Andrew Frankel's article on the most underrated Ferrari...

Good read, then lead me to read his 308 GTB write up. I like his style.

 

Yes I would tend to agree .
At the time it seemed all about performance stats when choosing a Ferrari , but the driving experience is the sum of all the parts .
It’s taken me over 20 years of Ferrari ( and other car ownerships ) to realise this .

Life sometimes goes full circle ,or a good wine is often overlooked then matures .

I started with a Testarossa, it was a 86 Rudge hub TRX single mirror .

Kept it 10 years sold it for 2x what I paid .

I got it because at the time I was for use of a better word deceived into the 12 cylinder thing and blinded by 0 -60 times and top speed .

In reality it was heavy hard to park .At corners near the limit the rear felt heavy you could feel it weight up all wrong .Great touring GT but no real pleasure driving .

Engine out servicing / belts every 3 years etc. Brakes not so good either .


I traded it for a 360 F1 in 2008

Stiff ally chassis ( Testa flexed a bit ) packed with ECU ,s etc .

Power steering all the mod cons .

Fast sure , handled great felt better balanced, cheap to own .

F1 box did it’s stuff ,in fact I enjoyed the paddles as they were de rigour .

Even my BMW X6 and Bentley GT Conti had paddies so I thought it’s the direction of travel , but we never used them in those cars just left them in D .


Then a got bored and sold the 360 after another happy 10 y .For about 50 % more than I paid .


Recently bought at auction a 208 GT4 ,

Resale red with beige interior and Aircon .


Skinny 195 / 70 ,s on tiny 14 inch rims .


What a revelation to drive

It’s so sweet and balanced .

Brakes well ,corners well and no pawed steering - it steering is so direct you forget theses days how it used to be .

Carbs and a choke - no ECU. S no CEL no dash lights - etc


The click and clack of the manual gate ,you can feel the gogs shifting , no fly by wire ,you can sense the card butterflies opening as you delicacy press the peddle , feel the cable is connected

Feels for better than a potentiometer and a box of ECU s calculating the fuel squirt.


I think is because theses days technology has on balance shifted to remove the sensual experience from all driving .That lack of feeling is acute in sports cars .


Bertone s one and only Ferrari is a real peach to drive - agree .


It’s a nice place to be too - cockpit wise - real dials etc .

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Yeah, my first Ferrari, and still one of my favourite cars.

 

Underrated? It tripled in prices during the last 10 years, underrated no more...

 

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