1978 Yellow 308 GTS in California

I just bought this car two months ago and it's a nice one. It's currently at Roselli's in San Jose for belt service and whatever else it needs. If I decide to keep it, they will also replace the cats and accomplish all work necessary to get through California smog. So why consider selling it? I'm nervous about the Ferrari maintenance costs. I have not gotten any numbers from Roselli's yet but I have a feeling I'm not cut out for Ferrari ownership. You guys spend $5-10K on routine maintenance like you're dropping your car off at Jiffy Lube. That's not me. I love and care for my cars but I have to always be cognizant of the bottom line. If I lose money on my cars, my wife won't let me play with cars any more. I look at my car collection as my 401k.

Here is the description from the seller I bought the car from:

"Gorgeous, and very well kept 1978 Ferrari 308 GTS! #26071 (Oct 1978)
Carbureted (4 Weber 2 barrels) and hand made in Italy while Enzo was still in charge! This car LOVES to be driven... but has averaged LESS than 1,000 miles a year, for her entire 36 year life! Only 33,600 miles on her.

She has won 1st place in two car shows, as well as an "honorable mention" in a third. I have shown her in multiple car shows in Florida (including the prestigious "Cars on 5th"), Virginia, North Carolina, & Missouri.

This is a beautiful, uncommon Giallo (Fly Yellow) example of the first years of the GTS. 3.0 liter V8 - 240 h.p. (before they went to fuel injection in 1980 & lost power). There were 3,219 TOTAL GTS models built for ALL years. "approx" 65% of them are Red. Word on the streeet is that only 4.5% were Yellow. This means that "approx" 145 of them were made. Who knows how many of those are still around. (*There is NO proof of these numbers...only spotter databases & approximations) I've only seen a few of these in my life, and I happen to think it's the best color to show off the unforgettable lines of the 308!

Originally a California car. As far as I can tell, I am the 3rd owner. I Purchased from a well known dealer in exotic cars in 2006 . A full PPI was performed, as well as replacing the Shocks, and EVERY inch of Fuel hose/tubes. Belts were replaced at 28,000 so they will be Due. She is maintained regularly by a local Ferrari mechanic. All 4 carbs were pulled & rebuilt by him 2 years ago. New Fuel pump. ALL new ignition. I do my own oil changes regularly.

For those unfamiliar, the 308 presents some unique "quirks":
-Typically, 2nd gear is "hard" until warmed up. This is NOT the case with this car. 2nd shifts smooth as butter, even when cold.
-The power windows are very slow on 308's. This is also true of mine. There have been people that have come up with "fixes" for this, but I have left mine original. Google it...
-the Air conditioning, even when these cars were new, was barely capable of cooling the interior down. They just were not designed for this "luxury". Mine works great, but you are going to want to recharge the freon!
- Typically the engines have minor oil leaks. Mine has minimal leakage IF ANY. She is parked in my garage 90% of the time, and there is NO mark where she sits.
- Fuse boxes are notorious for being bad in these cars. Mine is not. See photos.

Power door locks & security system
CUSTOM matching yellow trim Ferrari floor mats
Battery shutoff switch installed if you store her
Power windows
Power mirrors
Alpine Stereo & 6 CD changer in trunk
ORIGINAL jack & case
ORIGINAL tool set & case
Ferrari Jacket book & all manuals
ORIGINAL spare tire
Original rims
Battery tender
Car cover
Tires have 95% of their tread left.
Black leather seats
Black carpet
Black & white Targa Top (EXCELLENT condition, unlike most!)
Targa Top cover in excellent condition
Original keys, including the gas cover, AND the locking glove boxes on door.
Trunk leather & carpet is excellent. Zipper works perfect.
ALL lights & accessories work

Paint looks good, and has some minimal scratch & swirl. Some VERY minor signs of wear in only a couple places. NO dings. NO dents.
There are a couple very small holes in the center console leather, where it looks like original owner may have had a cell phone mounted (my guess). Driver seat shows the usual signs of wear. No tears, rips, scuffs.
Clock keeps PERFECT time, but the needle to adjust it no longer works. This is a fairly common occurrence, and there is a guy online that does a TOTAL refurbishing of these, VERY inexpensively. I spoke with him, but never got around to sending it in. Google him."

I will walk away from this baby for $43K and you will step into my shoes as far as Roselli's goes. In other words, you will pay the repair bill in addition to what you pay for the car. If you are not in California, then you will have them stop short of making it smog compliant unless you feel that will be a good marketing tool in the future.

I love this car and enjoy driving it. And it very well could appreciate annually WAY more than the cost to keep it running well. I had a personal conversation with Wayne Carini in Scottsdale and he thinks carb 308's will be worth $100K cars in two years. But I have read in this forum over and over that Ferraris should not be bought with return on investment in mind and that's what driving this decision.

I'm torn so the price is firm. But if someone wants to relieve my jitters, I'll sell it to you.
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I have faith that the accomplished and sophisticated Ferrari owners who frequent this forum will be very kind in their reaction to my posting.

 

Yes, I knew it was a Ferrari when I bought it, but I didn't know about ferrarichat.com, where tales of $5-8K service abound. I thought 308s were easy to service and I didn't think it would be that costly.

Hey jimgolf1: $13-18K over market? Excuse me? Within six hours on this thread, I have a buyer at $37K. I suggest you spend a little more time learning the current market for these cars.

I'm a big boy. I have a significant collection of American and European cars. If I have to keep and enjoy this car for two to three years to get my money back, I will. I just thought I would throw it out there in case someone had a jones for a yellow carb 308 GTS.

 

I don't expect an open-ended transaction. I think the buyer has every right to talk with Rosellis about what is needed and what it's going to cost before making a buying decision.

It does have power locks and power mirrors. There is an alarm system that incorporates the door locks. Not sure about the mirrors.

 

You are probably right. The only reason to offer it now is to save the expense of getting it smog compliant. It would be a shame to spend $1500-2000 for that if it turns out the buyer is just going to pull all the stuff off anyway.

Anyone seriously interested who does not live in California should PM me. Otherwise, I'll just go through with the repairs and smog see where we stand.