Which V-8 car will become the most desired

Not the point, the F40 is and will be always be the most desired V8. We know that.

BUT....

The OP gave a list and asked from THAT list what was our opinion. Many did not follow that list, hence not answering the OP's question.

Simple as that.

 

This is somewhat self-serving, but I agree, for all of those reasons.

With almost all sports cars, the open versions command more than the closed once they get to be 25+ years old.

The solid, time tested 3.2 engine and solid trans are a big plus. No power steering and minimal electronic "gizmos" (non-electric shocks, etc.) is another.

Ferraris are similar to Porsche in many ways, in what they did through the 70s, 80s and 90s. By the late 80s (87,88 and 89) the 911 Carrera had reached air cooled perfection in many's eyes. For the 1990 model year, Porsche introduced a new model, new engine, power steering, more electronics, etc. They moved forward with tech, but lost a lot of feel and reliability. Those cars (90 to 94) are some of the rare orphans in the 911 line.

The 87-89 911 has far surpassed the 90-94 in value, and will continue to do so.

I think the Mondial T is a fine car, and is what I first started looking for, but after doing a ton of research, I determined that the 3.2 was more to my taste and liking.

The only thing that would have made the 3.2 Mondial perfect is if they would have moved to Motronic injection, like most of the rest of the Bosch-using world did by the mid-80s. Sticking with the really old school CIS/K Jet injection is a bit surprising. Motronic is a really, really nice injection system, IMO. Very simple and elegant, durable and easy to diagnose and work with.

 

Shhhhhhhhh! Don't give away the secret Matt.

 

IMO, the fiberglass 308GTB and the 1989 328GTS are the most desirable production V8 Ferraris.

 

What is the rarest? Something like a carbed, dry sump, fiberglass 308 GTB.

 

Sheehan and I happen to agree on this. We disagree on 365 GTC/4 values, but that's another topic...

The difference between the 308/328 and the later cars is stark -- in fact the 308/328 were somewhat archaic even in the 1980s: no one was building tubular frame cars for the street in 1989 (well, Fiat ). The main issue with the unit body, computerised Ferraris is that the black boxes are proprietary -- i.e., enterprising pros may not have access to code/logic, and reverse engineering these is a far cry from upgrading mechanical bits. This becomes more an issue as the line progressed, with the 348 being fairly simple and the F430 being essentially a bunch of computers with two seats and an engine wedged in there.

Any guess what California/599 video instrument clusters will go for in 2030? Or what a back-engineered substitute might look like? (Keep in mind, these cars, and the entire 360/430 series, will be selling for substantially less than 308s by 2030, and probably long before then. And the video display technology will likely be obsolete.)

The NLA parts for the 308/328, in comparison, tend to be quite simple -- e.g., 328 driving light assemblies, which have already been reproduced. The power mirror switch is NLA, but it is essentially a few pieces of plastic and some contacts -- not some mysterious secret device. 20 years from now, we will still have switches, plastic and electrical contacts. In addition, look at the parts cross reference, and you'll find that Ferrari was using a good number of shared components with BMW and other makes through the 1980s. The Bosch CIS was hardly a Ferrari trade secret. I haven't looked at the F430 parts list, but I suspect they are largely bespoke.

Now have a look at the Las Vegas-looking dash of the California/599/F430. All that video game stuff will be a joke -- and very NLA -- in 20 years. While basic gauges will always be rebuildable, chip-based electronics are generally not. And, the 308/328 will be siginificantly more expensive than the later cars, justifying reproduction parts. With 18,000 360s out there, worth very little, the preference will be to cannibalise wrecked cars for many years.

I agree with many here that the 355 is a pretty car -- very much so, and I like how it sounds and gos. I just wouldn't want to be stuck owning one when they reach the 20 year mark and obsolete F1 software and engine management components go kaput. A stick shift in a 308 will always just be gears and grease -- metal stuff that will be replicable pretty much forever.

 

Most 308s now 328s and Mondials have been through multiple owners and cheaped out on repairs parts, their values don't justify fixing them properly or making them correct, there will be some 20k 308 328s then some nice low mile original cars worth something maybe, the 355 will always offer performance, no driver aids and you break rubber at redline everytime in second gear at 70mph. 360s are gonna have real issues with aluminum fatigue same with 430s thwy are really disposable Ferraris

 

IMHO performances will not be the factor for desireability. For today's standard, 355 is as superseeded as a 308. Yes it is faster than the 308, but they are both FAR slower than most modern sport cars.
So... Talking about desireability (and not value, two different aspects and this is a desireability thread):

1) Early 308 vetroresina, on rarity only.
2) Then Euro 308 QV, on look, and 328, on look and performances.
3) 348 is the big question mark. I love the look, but majority seems to think otherwise.
4) 355... I do not think that it will become so desireable. Look is not as good as 308/328 or 348 and too many produced.
5) Mondial serie. Not a sport car look, 4 places, will allways be less desireable.
Ciao
Eugenio

 

A 355 ia not far slower than todays cars, Its just as fast as a Gallardo I raced as power to weight is less, a 355 is a seriously fast car, the 911SC was faster than a new 308 and today a 911SC stands for slow car, performance may not be as big an issue but a 355 will never get blown off by a mini van 10 years from now like a 3x8 or Mondial can todayy, the 355 proved you could have supercar performance with a v8 and Ferrari stopped TR production because it was faster in everyway.

 

I stand my point, Lancer Evo or Subaru Impreza (just to name two examples) are able to blow the doors of 355 in any condition, Lotus Exige is likely faster around the track and we can continue. A lot of lesser pedigree cars today are indeed faster than a 355, this is a fact.
I am simply saying that that counts less and less every day on the side of overall desireability.
In fact, I'd pick a 355 instead of a faster Evo or Impreza every day of the year. But I'd have (and actually I have) chosen a 328 over a 355
Ciao

Eugenio

 

Based on known collectible cars, the attributes - beauty, provenance, and rarity (ranked in this order) - are key in determining cars' desirability. Therefore, I would gauge the cars mentioned on these attributes:

- On Beauty, I rank the early 308/Euro 308QV GTB equally both at the top. I base this on what I think the market largely considers to be the purest design of the 308/328 series. The 355 come as a pretty close second (or third technically)
- On Provenance (especially race involvement), I highly rank the 308 with its race rally provenance. The 348 and 355 have their Challenge series provenance, but I think they have limited professional race involvement
- On rarity, the vetrosina 308, 355GTS and Challenge series cars are ones I would consider to be among the rarest.

Conclusion: The highest ranked overall in desirability seems to be the early (vetrosina) 308.

Usability is another factor, but I think it is a consideration at a lesser degree than the top three above. I equate usability to such things as event eligibility, driveability, and O&M costs factors. For instance, a car's beauty, provenance and rarity attributes may be enough to offset the car's running costs i.e. electronics replacements/reengineering in the future.

Personal Bias Disclosure: I have considered purchasing one of these cars at some point in the past. Even though I ranked the early 308 GTB at the top, I own a Euro 308 QV GTS due to my current preference of open tops for Ferrari street use and better usability (reliability, fuel injection driveability). I originally bought a 328 because of its reliable reputation. Over time, beauty (in my eyes) balanced with acceptable reliability and useability prevailed. I never really warmed up to the 328's front end and bottom-weighted look. My next Ferrari purchase is probably a 355 Challenge car as an addition or a 355 GTS as a replacement - when its price has bottomed and its mechanical idiosyncracies are fully sorted.

 

(almost ) as nice as it can be...
And just to clarify... I am the second owner, the car has never been cheaped out on repairs parts, and in Europe the market value (ok, not strictly desireability but just an index of it) of 328 is allready getting close to the one of 355.

Ciao
Eugenio
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The 355 GTB's are good for Scrap Value only.....until I have mine found, purchased and sitting in the garage!

The 355's will become an icon car much like the 308's. There appears to be new trend where even the new car owners also want a nice example of a 308 in the garage. I agree with this and I am having a very hard time thinking about letting my last 77GTB go, I still regret the sale of the red one.

We now understand the 348/355's bumper to bumper and the electronics on these cars is easily duplicated, cheap to manufacture and stock unlike the fuel distributors of days gone by. There is no concern on that front for me what so ever. The Uni-body construction is holding up nicely and is not showing signs of any weak areas.... These will be a personal preferance choice only as they will be around for a long time to come. No one gives a hoot about these being the fastest car on the road anymore, just so long as it runs like a scaulded dog, corners like a go kart and is reliable.

For me, a Carbed 308GTB and a 95 355GTB

 

I had a 328 don't miss it at all, the 3x8 cars don't get much respect from the general public or enthusiests they are not highly desired cars in a collector way just affordable, if they were going to appreciate much they would have recently just like Boxers as they were made during the same period but they havent. A Evo or Lancer or Lotus being faster than a 355 is laughable they are 300hp cars at best.

 

That's exactly what was said about the 246.
Yes, in some countries there may be a lot of cheap 308's about, but go out and look at them, and you know why.
Boxers were rediculously cheap, much like Testarossas at the moment. People are scared of the high running costs. Nice Boxers fetch nice money though, crappy ones don't.

 

As it seems you know everything, just let me remind you the a "laughable" Mitsubishi Evo X FQ 360 GSR Standard has 360 BHP.
If you want to laugh even more, go and check the Nurburgring lap times. You could be surprised...
And a Catherham 500 will blow 355 around almost every curvy track. On Top Gear circuit it blew the Enzo...
BTW, 512 is out of equation in this thread. As you know everything, it has 12 cylinders...
Ciao
Eugenio.
P.S. I could afford to buy a 430 tomorrow, so I did not buy the 328 because it is "affordable", but because I love it.
A member of this forum passed from 328, to 355, to 550, to 575, now drives his second 599 but guess what...
He bought back an "affordable" 328 again...

 

You don't expect anyone to believe this? Who was driving the Gallardo?

Anyway, performance will have very little to do with desire/value of a car when it's 50 years old. One of my favorite cars is an Austin Healey 100. Dirt slow compared to anything today - though it could have been said it was a great performer of it's time.

 

Here after some official Nurburgring lap times...

Subaru WRX STi Spec-C 8:06;
Mitsubishi Evo X 8.08;
Lotus Esprit Sport 350 8.13 (low);
Ferrari F355 8.13 (high)

Is it so laughable?

Ciao
Eugenio

 

Yeah those sh1tboxes are so much faster than a 355, we don't have those versions in the US BTW what's a 328 or 308s time 12 minutes?

And yes I beat a Gallardo in my 355, my car has been decatted and is a faster 95 version though

 

Challenge Stradale and 355.

 

Thats pretty much what everybody told me when I started looking for a 250GT.

 

except they didnt make 20,000 250Gts

 

308 and 355 for my money as they represent the begining and end of the modern old school Ferrari, small, reliable, (by now most cars have had all their issues taken care of or can easily be taken be addressed by the right technician), good handling, no electronic nannies such as traction control etc., beautiful functional interiors--well cared for examples will be highly sought after, so get one while there on sale

 

I know of several enthusiast's collections with 308's in them. Sitting right beside F40's, F50's and 250's.