308 fiberglass production numbers

Welcome to the board Mate !!

Yes the number seems to be 712...maybe the odd extra...100 were US wet sump...the rest should be LHD and RHD and should be dry sump. Personally, i have never heard or seen a glass GTS...and i do believe that the model run ended in July 77 for the glass car. I dont think there was an official break down of LHD, and RHD cars.

Cheers !!

Why you ask ?

 

The accepted number of fiberglass GTBs produced is 712 though the official factory number is 808.

Yes, the 100 North American version fiberglass 308 GTBs were wet sump cars. The fiberglass GTBs produced for the markets in Japan and Australia were also wet sump.

Robert Retzlaff's 308 GTB Register is a great resource:

http://www.r-design.net/308/index_e.html

 

GTS was not offered until 1978, long after 'glass cars were done....

Welcome!

And as Dr. Barry's link will show there was no hard 'date' of the 'glass/steel changeover, they comingled together for quite some time, on the Factory line......not like Detroit's model year clean breaks at ALL.....

Show cars started from the styling concept in 1975........then my oldest steel car #20405 is a very early example, built November 1976..

I don't think even the Factory has the RHD/LHD breakdown truthfully!

 

AS we have this new thread (There's a good discussion in Australia Section also) I have a question..

Dr. Barry have you ever heard of a confrontation between Enzo Ferrari and Pininfarina over the fibreglass vs. steel??
Legend had it they rarely met face to face....big egos on both sides.

I have heard a tale it was Mr. Ferrari's insistance that ended 'glass production, I had always assumed it was the natural progression of the design moving into the tooling required to stamp larger quantity mass produced steel panels.....



Any info????????????????????????

 

Unoffically and offically, doesn't seem to make much difference in italy, I believe that the general figure put forward as the the total number of RHD glass cars was 87, wet and dry sump.
Cheers MG

 

Never heard that one, Bubba. The fiberglass vs. steel thing would appear to be a non-issue as the body panels are identical. Well, almost. When I compare early steel GTBs to my fiberglass GTB, the front fender flares seem a slight bit more pronounced on the fiberglass version.

That's the explanation I've read in several sources. Others include:

The American market wasn't interested in "another Corvette"

and

The fiberglass bodies were more expensive to produce

 

1977

 

Euro Spec 308 was 255 hp, US version was 240. The differnece i have read and heard between the steel and glass, was the weight difference. Driving them side by side apparently you can tell that the glass is a more nimble car. Would make sense that the steel car would weigh more. Doubt for everyday driving you would really notice, but on track events you most likely will (i did).
Welcome aboard, and good luck in your venture, let us know how it works out !!

 

That would be a very rare car, well bought if the price is right....one in Las Vegas at $75K USD for a price check.

The break in performance is the fitment of Catalytic Converters and associated reprofiling of cams, which was in 1978 for the North American market.......obviously not effecting an early 'glass car.

Only RHD vs. LHD and wet sump vs. dry sump.

Are Aussie cars dry sump??

 

The 'glass was laid thickly to fight cracking.

The 300# weight difference so widely cited is in the North American door reinforcement beams and the bumpers, Big Red.

 

...and the weight of your copiloti.........
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As far as I know, only wet sumps were delivered into Australia.
So, if this is a dry sump, then it is from somewhere else. Hopefully not a car converted from LHD.
If it is a proper RHD car and the factory Dry sump, then so be it. Suss it out and buy it if it is OK.
Keep in mind that if it is from the UK you should check out any potential rust problems because of the rain over there and salted roads etc.
That being said I have just imported a Glass Dry Sump car from the UK because that is exactly the car I wanted.
Carbs, Glass and Dry Sump.
Very happy with the car.

Is the one you are looking at the Duttons car?

 

In the reserach before buying my car I was told that the total number of Glass RHD Dry Sump cars delivered to the UK was 154.
Not exactly knowing what other countires are RHD except for OZ, (not many or any i expect) then this may be a total worldwide figure.
So whatever way you look at it, Glass, RHD, Dry Sump cars are particularly rare.
I have seen this figure of 154 documented more than once.

 

Apart from the price of the car the rest of the costs were:
Evaluation from another dealer about the car I was intending to purchase, 300 pounds.
To pick up the car and transport to dock, load car into container, tie down and seal. Including the sea freight to Australia, $3000 USD.
Entry into OZ, inc wharf fees etc, storage charges, Quarantine, GST, container unpack, cartage, blah, blah blah, $7200 AUD.

The importation itslef was in reality very easy. It's just a bit of a learning curve because you have never done it before. But I was led the right direction by my importer, he supplied the right forms to fill out and then you have to apply to the government to import the vehicle.

It was made easier because the car was over 30 years old and hence they make it easier to import.
This also has another benefit because you only have to pay 10% GST and not another 10% duty because of its age.
Most of the $7200 above was the GST.

I also opted not to go and see the car and instead had someone to look over it for me.
My reasoning being that it would kill me to go over there in economy so it would've been a Business class flight and a few nights accomodation.
Probably would've spent close to 9 or 10 grand to check it out. Not to say that I didn't feel a little uneasy about spending that sort of cash on a car I hadn't seen. But I limbered up the guy who checked the car out for me on what to detail in his report.
Then my reasoning was if the whole thing blew up the week after I got it, then I had saved 10 grand on the flight and would use that money to fix what had gone wrong.
Still a bit of a roll of the dice, but thats the decision I made at the time.
Have my time again, I would do the same.