308 GTB SN34389

I have been doing some reading and apparently this was the third last of the post production GTB's made. I would assume nobody has known where this car is, until now that is.

I found this car in the backyard of a house in Cape Town, South Africa. The owner had bought the car in 1998, driven it for a year or two and then put the car outside next to his swimming pool, where it has sat since then..he attempted to do some rust repairs as standing outside the seasons took their toll.

My friend has purchased the car and it will be undergoing a full restoration to bring it back to factory spec. The mileage is quite low at 70k km's and it retains a lot of originality.

As you can see this is a real "barn find" and this part of the city is not one where you would expect to find a Ferrari!

More pictures to follow, the engine is number matching, as is the gearbox.
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Oh my. Wishing you (and your wallet) best of luck

 

Just had to save the car and bring her back to what she was when she left the factory.

 

Looking forward to see its progress.

 

What an amazing find! Best of luck for the restoration, looks like a bit of a project.

According to a message from Ferrari it is indeed the third to last 308 GTB built.

Robert
308 GTB Register
www.308gtb.de

 

Third to last carbureted GTB obviously.

 

The air cleaner cover is completely rusted through?
Hope your buddy sticks with it. Probably buy two very nice driver GTB of the same vintage for what repair costs will run on this one. Gotta cheer for the underdog! Subscribed!

 

As a Dry Sump Euro, very nice choice of projects...I'm in the middle of one very similar...though not in quite as rough shape. These full resurrections aren't cheap...

 

In SA its very rare to find a 308 GTB, most are GTS and most or I or QV models. If one could find a GTB here it would be around $150k....

 

Very cool! Nice find. Good luck with the restoration.

 

The number and identies of South Africa's Ferraris is rather difficult to elucidate, indeed. Information is sparse. Good luck with this one, Jacques. It won't be cheap, but I guess you know this already.

Rgds

 

That is a really nice barn find! and historical above all!

Have you got any history before it arrives in South Africa ?
That is not a Pozzi car, neither a German delivery market car as we can see with the pictures you've posted.

Do you have some more of the interior ? How does it look ?

The car seems complete and the parts that are not period correct are not difficult to find in its case, the owner can easily restore it with factory specs if it is his wish.

 

From what I have managed to gather the car left the factory in November 1980 and the first owner took delivery in South Africa in May 1981. Quite a long time between completion and delivery.

I am going to try and piece together its South African history but it would appear it has only had two prior owners. What has always amazed me is so many LHD Ferrari's were sent to SA despite us being a RHD market, this seemed to change around about 1985 or so when the majority of cars came in as RHD.

 

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Not completely rusted through no. The engine itself seems oil tight, there are no obvious leaks but of course a strip down might be interesting....

 

It is very interesting that you seems to have a car without the AC, which is really, really rare for a GTB, and especially if the car had been ordered for Africa....
I am sure they will be plenty of surprise for our knowledge...
Have you seen the engine number by chance ? It might close to the 2 carbed GTB from this forum which surround your car.

 

I do indeed have the engine number, will post up tomorrow when I am back at the office. Was also surprised that it doesn't have AC. Is there anyone who can get the cars build sheet to see if the interior was originally black?

 

An easy way to see the original colour of your carpet is the vinyl part under the seat are same colour and often, it is not changed when the do the carpet installation. It gives you a good idea of the originality.

A little bit like the body colour, we can see on one of your picture that the interior of the door is red which means that the car was Rosso from the beginning.... Usually painter don't go that far (especially if you look "inside" the door). To be sure, wait for the de-assembly, you will see then, the metal under the dashboard which is painted body colour at the factory.

For the upholstery, it is a bit harder but when you look carefully at the door panel, you can see if it is original way of doing it or not. It is true that if you never see how it is made at the factory, you can't really see the difference but modern way of doing it is quite different from origine. (especially the clip). if you have any doubt, post large picture, you will have some feedback from owner here. Most of the time, you can see that upholstery had been done because they don't do the original shape with the vinyl part which is on the seat itself (the 3 black bands), and sometime, you see that those band are in leather which there aren't normally.
If the upholstery had been coloured instead of been re-done, you see the paint/pigment trace under the seat or on the leather beads of the door...

The only way to have access to the information from the built sheet is to ask Ferrari Classiche. You have to pay but at least, you have the factory thruth. I always recommend it whenever I ask for my opinion. No advice, even enlightened, can beat the reality of the factory sheet.
It is not as pricy that the Classiche certificate, but it is not free anymore (it was, few years back). Sometime, dealer have access to those files without paying but at least you have to know well one of them and he has to do the request.

I would also appreciate if you can tell us the assembly number as well to make a complete comparison with the cars surrounding this one, it is really exiting to realise that one of the last carbureted car was in a backyard...in South Africa... I'm probably not the only one here to find this completely crazy.

 

Thanks very much for the feedback. I went and had a look again, the seats do appear to be originally back but I am not sure of the centre "stripe" was black. Amazingly the dashboard itself is not crack from the African sun, that was a big surprise!

Where do I find the assembly number on the car? Happy to have a look and post here. Indeed it is indeed a crazy story, the car was advertised with no pictures and I thought it was actually some sort of scam until I went to see the car and saw the chassis number, the truth is the prior owner for whatever reason simply lost interest in the car.

I am going to request the definitive information from the factory.

 

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From what I can see on your image, the upholstery is from origin. Carpet look also original, (in the shape), unless it had been done very nicely which I don't think when I look at the general look of the car...

You can find the assembly number very easily on 4 places, on the oil cooler bracket, facing up (the easiest one), on the left inside edge of the engine lid, on the left upper corner of the steel frame of the front lid and on the inside door as you don't have the door panel on the driver door.
All the numbers should be the same, you will see then if the car had its originals opening parts.


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Just a couple of spit shine, and you’ll have yourself a showroom condition 308.

 

Wow. Hat's off to you for taking this on. Someone should resurrect this car, but I don't think I'd have the gumption to tackle it. Glad it is going to be done, though.

Since these are body-on-frame cars, will you be doing a frame-off restoration? Is that how 308s are done? I would think a total tear down and inventory is on the to-do list.

 

In all probability we will be doing a frame off restoration. The car is going to be completely stripped, that is currently happening. Thankfully the chassis is solid and no repairs should be required there, barring the obvious cleaning.

I am busy learning Italian, thanks to the Eurospares website and the parts inventory for a 308 GTB...