1980 308 GTS basket case project for sale $15,000 TEXAS

I know this should probably be on Ferrari ads, but there is so much information that I need to convey about this car that I think this is a better place. I'm not a dealer, I have been a F-Chat member for about 3 years. Mods please be kind.

This all started at the last Grapevine Italian Car Festival. I was looking at other Italian cars and decided my blue 1978 308 GTS needed a brother. I bought a X1/9 to restore. I quickly learned that setting money on fire is a better idea. So I sold the X1/9 and bought a Porsche 911 SC Cabriolet. It wasn't Italian. It left soon too. Then I found this project 1980 Ferrari 308 GTS.

I bought this black 308 GTS almost two years ago. I paid $16,000 and immediately dumped close to $5,000 more into fixing it and collecting parts.

The bad stuff:
The car is in about 1,000,000 pieces. The previous owner purchased it with some rear end damage and repaired it and painted it. He went to start it and found out it had a bent valve. One bent valve turned out to be like 18 bent valves! He got fed up and sold it to me.

There is no trunk. I presume this was damaged in the wreck. It's not a huge deal to me (yet) because the original trunks are basically carpet over bent sheet metal. A trunk could be fabricated in 1/2 a day with hand tool. The good part is that the lack of a trunk makes it easier to install the engine.

The bumpers and grill are not installed. However I have them. They are nothing special, just used US Ferrari bumpers. I also have the front grille, engine cover grille and the rear exhaust cover.

The good stuff:
The body just received an AWESOME black paint job. It still needs some wet sanding in places, but when clean it's like GLASS. It's one of the best black paint jobs I have ever seen.

The interior is 99% complete. One of the driver's side seat tracks needs to be replaced (included though) and the steering wheel is old. The leather is a little firm, but not ripped or torn, I think Leatherique will soften it up.

The cylinder heads are FRESH from the machine shop. I have Ferrera oversized intake valves installed and stock sized exhaust valves. I also had them flow benched. The rest of the engine appears to be in good shape with no damage to the tops of the pistons.

New head gaskets, timing belts and valve cover gaskets are included.

Clear title.

What it needs:
The engine re-assembled
The engine installed
Bumpers installed (I think some brackets will need to be fabricated)
Grills installed
DS seat rail installed
Engine grill installed
Front grille installed
etc.
an owner with more time than me.

The car is very complete, but I have never gotten close enough to the assembly stage that I have bothered to do an exact inventory. If there is something that could be missing that concerns you then please ask and I will try to verify it's presence/condition.

I am asking $15,000. I am firm at that price. Shipping/delivery is possible. Expect it to run about $1000-$1500. For that price the car would be shipped on an open transport and the engine/boxes of stuff would be shipped with UPS freight.

Thanks,

Aaron
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Engine Parts. The actual motor/transmission is not pictured, it's wrapped up and sitting in a corner of the shop that I just can't get to right now.
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Wheels and interior pics.

I have two sets of wheels for the car. One set is the original 14" wheels. The second set is a set of 17" Modena 3 piece wheels. They are staggered (wider in the back). These are a different offset and bolt pattern and require spacers/adapters to install them. They are included and the look GREAT.

Also a few interior shots. 56,000 miles WooHoo!

Aaron
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GL with the sale, if the mods don't remove it first. 15k is still a bit high for an 1980 car...that's apart. Get closer to 10k and you can move it.

Ace

 

I just saw the ad on Craigslist, that's going to be quit a project to get it back into shape.

 

Seems a bit high to me as well in the current market considering that you could find an up and running 'i' for a similiar price. Especially for the folks here who know how much work and $$$ it will take to put back right. I agree with that $10k mark as well.

Ebay would probably be your best bet to try to get anything above $10k. Just be prepared for some 'dreamer' bidders that might waste your time.

 

Even $10K is a princely sum for a GTSI basket case.

Good Luck.

 

I was really being generous. Seeing that there are "i" running in the high teens (drivers of course), 10k would be the highest I would pay. My 0.02

Ace

 

Parts-car. The amount of time and $$ required to get this thing into halfway decent shape will both be quite high.

 

Parts car...

 

+1 with Tim.... No offence but $8500 seems rather optimistic given its current condition

 

I would enjoy having that thing. Since I already have a good one AND since the 308 injected 2V cars were always my favorite, I think it would be fun to drag it home and just spend my spare time with it as a total do-it-yourself project. Either that or just cover it and us it for parts as needed.

Problem is I am not giving 15k for it and I don't have room (I could probably make room for $8500)

 

Having recently done a dissasembled 1981GTSI, let me go on the record, don't buy it with the idea of just putting it together. There will be a ton of special and expensive little parts that will confound you and cost an arm and a leg. They will haunt you to the very end, if you ever get to the end.

I am fortunate in having a very creative Ferrari tech working for me. He was a factory tech during the 308 days. As parts were not readily avalilble from Ferrari in those days, they got creative. Many crossover parts from Fiat and Alpha.

The cheapest part of this project will be the purchase price.

Howard Musolf
tr0768
1981 308 GTSI
1982 400i
Maserati Spyder
2 many brass ear cars



If it don't fit force it, if it breaks it needed to be replaced anyway!!

 

I think somebody with some solid mechanical skills could probably have this car together and running to a nice driver condition w/o a ton of expense or time. It won't be a weekend project no doubt, but over the course of a winter/spring on weekends and eves she should be drivable by summer. Looks fairly complete. At the end of it you'll have solid mechanicals, a good body with nice new paint, and a reasonable interior. That's a lot more than can be said for a whole lot of 308s slumbering away in garages...

Of course, if you're a checkbook mechanic then the re-assembly is going to be quite expensive, making the $15K starting price a not-inexpensive proposition. I guess that's the advantage of having some good mechanical skills and being able to do things yourself.

 

Maybe you should spend 150 hours or so and put it back together? Unless you are going concourse, from what you describe, that hour estimate shouldn't be that far off if the suspension and interior/dash/door assemblies is all together and there. Get your money out that way; unless your time is way more valuable than paying someone $120/hr to assemble it.

Isn't much left after that, assemble motor, install in car. Motor assy will take some unknown hours, install shouldn't be more that 3 days including hooking up everything. Don't know about the injection as I have no experience. An hour to install tail lights, if the wiring is there, 2-3 hours for bumpers, hour for the hood louvers, and it will look sorta complete.

Observations: Chatters cars are worth $50K plus, anything that needs work is worth next to nothing. A motor rebuild costs $18K (Norwood phone estimate), but you can buy a fairly new rebuilt motor/trans assy for $15K, complete. On a Corvette forum I visit, people in the resto business (for profit) say it takes 2000-3000 hours to resto a Corvette (bend over, leave vaseline at home), but I have done it in 400 hundred hours (including outside paint labor hours) and gotten the same flawless end results. Don't know why people quote $4K for a 308 clutch change, after doing it twice, I can do it in 5 hours plus parts cost, hardest part is taking off the starter bolts.

Doug

 

I agree 100% that the labor costs, SOME of the part costs, and time estimates in the book are completely overblown when one mentions the name Ferrari. Many shops just hear the word Ferrari and instantly go into bend over the customer mode because they must have an unlimited bank account. This is a shame for the lower priced older Ferraris in the market (308s, 328s, TRs, 400s, ect) as it artificially holds the value of these cars down.

That being said even if you were to put say $10-15k into this particular car with your own time, as opposed to paying somebody $120/hour and easily ending up in the the mid to upper $20ks, if not higher, you are still into the car for $25-30k and countless hours. All this when you can buy a driver 'i' in the upper teens that needs about a weekend worth of work for a belt change to be ready to go.

NOW with that being said. Ebayers seem to have much love for 308 projects as I have seen 'i's that needed an engine rebuild go for the mid teens and non-runner QVs go for nearly $20. Again I have a feeling that many of these bidders are dreamers, or kids, who all they see is a 'cheap' Ferrari and have no earthly idea what they are getting themselves into. Not sure how many of these transactions actually go through as I have seen many of the cars being re-listed several times for non payment.

 

Might make a good candidate for an engine swap. Trunk's already gone, so go ahead and cram a Ford 5.0 into it. Put the motor together and sell it to offset your costs. Maybe a MR2 turbo 4?

Still too high at 15K. I've seen the car in person, it really is exactly as described, seller's a straight-shooter, but the market has dropped so much in the last 2-3 years that a big $ loss is inevitable.

 

The advantage of putting a car together yourself vs buying a driver is you know EXACTLY what you have and what is there, no mysteries, even if it costs more.

If I had this pile of parts, i would replace the cam drive bearings and seals,and inspect the motor bearings, cylinder taper, trans syncros and transaxle, and if all looked well, reassemble.

All new hoses and rubber parts, suspension bushings and you have what is essentially a brand new car, ready for 100K miles of enjoyment.

I could buy another driver or two for what i am going to spend on my 308 with new interior, complete suspension redo (done), tires and wheels (done), electrical upgrade (done), motor improvement and trans rebuild (need to do), but it will be a 30 year old new car, with more HP than it ever came from the factory with.

I spent more on my 1961 Corvette than I could probably ever get out of it, unless I found the right buyer, but the car is exactly what I want, a first place Concour show car, 12 second 1/4 mile car, and a reliable weekend driver that I have a lot of fun with. Or, I could have chose to sit on a pile of cash doing nothing.

This isn't investing in stocks, or oil wells, or what ever, your ROI is enjoyment,and trying not to be the richest guy in the graveyard.

Doug

 

Ditto that Doug. I've looked at many a car supposedly in tip top shape because the check book mechanic owner wrote a lot of checks. What's really there in fact, is some amount of worthy maintenance (much of which was done poorly however) and a whole bunch of issues which haven't yet been addressed. Because the owner isn't mechanically inclined he doesn't understand what was repaired poorly (or not at all) and what remains to be done. In other words, writing a bunch of large checks doesn't mean the car is in great condition, all it means is that the mechanic was able to take the family to Mexico for Christmas.

 

I am getting sick and tired of people knocking the 308 gtsi, when I bought my 308 it was for the classic look and beauty of the car. If I wanted more horse power I sure wouldn't of bought another 308 carburated ferrari for the few extra horse power, I would buy a newer vet, viber or a newer ferrari. For those who doubt the value of these cars, wait a few years.

 

Put a TR engine in it, I measured mine up and measured the boxer engine for MKE to see if it would fit. Plenty of room just mod the upper control arm mounts and voila!

 

She is ripe for 288 GTO conversion

Norwood is doing one now with a twin turbo 360 motor in it that makes 750 hp to wheels!

 

Hi I'm new to this if there someone with a 308 project for sell please contact kevin 702 498-6370

 

Just look on ebay, they're all "projects" lol.

 

I think it's rude to comment on the value of another person's car is he hasn't asked for an opinion, so I'm keeping my mouth shut on that front. However, I will mention that a car like this, except for the money already put into the paint, is a perfect parts car candidate. Yes, I hate to see another one die, but on the flip side, it is worth more for its parts and will help other 308s live. Re-assemble the engine on a stand and it's worth $8K-$10K all by itself, and easier to sell than a whole car. Add up all the little parts that people would want and you can easily get $15K for this car if you are willing to wait a while and do some eBay listings. Just a thought. The thing is already mostly apart anyway! It's much closer to being a parts car than a driver.

Birdman