1976 - 308 What's it worth?

Hold on now.....LOL!

Glad you take my input in the spirit it's offered....I'd fly in, buy it and a good fire extinguisher and roll the dice on seeing the Houston skyline....oh, wait ...I did that .....last month..... from Chicago! So I'm out....for now....

There is no "valve adjust" actually in the sense of hydraulic lifters....It's actually a clearance check, and reshim IF required, and I'd agree these engines go four times this mileage and maybe one or two shims would be required.......so you are probably good there..

Each plug has an 'extension' thru the head well, these can go bad as can the wire lead but if it's hitting on all eight, it's good.......new plugs if fouling...I see NGK ...BP5ES is the heat range for these cars, around town usage.
The seals on these wells should be renewed as any water down there shorts the plug....take it easy washing due to this, no spray thru the engine cover!

Don't forget to take the ferrule off the stock wires grip the threaded rod, LOL!
I'll tell on myself, I've done that...see your books for the gap it's way small...
.015 to .025...I use .022.

So at the end of the day, we are back to belts/tensioners, all rubber lines under the hood relating to fuel or fuel vapor and drive on!

"Get ya' motor runnin'.......head out on the highway....lookin for adventure..."
Steppenwolf..Easy Rider

Which way to New Orleans??? LOL!

I'd get that crack fixed at Palo Alto Speedo, the misaligned numbers are normal, but that just 'looks' bad...

These units are actually well known to fail so they are taken with a grain of salt....go by service records and title transfers for real documentation..Ferrari Market Letter sometimes has info, but not on one or two owner cars, usually.
They pull from public ads and one two owner cars don't have any!

 

712 is conventional wisdom and yes the "North American" cars were made in batches of 20..so 5 times 20 is the conventional wisdom...

Dr. Barry Wolinsky here is our resident 'glass expert.......he has one and much research.....he'll be along shortly I'd imagine..

In a recent book I have seen a higher number as well......around 900 something but as you mention that's world wide....is there a VIN number in this thread? I can almost read it in the photo...


I have:
1976 (steel) 20405
1977 (steel) 22127
1977 (steel) 22641

As to color....LOL! well, if they were not all red to start with, most of them are NOW! ROTFLMAO!

The paint code sticker would be in the middle of the engine cover, and can also be confirmed on the Factory Owner's website.......

 

1976 European market was all fiberglass cars. The US saw the first steel bodied cars in very late 1976 (my car being the first steel car in California I recently found out). European models were still fiberglass with a few steel ones thrown into the mix until about mid 1977. I believe a total of 756 fiberglass cars were made ? Not completely sure how many were US models, but I bet it is over 100.

 

I also heard a rumor that some of the '76 cars had different 3rd, 4th, and 5th gear set in a few. Just a rumor, but I would not be surprised

 

My goodness, Ferraris have tiny gaps! Granted you have points, but with a modern coil and points I'd use .028 in my car; with my Pertronix unit I gap it to .032. The Lucas gold coil can easily bridge that and you get more power from a bigger spark(or so I'm told at least) and a cleaner burn. I would think a 308 with a modern coil should also be in the .030 range.

Ken

 

Those solid amber front turn lenses are getting troublesome to find......maybe why the bicolors are on there.......

 

I actually used .028 for years with the NGK, Ken.....

I went to .022 chasing a misfire on #22127, as well as new high vibration MSD epoxy coils.........

Still have the misfire.......sigh......cracking open the distribs and condensors next I suppose......a friend pointed out the condensors should be changed with the coils.....cheap enough.......

I don't know nothin' about fixin' these cars....I used to WATCH as JRV did it......I should have bought his scopes and analyzer, I suppose.......

 

...small animals die from the fumes behind my car, when idling........

The early airboxes may not have the sound deadening material, actually........not that big of a deal.

 

That's gotta make the Art Car parades tough.

"Hey Bobby, don't put the Performing Poodles behind that Fiero thing this year"

 

That's actually where the criticism came from! LOL!

Old Folks: "Can you turn that noisy thing off, sonny?"
Reply: "No Mam, we're about to roll this thing!"

They put some hot chick from Europe working for Museum of Natural Science behind me last year, peddling a bicycle!

I felt sorry for her and loaned her some cold water and applied the sunscreen personally....the least a gentleman could do.....she was advertising that platisized body exhibit thingy in a white see thru leotard.....

Anything for science, I say..........

 

Glad you see the light (and my way)....this is just in the pics, imagine looking at it on the hoist in front of your eyes whatelse you would find.

 

You can take any Ferrari to a show (I've seen 308s with the bumpers removed, 328s with painted targa tops, you name it...) But, no, this one was painted around the shields: it's a quick 'n' cheap paint job. Silver paint oxidizes badly, and metallics done in the 1970s weren't nearly as durable as the stuff they have now.

Figure $10,000+ if you want it done to show level. The disassembly and reassembly labor isn't trivial, and 308s are hard to paint relative to slab-sided sedans. The prep is also tough - and fibreglass may even require more prep than steel. Michael Sheehan has an article on his site about what it takes to repaint one, if you're interested.

 

I just got back into town and was at the dealer for another reason and checked out the car again tonight. The respray is very recent. Overall it looks pretty good from a distance. Up close and checking the seams, etc. it could have been done better. It looks nice but its not show ready.

The interior looks reallyi good and shows little wear. My 1999 and 2002 spider's had more wear in it than this car does. As mark said he's looking to get the full records that the owner is suppose to currently have including all service records.

I'd like to get the car fairly original, and also in usable condition. If i buy it, it won't just sit in the garage and never be used. Cars are meant to be driven!

At this point I'm leaning towards buying it. Sounds like i should be able to get it for about 39k + service. The guy has more into it than that and won't go to 35k (I tried). This way, I'm guessing I'll be around 45 with a full service. It will get the full service done right at the dealer before even driving off the lot. Car is clean underneath as well. I'm sure I'll run into some more items, but it is not too often that these cars come up for sale and its the year that I want and in overall great shape with low miles (verifying).

Would be interested in hearing what others think cosmetically this car needs to be accurate for the year/etc.

Joe

 

and the personal collector plate arrived for it now as well...

76 GTB

so that has to be worth a few grand

 

LOL! For sure!


Really it doesn't look bad to me, allowing for it's age..

I'm not a big fan of shields so just strip those and respray again! LOL!
Just that part.

Truthfully any of these cars that look good at all have been resprayed.......the original laquer has long gave up the ghost chemically if the car was outside AT ALL....silver is really bad about that over other colors.

Well bought at $45K total I say and drive it don't worry about the paint....a soccor Mom will hit you and the repair can be on HER dime........

Absolutely correct, these cars are being quietly put away......not many surfacing......

 

Fix that crack in the speedo....

 

You should take all that you hear on this site with a grain of salt - there will always be "armchair" negotiators with their opinions about pricing (some will say too high, because they haven't been in the market recently and don't know actual real world prices, and others will say too low because they own a similar car and want to believe it's worth more than they paid).

The important part is that you're in the general ballpark. If you like it and want it, don't let a few grand get between you and owning the car, unless you're planning on flipping it within the next year. If you're going to keep it for several years, a few (or even several) grand up or down won't make a difference.

 

Very true...only the guy writing the check knows what it's worth TO HIM, and everybody else is just cheerleading........

But there's definate market pressure on these cars......

But only old guys "of a certain age' want them ......... LOL!

Once we are gone, they'll be worthless.....

 

For what it's worth, it was sunny out yesterday, so I re-cleaned the car and took some new pics.

Here's the big pics:
Exterior: http://www.maseratiofminneapolis.com/extras/exterior.pdf
Interior: http://www.maseratiofminneapolis.com/extras/interior.pdf
Engine: http://www.maseratiofminneapolis.com/extras/engine.pdf

 

It really is a nice car. If I had the room for another and could get over the color (can't do silver), I would definitely consider it. SOmeone is going to get a great buy. As I said before, these cars are on their way to early Porsche 911S land, and I hope the early steel bodied cars follow suit

 

Can anyone tell me the name of that silver?

It doesn't look like Argento Nurburgring...

 

The early 308s were not complicated modern colors, for the most part Dino codes were used unless a special order...........

 

Looks decent. As posted above, modern paints are a lot better than the lacquer junk on '70s Ferraris. Maybe drive it for a year, see if it's a keeper, and if it works out then put the $10K or so into a proper respray.

I don't think you'll lose much, if anything, on it. IMO, silver looks sharp.

Random observation: I don't why, but historic plates always look odd to me when they're on a post-1960s Ferrari. Maybe it's because the 308/328 continued up through '89 (and '89 may be the commonest year) so I don't think of them as being 'historic'. I always think of 'historic' cars as being those old '30s Buicks and Packards driven by old men.

 

The historic tag for Texas features a line drawing of a Brass Era car....LOL!

It looks rediculous when mounted on, say a 70's 911......

I'll stick with regular tags, thanks!

Hopefully our original poster has firmed up a deal by now, if he's going for it...