Now that i own an early steel carb GTB, i have noticed : 1) the lack of information on the early cars 2) how different these early cars are to the later carb and fuel injection models. Are there any owners on Fchat that have a 1975 GTB? Where are all the cars at? Are there even more differences evident in the early production cars (1975) compared to the '77's? why are the serial numbers and colors so hard to find information on? i do realize that the 308 was made in (quote) "large numbers", but with time marching on, how many of these cars are going to be left to enjoy? i have noticed MAJOR differences in how my 77 drives, feels and sounds compared not only to my former 78GTS , but the other 78 and 79 carb 308's i have driven and ridden in. Please understand i am NOT trying to slight the later cars in any way or imply the early cars have any great fame or folly. one would think a "308 is a 308" yet the early carb cars Euro and USA FEEL different to me, and the feeling has urged me to start this thread. thoughts? any memories of your old early 308's ? thank you.
Production started with the glass '76 models. Not 1975. If there were any '75 models, I would guess they're are VERY few and in collectors hands by now.
Michael Need to get in touch with the 308 GTB Register expert, Robert Retzlaff in Germany. He runs the excellent 308 GTB register ( http://www.tweb-design.dk). I met him at the Nurburgring for Ferrari Racing Days about 5 years ago - terrific guy and speaks English better than I do (not hard). I think that will be a source you can really use. best rt
Russ, I guess you mean: http://www.r-design.net/308 Greetings from another guy you met at the Ferrari Racing Days at the Nurburgring several years ago
thanks for the replies. 18317 was the first production 308GTB and it and several others were 1975 year models. this comes from the 308gtb register. there were 26 total, all fiberglass. the Bluemel book "Original Ferrari V8" has errors as far as serial numbers go. it is common belief that any GTB with a serial number higher than 20000 is a USA spec steel car. several books quote 20805 as the first steel car. this is a mistake as my car is 20433 (steel) and there were several US spec steel cars made before it. the Bluemel book lists 712 308GTB's made ( 'glass) from 18677 to 21289, yet the known serial numbers do not support this. thanks for the replies, but where are 18317 to 18679? all 1975 models. if a early '77 is very different from the '78 and '79's i have driven and ridden in, i wonder how the EARLY '75 cars drive and perform. this sub-division of the 308 model will surely affect the value of the cars as they get older. a Euro glass car is what i eventually want as far as a "keeper" 308 goes...... so anybody ever seen / owned a 1975 308GTB ?
reaper the difference is the cam profiles, bra........ Until '77, they were passing smog with the air pumps and thermo muffler. Starting in '78 they had to use cats and different cams. Then by '81 or so they were down to about 190HP........ Where is that guy that found the '75, he posted a link thru one of those car finder sites.....it was sitting broken, all dusty and everthing. I think Greg328 bagged a red/black '77 yesterday.......
The early '75 cars are no different than the '77 cars. The only ones that are different are dry sump Euro cars which have ~15 more BHP. The US car cams changed with the '78 model along with catlyst and other emmisions stuff. The Euro cars b/w '76 and early '80 were all the same. Dry sump, no cats, no emmisions, 4-webbers and about 255BHP. They changed with the '80's models to FI like the US, but I think the power was still higher than the US Models.
Hi, I am the guy who runs the little 308 GTB register project. I am a little late on this thread, but I have only just registered with FChat. Since Ferrari serial numbers are not limited to special models, the "missing numbers" in between the prototypes and the first production cars have been given to the other (12 cylinder) models in production during this era. Find some additional information on my website http://www.308gtb.de Regards, Robert
I would be willing to bet that the "missing" ones - if any in that chassis # range did exist - were scrapped by Ferrari. I can just imagine those first few cars (including the Paris show car) being trashed at Fiorano during testing, driven by employees while the Factory owned them, etc. all in an attempt to work out bugs after the assembly line was underway. Ferrari was not kind to many special cars that we would pay lots for today. I have pictures of Ferrari's backyard taken back then that are full of such cars. They were just shoved aside and in some cases stacked upon each other.
Hi Robert! How are you? Really good to have you on F-chat! Have you received my last two e-mails? I think your Registry site needs a small update I know everybody here loves pictures, so why don't you go ahead and post some of your beautiful 308GTB...maybe here: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49707 or here: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23638 Make sure that the size of your pics is 640x640 maximum. kind regards, Mick
