation starters at the local cars and coffee.
what was the very first Ferrari in Miami Vice, not a real one
It’s was a the california Daytona kit on a corvette chassis
I know what I am going to say has anything to do with this car, but there is a Lotus Europa with a Ferrari Dino body, do a search on it, spectacular
Either the owner has changed the CL ad to reflect the car is a replica as well as the text says it’s Pontiac Fiero based, or there are a lot of Barn Find readers who never bothered to read the original CL ad!
… and the drastic drop in price from $50K to $17K!
A change from Ferrari to “replica” will do that every time.
I think I was the cause of that. I sent him a text that read, “You know that’s not a real Ferrari, right?” followed by a string of laughing emojis.
He changed it-and dropped the price substantially. The original ad also said he was asking $50k, it had a 3.2 V8 that needed work and said nothing about it being Fiero based.
I think someone whispered to him that fraud at that level gets them a little apartment in the graybar hotel with 3 hots and a cot with food through a slot.
Yep Fiero seats dash etc
Death trap-Pontiac Mera body panel Ferrari look makes no difference-I watched 1 get sideways on the freeway after a gas station trailer got loose & clipped drivers rear side – it slid sideways 300yards up hill & broad sided a Freeway light pole – it was to light to snap the mounting bolts – which their designed to do ….
Instead it SPLIT APART & engine compartment continued another 200 yards up the road side.
The driver? Dead instantly entire body turned Grey in seconds the sudden stop impact broke every blood vessel & he hadn’t a mark on him wearing his seat belt.
Problem with these Fiero’s is the space frame compartment struction uses ONLY the inner panels as crush impact zones & the plastic panels add NOTHING to the cars rigidity.
After the Factory Drilling machine wore our GM discontinued the model due to accident insurance payouts.
The car in add would make am ok track car AFTER modifications for safety
Or drop the body on a 4×4 rally frame
Be funny to mod the bottom & add jetski impeller which is probably the best thing I can think of.
Here I thought I bought the cheapest Ferrari out there…a 456M for $30k. But mine was in a garage, at an estate sale in San Francisco a couple of years back.
Mine doesn’t have a V6 behind the seat though…just a V12 up front!