Hi Group, I have a question, but first an introduction: I currently have a Dino, but with the other badge on it (F**T). I love the engine and am thinking about taking the plunge to upgrade to the other F brand! I have seen this strange 1977 308 GT4, and would welcome any opinions on how and where these things happened: Is it an aftermarket sunroof, or someone's idea of making a Targa out of a GT4? Has anyone else seen this before? I have learned a lot reading this forum and it is an invaluable source of info, thank you! Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hack, sadly. The sunroof would be body colored and 'flush' with the roofline on a factory sunroof car *MANY more experts on here than my crumbs of knowledge, so please correct my above description if it is incorrect*
I have seen this sunroof on another car I think. I believe I saw at Bruce Canepa Cars in Scotts Valley many years ago and I don't think I've seen that car or this kind of sunroof since. **Edit - Wow, I can't believe I found this needle in a haystack of my pictures so quickly. Yes, I saw this in 2015.**
Thank you both for your replies! Brian, that is incredible that you found the exact same thing! This makes me think that it was some aftermarket modification available at the time. Perhaps dealer installed? Otherwise, it's curious that it is found on both sides of the Atlantic. I've been sifting through google images of 308's, with no luck. I wonder who would know? I'm also glad to see that I'm not the only one that has a collection of random car pictures on my computer!
What type of seats are in the black version? They look like corduroy, not sure of the logo on the upper backrests.
My GT4 has a factory sunroof, it fits flush with the rest of the roof with just a small (2-3mm) gap all the way around. The headliner/roof structure is about 2" lower than a non sunroof car, enough that there is no room above the rear window for an interior light.
People did this type of thing back in the 70's and 80's I had a friend who's dad opened a car stereo business back in the mid 80's and besides radios amps and speakers, they sold "moon roofs". They would cut a hole in your roof and pop in one of those glass things you could tilt open or just remove completely. Lot of people got them for their VW Beetles and Toyota Celicas
The very same people that drilled holes into fresh bodywork and trim for cell phone aerials, alarm sirens, keypads and now obsolete cell phone holders.
ONly the very last Series of GT4s had Factory sunroofs and as noted they were painted body color, and brought with them all the normal "hole in your roof" problems.. My car does indeed have a hole drilled right in the engine deck lid for a "mobil phone antenna".....gonna fix that, one of these days...
I know I'm a bit late to this discussion, but I'm just seeing this thread for the first time! That black car was one I came very close to buying. It was up for sale at a local antique auction where I live back in 2015 (if I recall the year correctly). A friend of mine who's a 308 GT4 owner and also the club Historian for our local branch of the FCA took me to the inspection day so I could look at the car, I shot 99 photos of that car—it was in pretty sad physical condition. Tired paint, scratches, cracks, dents, rust bubbles, oxidation, and of course that crazy after-market sunroof. The interior had a lot of mold in it too, and that was a big turn off for me—the amount of work that needed to be done to get it where I wanted it to be would have been way beyond my budget at the time. The car sold to John Ficarra, he worked for Canepa at the time (hence the reason Brian saw the car there). Bidding started at $12,000, There's a great story the John tells on the VinWiki channel about that car and mentions the local Ferrari Historian there with "two guys" he was advising on the purchase of the car. I bid $15,500 on it (which was $3,500 more than I had told myself as I didn't want to pay more than the starting bid after I saw it in person). Besides, like he says in the video, I though John was bidding for Canepa and was pretty excited that he was going to take on a 308 GT4. That wasn't the case, but regardless, I knew John had the resources to take care of it better than I could. Anyway, those seats are actually period Scheel Mann seats, not Recaro. John never restored the car, but he did a great job cleaning it up and eventually sold the car. It was on BAT in but did not meet reserve in March 2019: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1975-ferrari-308-gt4-11/ Here's a few of the pics I took on the inspection day, you couldn't find one square foot of that car that didn't need anything, it was rough! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Have you found out what brand it is? Maybe Webasto? A German company that opened a US subsidiary in 1974 (Detroit).
That's a good question, and I haven't actually ever looked into that. I've seen a number of 308 GT4s with that same monstrosity installed, which kind of makes me think that perhaps dealers offered it through a third-party? But that's just a guess. It's more prevalent on the early cars (1974-1975) when the sunroof wasn't a factory option, but I've seen it on later cars too.
