308/288 GTO conversion

You start with a standard 308, usually a GTB body, and completely cut away all the sheet metal except the roof. Toss the bumpers too. The interior is stripped, you put in racing seats, a fiberglass dash panel, racing harness, plastic windows.

At this point the builder decides if they want a "real" replicar, or just the look. The real car is about 8 inches longer between the rear door line and the rear wheel opening to extend the wheelbase. This was done so as to be able to rotate the engine 90 degrees to a longitudinal position and run a standard straight through transaxle, and to drop the engine down low in the engine bay for lower CG. Most of the kits just give you the look but retain the standard layout, wheelbase and drivetrain with a more or less stock engine. The body kits are fiberglass where the real cars are more carbon fiber.

To get the front and rear wheels to reach out to the now wider fenders, wider wheels with different offsets that also employ spacers are sometimes used, where the real cars had actual extended hubs. The kits generally put greater loads on the stock hubs and bearings. From this point onward, the actual glass body work installation and finishing is what makes or breaks the finished product.

10 years ago I thought they were really cool. But as time as marched forward most of the cars that were modified were poorly recieved. Not so much because the purists didnt like them, but because they were generally cobbled together piles of crap. Its hard enough getting a standard 308 body into decent shape and have a quality paint job. The glass kits need a lot of massaging to look right, and to get it right can easily double the normal costs of a "regular 308" paint job. Add in the costs of the kit itself, the labor to do extensive modifications to the chassis to accept its new skin, and the costs can spiral to the stratosphere. And you still have not yet considered the engine and drivetrain, brake upgrades, wheels, etc., etc., etc... The engine is a good money vacuum in its own right. Start trying to turbo it and building it to properly handle it and between buying the car, modding it and finishing it you could spend far beyond $100K. What you now have left is barely considered a Ferrari by many, and a car which has very limited appreciation or value. I dont know anyone in their right mind who would pay more for a phony GTO than they would a standard 308 no matter how well it was done. The only one I have seen that would alter that philosophy is the one that was done in sheet metal over in europe. That car was stunning, but the work was of superior quality, thought and detail. Most of the rest just dont seem worth the effort. If I were truly interested in owning one, I would look for one already finished and expect to spend considerable $$$ sorting it out to your own standards.

 

The GTO has only a 110 mm or 4 inches longer wheelbase. Also the GTO is really mostly fiberglass, only some panels like front hood lid are sandwich panels of more exoctic stuff (not carbon though).
If the car in europe is mine, hmm, just like Pam Anderson in her better days, it looks good and voluptous but you really don't want to know what is under the skin.
There is a set of bodypanels in Ferrariads right now form NickM, I see he raised his price. Also Nicks Forza Ferrari offers kits or full builds.
Also see the new thread I started in this forum