Just over $77 grand (firm says the seller) will buy you a lovely 1983 Ferrari 308 GTS Quattrovalvole that tipster Pat L found lurking here on craigslist. It had its belt service, a couple of years ago, and runs and drives well, with working air conditioning to boot. You’ll apparently pick the car up in Los Angeles, though you’ll have to evacuate soon after, as is detailed below.
I don’t have a Magnum Complex, and I don’t think I learned to love the 308 GTS because of Tom Selleck’s role as Magnum PI in the show of the same name. (He drove one for eight years all over Hawaii pursing fictional bad guys.) But there must have been some reason this became the Ferrari I recognize above all others. Maybe it’s the shape, which narrows down to a point in the front end. Maybe it’s the color, the perfect shade of red. In this car’s case, perhaps it’s the black interior, different from the tan gut of the Magnum car, but better. Maybe it’s the wheels—no, not that. I’ve always thought they looked like cheap stamped steel, for some reason. Maybe it’s the cockpit, or the sound of a glorious engine like this four-valve. My reason is lost to the ether, but the one Ferrari I’ve always known I want is this one.
There are some mysteries here, like why this car is being sold on the LA craigslist when the ad plainly states that it will not pass California smog and is not for sale in the state. Everything else is pure dreamland, especially for those of you with the sense to live in one of the other 49 states. One little thing that grabs you is the blue-ing on the exhaust pipe pictured underneath the car, which just looks right. The engine is also a thing of beauty, though the photo of it gives more of a tease than all the details. You can’t beat a gated five-speed shifter, either.
The car also has mid-range miles, at 42,000 leaving a lot of good driving ahead, and niceties like the original tool kit and the jack bag with what might be an original spare. It’s also clean and tidy, and obviously devoid of rust or body damage, up top and down under. If the claims of mechanical reliability hold up, and with this marque, it’s all about how well and frequently it’s serviced, this could be a fantastic turning-50 gift to one’s self. Just not if you live in the Golden State.
Good write-up, Brian, and I agree. The 308 is the one that stuck in my mind since I was very young and still does almost 60 years later. Could be because it was one of my father’s favorite Ferrari’s and he talked about them frequently, not that he ever owned one.
I find the 308 GTB’s to be among the best looking Ferrari’s ever made.
Beautiful, in the Red paint too.
Decades ago, I recall pulling into the pumps ⛽️ right beside one of these Ferrari’s…at the time i was driving an LX mustang sedan. You can’t believe how small these cars are, until you see one in person. Very low, and tiny.
Not so small that you can’t fit five people in it Stan. My sole trip in a friend’s boss’s GTS 380 back in ’88 was a little uncomfortable; what with three of us face palmed against the rear window; perched on the parcel shelf. Happy times!
Lol unreal, hopefully a short trip Del.
Must’ve been a 308GT4 you’re remembering, DelBoy… the seatbacks on a 308GTS/GTB are right up against the firewall. The 308GT4 was a 2+2 mid-engine car with a (rudimentary) back seat.
Memories come flooding back :-) My brother brought his Cobalt Blue 308 GTS, to a Exotic car show at Valley Forge Convention ctr. in “89. I was the Tech Dir. there and drooled over the Lambos, Porsche’s and Ferraris. After the show he left the car in my care for a month or so to drive back and forth to work on the PA turnpike. We turned many heads including some Troopers! “NYC stop & go driving is just doesn’t allow the GTS to breathe” he said! More fun than I can write here! Eventually he traded up to a Black ’89 Testarossa.
They keep going up in price. Ferrari’s are more of an investment like gold, than a car.
Good thing you didn’t say like crypto…
Hey Ferreri guys, how does this car measure up to my 1979 400 GTI with under 30,000 miles. Very good condition, Trojandonkey
I see a showroom with more Ferraris. This looks great if you can fit in it.
Assuming this is like the successor’s successor 348ts (with the 328 in between), there’s actually plenty of leg room, unless you have the top fitted in its “cradle” behind the seats. Even at 5’9″, I couldn’t fit comfortably in my 348 unless I left the roof at home.