So I [almost] bought a Ferrari [Mondial 3.2 Coupe] Sight Unseen for $2000

ahhh...the legendary "ponari"

 

Cut the man some slack. You don't know him or his agenda. Be happy for the guy. Time will tell he won the lottery or not.

I hope, he still will post pics when it's a turd. And then we all (him included) can have a laugh at the story. (and off course it will haunt him for the rest of his life)

Don't we all dream of such a thing happening to ourselves?

At least I do. I Always am searching for the barnfind of my life when I'm in rural France/Italy.

 

This $2,000 sale of a car worth potentially tens of thousands is NOT an arms-length transaction, and subject to outside counsel review of the terms? Believe me, I'm totally pulling for you, but I'd hold off on making any more advance expenditures. Just sayin...

 

A year ago I spotted a very dusty 328 gts at 10km from my home. It was parked outside a dodgy garage.
The story the mechanic told me is that it was brought to him by one of his clients who used it in his vacation house. The guy lost the keys and didn't care about it anymore. According to the mechanic it was stored for at least 10 years and stacked empty potato bags over it. The car was in a real sorry state.
Seems like a stupid story as well, but is true, so I'll give the OP some credit. It was quite an interesting read.

 

When I lived in Belgium there was a 308 that I used to pass by on the road. The car was an "i" car and only had about 2200km on it if I remember correctly. It had horrible rims on it and the car was in very shoddy shape just from sitting. It was offered to me for 25,000 Euro back around 2007/8. It would have taken that much to get the car back to drivable shape.

My hope for Dubels is that its a gem in the rough. As I stated earlier, I am excited to see the photos and see which version it is. I am also curious to see the chassis number as well.

Since you are in NorCal I would recommend that you contact Brian Crall to do whatever work for you. His s/n here is Rifledriver.




PDG

 

And that's stopping you from travelling a poxy 90 miles to take some pictures of the car to show the disbelievers on here? - That's what? - A 180mile /3 hour round trip?

 

I am a romantic and therefor a believer. Anything I can do to help bring the car back to life just let me know. If you don't need the rims I will take them back. A few others in need contacted me about them and either I or you can turn them around. No worries.

 

+1000 Crowndog. Way to be.

 

For your sake, and just because it would make a pretty cool story, I hope that everything has been explained correctly and this really turns out to be quite a Cinderella story. Little stories like that inspire those people in the community who go out looking for that forgotten gem, buried under someone's garage mess. While I don't think a 308 is quite the barn find of the century, finding one for $2k and getting it on the road for less than $20 would be quite a great story, worthy of telling at car meets. Best of luck Dubels, I really hope this story writes itself into Ferrari lore.

 

I believe

Last year my buddy called and said "my father in law has an old porsche that he'll give me. He said it hasn't run in a long time. It was at a shop for awhile and all they did was take things apart and never fixed anything. He's over it and just wants it gone."
Flash forward a couple days and I get it to my shop. Get it fired up the next day. Had to patch the floors, fix the brakes, rebuild the carbs and re cover drivers seat. Lowered it, pulled the dented bumpers off. New tires and a hand full of other things came to about $4000 total in the car.

Not a bad deal if you ask me
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Can't wait to see the car! I don't have a Ferrari yet and fantasize about something like this...we all do, right?

Like Crowndog, I'm a romantic and believer...looking forward to seeing Dubels' new ride rollin' around NorCal...

 

Subscribed.

 

Some of the very early 308 QVs (particularly the Euro cars) did still have TRX wheels as OE. So, based on what you know so far, it sounds like an early 308 QV.

 

Actually, I think ALL euro QVs came with TRX as oem. ( with of course the 16" as option)

 

Mondial? 4 seats not 2?

 

Without pics, this thread is sinking faster than the Titanic!

 

It's almost a riddle:

What's red, has four engines, costs $2000 and can be used as a shoe rack?

 

In high school my buddy and I would drive around and see old barns and fantasize about finding an old Ferrari that only needed a new battery. We'd always say maybe the guy would just want to get rid of it and give it to us. This friend, now deceased, would have loved to see this thread especially if it turns out to be as advertised..

 

Cool story. I'm a BMW guy on our local forum we talk about that daily too. Every now and then we spot some old gentleman with a near mint old BMW and get excited. Often some of us approach the owner and ask him to give us a call if he wants to let go, in hope of doing a great deal outside the market place.
We see, from time to time, some cars that are very under priced because the owner doesn't know any better. When they come on the market though, it's always a bidding war driving the price up to market level again (with a very happy seller).

 

So you run your own Law firm and therefore cannot spare 3hours to get to the car to take some photo's, and cannot afford the gas to travel 90 miles and back? - That doesn't bode well for trying to restore and run a Ferrari, believe Me!

 

Fail detector turned to yellow. Prepare fail forces for operation Round House.
Current fail status: DEFCON 3

 

Coincidence? I bought a norcal 308 33685 with detailed owner record the same day for significantly under market value with a garage full of parts: blocks transaxle body parts ignitions +++. I DID HAVE the Uhaul trailer there within hours....It passed smog on monday...Will be on mile 100 this weekend...