Mondial QV vs 3.2

I am 6'4" too and the Mondials have much more useable room for folks out height than the 3x8s of the same era. I bought a Mondial QV Cab and am very happy with it. And, I fit the car well!

As to which one to buy: Buy the one that you can find that is the cleanest possible example within your budget. Keep in mind that ALL Ferraris need attention and said maintenance needs to be factored in the budget. Older ones more so.

You can inspect them yourself if you plan on doing the work. The more they look like the factory manual, the less trouble you are likely to have un-doing previous short cut repairs. Poor previous work is not easy to spot and thus why some pay a substantial premium for clear records and receipts.

Now, Some 3.2s have ABS if that is important. See this thread for details: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/mondial/392965-mondial-3-2s-abs.html
There are a couple dozen more horsies in the 3.2 versus the QV. Both are nimble enough for any road going purposes today.

My own personal suggestion would be include an appropriate discount if the car has the metric wheels as those TRXs are an expensive replacement. The 86 you link to has a sun roof so check carefully that you have head room as they can intrude a precious couple centimeters to close. Both photo well!

If you have a mechanic lined up, pay them fairly for their opinion and listen to it.

I lived in Australia in 1983 and think that a car like you are looking for would be a great trip back in time with the appropriate tunes playing.

 

Not a stupid question at all - - "Mon-di-al" Also, wheel size is printed on the wheel.

Cheers,

Hank

 

According to the pictures, both have metric wheels. If well maintained, both can be very reliable (my 3.2 has more than 162k km now, without any problems). The sunroof does not take a significant amount of headroom. Good luck!

 

I'm in Aus and have a 3.2 cab which is up for sale but quite a bit more than those cars, however it's only done 18k k's and is a beaut.

Mine's a UK import which i bought after struggling to find a decent one in Aus. What I learnt (it was my first Ferrari) was that condition is everything, followed by provenance and the cheaper cars ALL had rust issues which would cost a fair bit to resolve. Check around the A frames and front window frame as these are particularly costly areas to fix.


Also, check the electrics. Lots of cars I looked at had problems with electric windows.

Re. the TRX tyres, I ended buying 348 wheels from the US and fitting new rubber as it worked out cheaper than simply buying the TRX tyres and importing them plus you get MUCH better rubber nowadays. But you will still need to budget approx $2k for this.

Try and research servicing costs, I had one Sydney dealer quote me $7500k as a starting point for a major service!

On the plus side, my Mondial is such a great car to drive, soooo much more involved than modern cars and a much more rewarding and fun experience.

Good luck in the hunt.

Matt

 

I am thinking of putting my 83' QV up for sale. Silver/Red, sun roof, 11,200 original miles. Perfect car. Owned it since 1994.

Looking at, finally, getting into a vintage 12 cylinder Ferrari and do not want to keep both cars.

I just sold a series III Jaguar overseas in the UK so I know that the market in the UK and AUS is easily 2 X what it is here in the states.

Had a very good experience shipping with CARS out of San Francisco....very reasonable.

PM me if you're interested.

Thanks,
Steve

 

There are quite a few differences between the 3.0 and 3.2, most obvious as noted above is the exterior styling. The old style black bumpers on the 3.0 were revised to be in line with the 328 and are colour coded with new style integrated lights. Similarly the rear bumper and valance was changed and a black grill added below. There was some interior changes mainly between the rear seats, slight change in dashboard shape with angled corners.

The extra 30bhp from 240 to 270 made a difference as they were considered to be below par for Ferrari standards. The 3.4t at 300bhp is a big step in performance too.

Regarding the wheels, the 3.0 in the photo has the older flat alloys, the 3.2 has the concave wheels designed to accommodate the upcoming abs at the time. Both in the photos have the trx tires which as mentioned are too expensive for what they are and old technology. I had them on my 3.2 and changed them for the 348 17inch alloys and you have a bigger choice of tyres. The trx were only made by Michelin and hard to find. See my profile pics.

Regarding prices, i can only speak for the UK but there is a definite gap between the first 2 series (Mondial 8 and 3.0qv) and the 2nd 2 (3.2 and 3.4t). The 3.4t was the best of the bunch BUT the engine out cam belt service can be extremely expensive and the extra electronics meant more gliches.

Get the best you can and make sure you get it on a ramp too, to check for leaks and any rust/chassis damage etc.

Hope that helps.

 

http://www.autozine.org/Archive/Ferrari/classic/Mondial.html

 

Seems Cabrios are double the money in Ozzy land? At those prices, I can own up to 4 in the states for what a cabrio is going for!

conversion 1 USD = .99 AU dollar
Used FERRARI MONDIAL cars - Find FERRARI MONDIAL cars for sale - CarPoint Australia

 

No it is unsafe to use inch tires on metric wheels
I replaced my metric wheels with used later Mondial 16 inch wheels--wheels off ebay and tire where less than new trxs from Corker.

I have also seen new 16 inch wheels for around $1600 US

348 wheels will require longer bolts a significant expense

Frank

 

To clarify,

All Mondial 8 and Mondial 3.0qv had the metric wheels which are 390mm (15.35 inches) and they are ONLY compatible with trx tires which were made by Michelin, they invented it. They do not follow the modern conventional tire size system. These Mondials had the flat wheel design.

When the Mondial 3.2 was released it still had the 390mm wheels with trx tires but with a newer modern concave wheel design. This new design was to accommodate the upcoming optional ABS which became standard in 1988. However during production of the 3.2 from around late 1987-88 the wheels were modified to 16 inch modern fitment which meant you could choose your tire manufacturer.

The Mondial 3.4t are all 16 inch wheels.

Due to the cost of the trx tires and their old technology etc, most owners either upgrade them to the 16 inch original design or to the 17 inch 348 wheels. If you go for the 16 inch original design its simply a swap over but if you go for the 17 inch 348 wheels you will need the longer 348 bolts due to the extra width of the wheels (this is what i did). With the 17 inch tires there is a bigger selection to choose from.

Hope that helps.

 

The speedo should be calibrated for the different wheel size however, as Mondial owners already know, it reads 10mph standing still -LoL.
Its all part of the mystique and character of these 80s Ferrari cars.

See this thread as well for replica rims if you can't find any on auction sites:
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/mondial/397583-metric-replacement-16-replica-wheels.html

Cheers

 

I bought my 348 wheels 2nd hand off ebay, had them fully re-furbished and oven baked then bought brand new Continental Contact Sport 3 tires (choose whichever you want) and 20 new wheel bolts from Hill Engineering and the total was the same as if i had only bought 4 new TRX tires alone.

 

He upgraded his 348 with 360 wheels. It happens all the time with all models, you will see many threads about wheel upgrades across the Ferrari Chat forum for all models.

If you buy the 1986 3.2 it is highly likely they are the 390mm concave trx metric wheels and tires. If you dont like them simply upgrade, either with the original concave wheels in 16 inch size as found on later 3.2 and 3.4 Mondials which will match the car as it is or whatever you like but anything larger than 17inch and you may require spacers and offset adjustments which i dont know enough to advise you about.

 

I bought 348 wheels for my 3.2 Mondial cab off a guy on here in the states. It was way cheaper to buy them, import them to Sydney and fit tyres than it was to buy and import new TRX tyres for the original wheels.

My tyres sizes are 255/45/17 rears and 215/55/17 fronts. This has roughly the same rolling circumference so the speedo is unaffected (much). However, tyre choice here in Oz for those sizes is v. limited and Continental and Pirelli options are hugely expensive so I fitted Falken FK453's which were a massive leap forwards in terms of noise, ride comfort, grip and steering feel/effort over the TRX's.

You will need the 348 wheel bolts. After doing a fair bit of research I ended getting them from superperformance in the UK for not too much and good quality.

Where in Oz are you?

 

I know of someone in Oz selling 348 wheels, if you go with either of these cars....PM me for details if interested......BTW they look great on a Mondial. Best of Luck (I would go the 3.2..... IMO better allround)

 

Because many 348 owners feel that the wheels don't look very good so they upgrade to 355 wheels. I sold my 348 wheels for $500.