Adam Carolla's GT4 For Sale

Came across this on Ebay tonight:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ferrari-308-Dino-GT4-Vintage-Italian-Classic-V8-Mint-Condition_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem1e58e4328eQQitemZ130340369038QQptZUSQ5fCarsQ5fTrucks

You HAVE to see the video. It's funny as h*ll!

Good looking GT4 for someone! Love the modded air filters.

JIM

 

Saw this yesterday. Very tempting!

 

Saw this a couple of nights ago. I was unaware that he had a podcast on some of the cars of his pretty impressive collection. His taste in cars is great as well. I currently have an E30 M3 to go along with my 308, and my next project will be a Carrera RS conversion.

Even though he was joking around a bit, I have to say that I share his sentiments about the stock air boxes. It seems that most people here seem content with those atrocities, but removing mine and going with a K&N to gain a view of those carbs and motor is going to be one of the first mods I make to the car. In my opinion it is the best asthetic modificatiom you can make to a 308.

 

hope he kept the original airbox.....

 

The Ebay ad says it's a '75 but in the video Carolla says it's a '76. I wonder which it is?

In CA a '75 doesn't need to pass smog but according to our current law a '76 will never be exempt.

 

According to the registry/register, it's a '75. (However, it may have been first-titled as a '76; some were.)
http://www.dino-gt4-registry.com/
http://www.dinoregister.com/search.php

This car looks super-clean, but the engine sound & smoke do not impress. Listen to it a couple of times
http://www.adamcarolla.com/CarCastBlog/2009/10/09/dino-ferrari-308gt4/
'sounds very rough at lower RPMs, especially after the rev fest, & that 'tick-tick-tick' at idle is either an exhaust leak or worse. As for the blue haze/fog, a healthy 308 should not smoke...at all. There are any number of 308 owners on board who will second that! Many of their cars have considerably more than 45k miles on 'em, too. My '75 GT4 had nearly 40k miles on the clock & it only showed a hint of black smoke on initial, rapid acceleration. It's odd that such a pristine car runs like it's been rode hard & put away wet!

Changing gears here, Larry, Robert and any others within commuting distance, are you going to the "Best of France & Italy" gathering in The Valley at Woodly Park this Sunday? Here's the info
http://www.franceanditaly.com/
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=261940
Try to make it...there'll be lot's of ecclectic machines-and enthusiasts-on hand.

Cheers,
Coop

 

My hunch regarding the smoke is that the car had been sitting for a real long time and Adam fired it up for the camera and burnt off a bunch of oil that had been accumulated over the months. If you look at some of his other podcast you notice that he has a bunch of cars that more than likely very rarely get fired up. Again down with the air box.

 

Uglier than fried shxx! LOL Carolla cracks me up...

 

Beautiful looking car! I agree with Adam about the side intakes, and the interior is fantastic in those cars. From the rear seats, to the wrap around dash, and the gearshift with switches and sideways mounted radio - a real looker!

 

It didn't get positioned out in front of the building by magic did it? Unless they pushed it the car had been running just shortly before the smoke scene. I don't know... looked and sounded a bit rough...

Edit: As far as Carolla himself not sure who he was aiming for with the video but did he really need to talk about getting a hummer because some chick thinks the car is worth >$100K? Why lower the discussion to that level? Does nobody in this country have any standards any longer?

 

He's so funny! "If you have 30 grand and don't want to be one of those dicks driving around in a Magnum PI Ferrari".

HEY! I resemble that comment!

 

love a yellow gt4.

be neat to see what it brings.

market for cash buyers is still good i think.

 

+10000

The vulgar language, too.

 

Um, you guys do know who Adam Carolla is, right? He has been involved in the beer drenched 'Man Show' that concluded each episode with girls jumping on trampolines and a sex 'chat' show on MTV. That podcast was pretty tame for him. You should watch some of the other podcasts. The one with the Miura he is holding a beer the entire segment and is obviously in a inebriated state. On another one with the E30 M3 you can tell that he actually knows very little about the car.

.........Not trying to insinuate that I have a problem with any of this, just trying to put the podcast in proper context.

 

Adam is a funny guy.... great vid.

What's the deal with the garage? I seem to remember this from somewhere but I can't place it.

His wife is understanding...


----------edit---
Anyone notice the smoke coming out of one side of the exhaust at the end of the video? Looks like a dual exhaust but nothing on the right side? I'm not too familiar with these cars.

 

I don't currently own an Italian car, but I still have the passion and plan on being there.

Regarding the GT4, my gut tells me somebody put a real fine respray over a car that's been run hard. It sure LOOKS sweet though; I've always loved wedge-shaped cars (like the GT4, X1/9, Lotus Esprit, etc.) in yellow. Retrofit Euro bumpers and get rid of the ugly side marker lights and it would be one of the best looking Ferraris IMO.

I don't think Adam Carolla knows too much about cars; he just knows what he likes and what makes him feel good. He's been around for a long time. In the mid-1990s I was in grad school and working 2nd shift in a Boeing plant, where I used to listen to a radio show called "Love Line" hosted by him and "Dr. Drew". I've always thought he was a very funny guy, but at the same time very cynical and exceedingly self-centered. But, in L.A those are the kind of people who tend to get rich.

 

The stock airbox DOES block the view of a beautiful engine, but doesn't it also serve a useful purpose on these cars by feeding cooler outside air to the carbs? Fitting smaller air filters make for a more attractive engine bay and probably more inspiring sounds but possibly at the expense of performance and real-world driveability.


...not to mention that he'll also need it for resale to a discriminating buyer.

 

That's known as Lowest Common Denominator (LCD) entertainment/marketing, and I'm just not into it. Other people call it trash.

 

Hear hear! All too common today.

 

First we were talking about the car, now the seller. FWIW, I'm much more interested in the group's comments about the car. It's not the first car to be owned by a jerk (if that's what he is).

 

Seems to me that any well known entertainment/Hollywood type person who is also visibly into cars, is something to be celbrated (Jay Leno, Adam Carolla, Patrick Dempsey, etc.). Younger people look up to these people and it's good to have younger folks looking at cars as a passion and a pastime in which to get involved. It's a lot better than the stuff spewing out of Fifty Cent's mouth, or the dirty sex scenes ala Paris Hilton/Kim Kardashian...

 

FChat
I too thought the car sounded rough, but on low quality video, who can know? The smoke comments appear right on, though. Since the guy didn't know how to open the nose, I doubt he drives it often, so it could simply be unhappy from sitting. And since he didn't know if it has 4 cams, it's good that he pays someone to work on the car! These cars look great in dark colors imho, but that yellow sure looks fun.

Picky things at first glance:
Antenna switch is wrong, I'm unsure about the lighter, scuderia shields aren't "correct," nor is large Ferrari sticker next to the rear plate. But the car looks clean, the ad says he just did the belts, and a good compression test could dispel someone's fear about the smoke at startup.

? - did a 75 have an airpump? Because that car looks to have been desmogged (look at the back end of the rearward cam). Hopefully it comes with all the original parts from the engine compartment.

? number two - was the red on the camcovers oe? I doubt it (and mine has it).

@AmericanPie - the airbox, while it does hide many pretty things, provides cold air to the carbs during driving. I don't know if the ram air changes hp, but the coolness should make a difference. That said, I doubt that anyone with a well tuned airboxless GT4 has a poorly running car, but I'll keep my big happy airbox (seen below if photo from the prevowner of my car).


@LetsJet - the exhausts empty into a sort-of-communal muffler, and the volume of the exhaust isn't split evenly between the left and right chrome tips, so having more smoke on the left than right doesn't denote anything more than the presence of the smoke at all.

Jonathan
FiatRN
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Ok, here are my thoughts on this car FWIW....

In the Ebay pictures I notice:
Correct license plate holder.....nice touch, impossible to find these!
Antenna switch is in the same place as mine, who knows if its correct or not...???
Cam cover paint is likely a cosmetic touch done at some service. Can easily be changed back if someone is looking for originality.
Steering wheel is not OEM.
Airpumps are gone, charcoal canister is correct.
Seats appear to have been recovered. Would be interesting to know what the car was originally colored int/ext. Though unless you are going for a 100pt concours GT4, this car is about DRIVING!

Its very difficult to tell anything in depth about any car via pictures and an average quality video. Anyone serious should have the car PPI'd. The car does smoke at start up, but mine does too, especially after sitting. This would need further investigation. The ticking sound in the video could suggest it needs a valve adjustment, or half a dozen other things. This is why somebody who knows these cars should give it a look-see before purchase.
I hope someone gives this car a serious look. Pre-June 1975 GT4's (and especially 1974's) are the cars to have performance wise. Being yellow is a bonus for me!.

JIM
(NO affiliation to Adam Carolla OR Adam's car)

 

I'm somewhat new to F-Chat and this doesn't really have anything to do with the current thread but thought I'd ask - what does "OEM" stand for? I assume it's something to do with whether or not the item being discussed is original equipment - just wasn't sure what the exact initials stood for.

Thanks!