This 1981 Ferrari 308 GTSI incredibly sat in what looks like a fairly unsophisticated storage arrangement long enough to accumulate a thick coating of dust, proving that barn finds are everywhere if you know where to look. The seller’s photos show a run-of-the-mill fence being the only barrier between a carport with a real-deal 308 sitting inside and the outside world. How he got the tip that the car was hiding inside isn’t disclosed, but it appears to have been a good door to knock on given how solid the Ferrari looks after a proper bath. Find it here on eBay where it benefits from a recent engine-out service.
Wow! Someone ignored this fuel-injected Ferrari for quite some time. There’s no backstory offered in the listing which is truly a shame; I’d love to know how the Ferrari ended up like this and how the seller knew to find it here. Of course, we all know that Ferraris – no matter how cheap they are to buy – oftentimes need costly engine-out services that can easily eclipse $10,000 at a specialist shop. Given the surroundings of where this Ferrari was found, I do wonder if maintenance needs forced the previous owner to park it and hope that the funds someday materialized to properly restore it; evidently, those days never came.
Wow – this Ferrari sure cleaned up well. Even better are the period-correct BBS wheels, which were apparently on the car when it was found which suggests someone had the coin to not only buy a 308 but to also splurge on some of the priciest three-piece wheels money could buy. And honestly, does it get any better than red with gold? I don’t think so. The 308’s paint looks to be in good shape despite years of neglect, and the seller lists the mileage as being just 38,000. The seller doesn’t list any major flaws with the cosmetics beyond a few blemishes nor any rust concerns, so one would assume those won’t be areas of worry for the next owner.
Fortunately, the listing notes that a fair amount of maintenance has been completed, which is seemingly a rarity these days among people who purchase barn finds to re-list a few weeks later on eBay. The seller notes recent maintenance to the tune of $9,000 for an engine-out service which included refreshing the transmission with a new clutch and presumably re-sealing the engine and installing new belts. The AC system has also been updated, likely indicating an R134 conversion. Overall, this is the best way to buy a real-deal barn find, as all the heavy lifting is done and you still get to tell the story of how it was found.
Wow…what a shame. I’m glad it was rescued
The only way I would pay that for kind of cash a 308 barn find is if Christie Brinkley was included in the deal!
Hey Bluetec, are you sure you want Christie with the car? That would mean you’ll be footing the bill on 2 high maintenance items.
How about the family truckster to complete the package?
Just remember she is NOW 68 years old.
Still a “Babe” however not the “Babe” of your memories!
Ah, you mean Christie, not the 308! So it’s not the 2040s yet. For a moment I felt REALLY old! LOL!
I’m sorry, and I don’t mean to constantly mention the TV shows many of these cars remind me of. I have to remember, these shows and movies are 40 years old, and some authors may not have been born. But not to mention Magnum P.I. seems a shame. TV in the 80’s was HUGE, with really GOOD programs, not like the crap of today. Magnum P.I. ( Tom Selleck) was without question, one of the most popular shows, and he drove a 308 on the show. Sadly, looking at this car is like looking at Mr. Selleck now in those “reverse mortgage” commercials, MAN, HE LOOKS OLD,( good thing I haven’t aged one bit,,cough),,and to see one of the most valuable cars in the world( to some, one simply can’t deny Ferraris greatness) is pretty sad. Again, car stories are like rear ends, everybody has one( some, more than one, story, that is) and who knows what the deal was here. I could see a Pacer sitting for years, but a Ferrari, somting fishy,,,
308’s do not require the engine to be pulled for a major service, that didn’t start until the Mondial’s and the Testa Rossa. Doing the valves on the front head is a bit of a pain but can be done. Belts, hoses and even clutch are all done with engine in place normally.
There is nothing magical about working on these, if you can work on an Alfa you can work on these. Parts prices for a major service are about 350 dollars, a new clutch about 400. Parts are more expensive than a Chevy, but they aren’t wrapped in gold. Paying someone to do all the work for you is expensive, with labor rates running between 150-200 bucks and hour and to bring this one back from it’s slumber could easily take 40-50 billable hours.
CIS hates sitting and that goes for Ferrari’s, Mercedes, Porsche and BMW. Getting a CIS system going that has sat for a long time is a frustrating and expensive.
The wheel change makes sense, these came with TRX’s, The cost of a new set of TRX’s cost almost as much as a set of 15″ wheels and some decent tires.
I remember how popular BBS wheels were, but I never cared for them. The metric TRX wheels that were standard looked much better if you ask me. Plenty of other non metric options these days. I’d ditch the BBS and never look back. Question is to why it sat in a humble looking shed for all those years? Having recently met some people with varied lifestyles, I now have some ideas. Most new Ferraris of that vintage were purchased by rich people and written off as company cars. (thank you Mr and Mrs Taxpayer), the rest were purchased by criminals. Sometimes said criminal figured out his fancy car was a poor purchase as it called out too much attention to them. He could sell it, but that would also bring attention. (besides, the usually Florida based dealers who had no problem selling these to people with rolls of one hundred dollar bills, somehow did not want to buy them back.) So in it goes to the dusty world of forgetfulness. This is what the people around my table said this morning about this car. I have learned to respect the opinions of many of these men, and I think they very well may be right about this.
I agree with most of this. I prefer the Ferrari 5 star wheels and new quality reproductions can be found in 14, 15 or 16″ configuration’s.
And true a lot of cars were “owned” by a business and or a trust. I don’t know about the criminal types, I worked for the dealership in NC during the 1980’s and the clientele seemed legit. I am sure if I had worked in Miami or NY that the clientele could have been different.
The other thing you have to remember that it was pretty rare back then for someone to finance a Ferrari. People who purchased them were generally well off, and when you are worth, or your business, at a minimum 10-20 million a paltry 50k for a play thing is really not that much. And after a few years, they got bored with them and they just sat, or they got traded and they fell down the food chain to people like me who really couldn’t afford them and had to learn to work on them if they wanted to drive them, otherwise they got parked. Hence you have a lot of cars that were just parked and forgotten about by their original owners or garage art cars by people who stretched their budget to far and did not have the money or skills to keep them going, and they just sat. I understand this second group as I am guilty of buying to much garage art and having it sit in my garage, my sin is lack of time.
Now with prices going up a lot of these cars are being dragged out of hibernation, we will continue to see cars like this. I know of 2 308’s off the top of my head that are in this state of repair, neither is currently for sale but the owners know that I am interested, yeah I will never learn.
Good to know Kevin.
Mondials also did not require engine out service, because the timing belt is accessed via a panel behind the rear seat. The 348 of the same era )and same engine, did require the engine out service (as did its successor F355). (I’ve owned both, and paid for both!). In this case, the seller had to pull the motor regardless, of course, to change the clutch and seals.
I guess I should have been more exact, the later Mondial T required the engine out, the earlier 3.0 and 3.2 Mondial’s do not.
38k miles? This 308’s about used up. Ferraris are exciting pieces of junk.
Not true, Big C. These cars a mechanically near bulletproof. The electronics can give you headaches, like most luxury cars of that era, but they are built to be driven HARD. The reason they all have so few miles is twofold: 1) if you drive it, you have to pay for the maintenance; and 2) a 40k mile Ferrari is a high mileage car with the resulting diminished value. Stupid. These cars should be driven… and hard!
man I luv these, dont care for the gold BBS’s though, the OG 5spokes are what it needs.
I know they are not the fastest but man o man what a fun car to run around in.
way out of my price range though, sigh
I believe the comments are right..these cars are supposed to have an engine out service at 35,000..an expensive proposition. This owner pushed his luck on miles..and then parked it..which is why the new seller sherlled out for that $9,000 service. I have seen several 308’s for sale with around 30,000 on the odo for that reason. That’s why I have afr cooled Porsches and VW’s!
He said no oil leaks and no smoke….. it can’t be a Ferrari! My mechanic once told me, when I complained about the smoke, “is a no smoke, is a no Ferrari”, and I have to agree with him. Never saw a Ferrari that didn’t smoke, at least when shifting …… so, this must be a VW kit car.
And, those seats don’t like RED in the photos on ebay, so I have to ask, what color are they?
Black. Where did you see any reference to red interior? The only mention of red in the eBay ad is “… a brilliant original red exterior with few blemishes.”
Located in: Fresno, California,
Thank god they left the windows up!
Looks and sounds great, not crazy over those wheels, i hope it sells.
-Is that seriously a Sparkomatic stereo and equalizer!!?? Nothing quite says the 80’s, as Sparkomatic… :)
I’m w/Howard (finally, 1st time) on the M, PI. My exact thought on the 1st cleaned up pic / side view. Hate those wheels tho.
“…the best way to buy a…”
but may B not best way to restore tho. I’d wanna measure all the tolerences, ck bearing wear, new rings, look at valves, etc if going that far (may B included w/the ‘gasket replacement’ comment?). If they waited a yr the 32 valve was available. The only way to take a small (less than 3L) bent8.
Painting the wheel insets black or silver would remedy the gold gaudiness and still provide a classy upscale wheel
Ended: May 08, 2022 , 7:15PM
Winning bid:US $56,600.00 [ 30 bids ]
Just a follow up. Not sure how many times that happens here. I am the one that got this car last year. Picked it up and drove over 300 miles to bring it home 0 issues. I was pretty sure the suspension and brakes hadn’t been touched in 40 years so I did a coil over kit, new bushings and ball joints, new steering rack and had the calipers rebuilt. She runs great. My wife had no idea until I drove it in the driveway but we love going out in it. Love it.