Which V-8 car will become the most desired

Long love the pop up headlamps.

355.

Five valve heads were I think unique to the 355 making it something special.

 

Yeah, I've heard the argument that "They're really just FIATs" applied to:

1. The Dino 206 and 246, as they shared an engine with the FIATs of the same name and never carried a Ferrari badge;

2. All 8-cylinder Ferraris, because "a TRUE Ferrari must have a 12-cylinder engine" (this often said although many of Ferraris famous race cars did NOT have twelves

3. Every Ferrari made since 1969, which is when FIAT was allowed to buy Ferrari;

4. Every Ferrari made since the (308, 328, 348, 355, 360) because after whatever particular model is the favorite of the person making the statement, Ferraris lost their soul;

5. Any Ferrari available with other than a gated stick-shift transmission.

Guys, a Ferrari is a Ferrari - even the "slow" ones, even the ones that don't look the best to us, even the ones that were never raced. They're Ferraris. Some people love a particular model, some don't.

That said, my personal preference is for smaller size, fewer electronics, gated manual shift, and direct driver control; the two-seats-and-an-engine mentality that, to my mind, makes a real "driver's car."

But NO Ferrari is "really just a FIAT."

 

360s also have them but as a tech recently pointed out (I think it was rifledriver) they were a nice experiment that ultimately proved to be not worth it.

Dave

 

At age 38 myself, my brother at 34 and a master tech we both look at carburetors as some sort of voodoo. Fuel injection makes so much sense and is so wonderfully reliable. I know carbs can be if you have above average touch with those things. I chose a FI model because as rediculous as it sounds I wanted a reliable driver. I'm a huge fan of O2 sensors and computer controls, high elevation, low, hot days, cold days, doesn't matter. Does this matter in 25 years when it won't make sense to drive any of these cars regularly? Probably not. I vote for 328 because most people don't realize that it is different than the 308 and has greater general reliability for the layman.

 

Not neccessarily. IMO, the more heavily a car relies on electronics, the more can and will go wrong down the road, in addition to the car looking more "outdated" rather than "classic".

I also don't believe that parts will be an issue for the 360s, since they simply made a ton of them (similar to the 308s). In addition to the major service being simpler and cheaper (i.e. not having to remove the motor).

I highly doubt that Moss Motors (or any company) will have all of the 3x8 parts reproduced (and for cheaper). There is little market for it and there are already plenty of donor cars. With that being said, I am quite certain they won't do it for 348, 355, 360.

And that was the whole point of my post.......that 3x8s will be regarded as the more desired model as time goes on.

 

Why do people continually say computers/electronics made cars harder to work on?

Did the rats nests of vacuum hoses and tubing on 70's and 80's cars really make them simpler then OBD equipped models? Surely not.

The electronics themselves also hardly fail. Hoses and other mechanical based systems get old and leak/rust and break.

 

The old knock is indeed realized: The California 2+ was originally designed by FIAT to be a Maserati, and now it's... Well, it's obvious what it is: It's as if the FIAT Dino Spider had been badged as a Ferrari.

The latest crop, 430/599/612, are no longer pure bred driver's cars they are, as Michael Sheehan puts it, "road jewelry", the transition is perfected in the California 2+.

 

...Three words: Aston Martin Lagonda.

 

Ever work on a car from the pre-emissions era? Here, there was a carburettor, spark plugs, at most one vacuum line, no power anything, and maybe headers. If you had spark, a decent fuel mixture, and compression, the engine ran just fine.

You are remembering the BAD era between pre-emissioins, and computer controlled fuel injection. This era was very bad because, basically, nobody could fix certain kinds of engine running issues.

When the computer fails it costs $600.00. When a hose fails it costs $0.06 (plus labor to figure out which one it is). Back in the pre-emissions era, there was only one hose, so even here it was brain dead easy to fix.

 

You should price out a Diablo computer...............$7000..............each.

Even a 355 computer will wreck your day.

 

Until someone leaks a schematic.

 

Well after reading all (most) of this thread I though I might contribute my 2cents on the most desirable 8 cyl ferrari
Firstly for me its the looks and the purity of the shape , no electronics to take away the feel,
race pedigree ,coupe body , ease of maintainence ,rareness , beauty,
its got to be......... the euro 308 GTB drysump vetro,
but I must say the F355 with manuel shift would probably be a good future classic,
I drove a 308gt4 once, it was quicker than I thought it was going to be , and is a good looking car for a 4 seater .
the 328 gts/gtb is very nice but for me looses a bit on its plastic interior buttons/switches though still very nice,
I suppose it all comes down to which car you want to put petrol in when its 10$ a gallon !

 

For $7K, someone already would have.

 

Hans
Just took the GT4 ( 76 ) in a Jag car club 1/4 mile day. Teretonga raceway Invercargill. Southern most track in the world. GT4 cleaned the field. Well errr - blew the jags, away . 14.2, 14.3 and 14.6. I never revved above 7000 and dropped the clutch from different revs. 5000 induced too much spin and was slowest time.

No spare wheel, and a tiny bit of av gas was suck in the tank!!. Everyone commented on how fast it was.

I also think their are way less good GT4's out there so my bet is in ten years finding a clean GT4 will be harder than one thinks. Maby a case of the odd looking teenager growing into a pretty woman!!

 

ha there is a guy on here who had both banks computers fail...

its always sad when its more logical to put a motech in a stock car than replace with the factory computer... LOL

The problem with computers is the technology itself. It advances so quickly that to rebuild the computer the correct way or to repair it is often so obsolete that it makes it tough/expensive/uneconomical to rebuild/replace.

bring in a computer to a diablo from 1992 to a electronics repair shop and it would be like bringing in an 80s tape deck amfm to a stereo shop and saying... can you guys fix this?

 

True.

Stick with the classics. Recycle the computers.

 

My vote is the 288GTO

 

It's funny but I always viewed the 308 and 328 as really the same car in instances like this.

Yes it's an improved variation but how many variations of the Countach are there? If you included a Countach in this list, would include the 5 variations? I don't think so. You'd lump it together.

If you look at it this way, the 308/328 wins (as I would except).

 

History always gives us the answer to such questions. For Ferrari's rising prices are always associated with racing providence, followed by rarity and exclusivity, I also agree the analogue cars will rise higher in value (percentage wise) than the digital cars, compared with their current or initial values.

On the above basis IMO the top 10 Ferrari V8's would be ranked as;-

1. 288GTO
2. F40
3. 348GTC (admittedly a biased view, but rarest production Ferrari since 1969)
4. 16M
5. 360CS
6. 308 GTB Glass
7. 355 6 Speed
8. 430 Scuderia (Might be higher but I don't know how many were made)
9. 348 GTB/GTS
10. 430 spider 6 speed

 

at 19 pages I figure we've been off topic once or twice so if I may....

The 512 TR has to launch into orbit in the following 20 years, or less. Its the last of the generational style like what has been said about the 355. Its also the last of the real production mid rear engine V12's. It was much more expensive new, and respectively rarer than the big numbers of V8's.

Has the 512 Bb been appreciating much? I want to say yes but I wasnt into them so much a few yrs ago so I cant say for sure.

 

I started to agree with you, but I think you're splitting hairs. The 288 GTO and F40 are important cars. No one is going to care about the souvenir editions and subspecies of mass produced, computer based cars after the 328/F40 era. A 458 will outperform a 360 CS/F430 Scuderia without question. Buy new or buy classic. The in betweeners are effectively last year's computers with a badge.

 

Although I take your point I guess I fundamentally disagree with the assertion that any of the cars I have listed above are souvenir editions. They are all limited production "harder edge" versions of the models they represented. They are more 599 GTO then they are say a 550 WSR which was mainly cosmetic. "Cosmetically upgraded" is certainly not true of the GTC/CS/Scud. In Porsche terms they are the RS models and these are viewed as I have described, not as cosmetic upgrades or souvenir editions.

This is also not a question of performance IMO

"Outright" performance has not been an historic indicator of price and nor did I suggest it to be, for example a 328 will outperform a glass 308 GTB, but until fairly recently the 328 was worth more, they are however currently not as desirable and they never will be again. Same argument could be made for manual gearboxes Vs F1 style. F1 gearboxes provide greater performance, but I firmly believe the manuals will be worth more in the long run.

 

The 348 is becoming the choice for those that want to do some old school hot rodding. It has just enough electronics to have it fuel injected, yet not so much that you are at the mercy of a computer to run everything. No fly by wire throttles, no traction control, no power steering, no electronically controlled gear box, no computer controlled suspension, only what is needed to run the engine. It's a car you can still fix yourself, and do so at a reasonable price for the most part.

The "ugly duckling" is growing up.

 

"Fixing it yourself" seems to be it's most used activity.

(Just kidding Ernie!!!! -- a little Fchat humor!)