'Barn Find' 308 and paint

If you're keeping it, that Dino Blu is amazing. I'm indignant towards red cars anyway, but hell yea paint it whatever suits your fancy, as it's YOUR car.

Good luck and enjoy.

You mention it's an 1980, but also Chiaro, not RCorsa, so she's a nice late LATE carb car. That's unique and cool.

 

You could get a thousand opinions on a question like this! I wouldn't change the color. I have a non-red 308, and it draws some extra attention because it is different from the red ones, but if it was red I'd love it just the same. 308s look fantastic in any color IMO.

 

Pete,
- for the sake of the "anoraks" and "trainspotters" that collect chassis numbers, would you be kind enough to confirm that the chassis number of the car, readable on the video at about 6'44, is indeed "29679"?

- the question of the change of color is an endless one. The blessing and the curse is that the 308 is pretty with any color you can think of. Then: of course it is your car, so do whatever you like; but that being said, if done properly, a change of color is an incredibly thorough job: the new color has to cover every nook and cranny, such as the inside of the doors, etc...you probably would have to change the carpets' set as well, because they wouldn't match.
And whatever you might think, it will probably be a slight handicap in a resale, even if your new paint is an outstanding job: there is a premium towards originality on these cars nowadays, and one day you might have to resale it, or your family, etc...

Rgds

 

Great car and a lot of work for the next few months/years...

I know a few 308 which had been delivered in Blu and became resale Rosso but none in the opposite way.
I agree with the opinion that originality is more and more asked by buyer, but you do what you want with your car, enjoy it!
At least, take a colour that was proposed for the 308 in October 1979, Blu are the color with the more different shade in the Salchi color chart. The only problem will be to get the correct formula because none of them are still available.
My only concern is you will probably go very deep in the bodywork and then, the future colour will be very difficult to retrofit by next owner but who care.

Anyway, congratulation, the car look pretty complete and stock, but one question, I am very surprised you run the car if it is a barn-find? Did it have a maintenance already?

 

Great find and congratulations on the acquisition.

The corrosion on the body is a little scary and you will only know best once all the paint comes off. I do suspect that there will be quite a lot of metal replacement so be ready for the cost shock there.

Regarding colour, lots of people 'talk' about original colour and the value tied to it but the REALITY is that the Ferrari market does not ascribe a penalty for having a car in a non original colour provided that it is in a period and model correct colour. You are going to spend a LOT of money to paint it so choose whatever colour you like. In addition the big expense will come in the body prep. Once a 308 is painted a colour change is not terribly complicated or expensive because all of the difficult to get to parts are semi-gloss black anyways. As such a colour change is relatively straightforward.

 

And you could also have the Ferrari Classiche with a colour changed...

I agreed with Nuvolari, the color is a personal choice of the owner and that's good, on the other hand I do not share his opinion on the ease to do a retrofit if the painting was made as the factory did, ie with no windshield/glass/dashboard/interior at all, that will be a pain to get it back to red in the future (unless you do the same kind of preparation which represents a certain cost on a car that no longer needs a strong bodywork).

 

Perhaps I should clarify my comment referring to colour change. If it is your intention to have the colour coverage 100% as per the factory then the only way to do that is to strip the car to nothing, re-paint it, add the black areas, and then re-assemble the car. This is VERY VERY expensive to do and does not represent a reasonable value to a 308.

My comment was that because the 308 has black in the engine bay, front compartment, etc., that the typically difficult to reach areas during a colour change do not need to be concerned with. Assuming a 308 with good paint, a visually perfect colour change can be achieved, with minimal disassembly. This includes the windows which can be masked off and the edge between the molding and body re-sealed with new urethane after the car is painted. The car will still have traces of the original colour but nowhere that can be seen without extensive disassembly.

If your intention is to change the colour on every invisible surface the factory painted from new then be ready to pay dearly to do that.

 

Congrats and welcome!

So in the UK the 1980 would be a NON CAT engine spec?
All the better.

I would see a paint specialist, and see how many of those blemishes could be resolved with spot touch up and blending.
Painting a 308 is a proposition, I would wait for rising values to support the investment.

Color change: At this point no.
Although I sold a very early steel #20405, and hopefully when it breaks cover again it will be it's OEm Blue!
That interior looks quite nice, love the red rugs!

Alan
Houston Texas
308GTB #22127

 

Car sat for 28 years? Congrats on the barn find but I think paint would be your least worry right now.

 

I'm sorry to say it (and I really, really hope I am wrong) but you don't have a paint problem you have a huge rust problem.

I believe Ferrari improved their anti corrosion measures in 1984?? When they introduced one sided galvanised steel for the body panels and electrophoretic undercoating ( and possibly stopped using Russian steel ????). Your 1980 car missed that.

That bubbling looks like it is caused by rust coming through from the underside if so it has already gone through the steel panel. I was amazed by how much there is. Then you showed the engine compartment - rust and corrosion????

You need a good body shop. They need to check the chassis as well as the panels.

Again I hope I am wrong.

The only good news is that a lot of the car will be fibreglass and aluminium.

 

I own a blue 308 QV LH Euro version which I have had since 1988 and those cars in that color are as beautiful as you say.
However, your “barn find” is so completely original that, IMO, you should minimally restore it to full functionality and reliability in its original colors. A skilled painter can fix any paint problems on the body without a complete disassembly and repaint. In the interior, old 308 leather seats have notoriously become hard and brittle, but your video makes me think yours has escaped that. Here, again, I would tread lightly, fixing what is wrong, with minimal disruption or replacement.
Also, assuming the car has 390 wheels, don’t rush out to buy 16-inch wheels - a new owner can do that if he wants. Your 390’s are original.
Mechanically, it’s a different story. You need to spend whatever it takes to make the car solid and reliable, replacing any defective or cranky part with factory new parts.
Detail the engine compartment, replace any tools missing from the kit, document the ownership and maintenance since new, and you’ll have a unique RHD 308 “survivor” that will show everyone what they looked like when delivered from the factory back in the day.

 

Hi Pete, good to hear from you and welcome to three-o-eight-land. I'm a recent convert too and bought mine late last year. Though I have restored plenty of Aussie, American and British cars in the past. I think if the plan is to keep it, why not paint it to a colour of your liking. I specifically went looking for a non-red 308 and ended up with a silver on red car. I love it! Like mentioned above, I think the non-red ones are more timeless in appearance. That blue you are thinking about looks brilliant. Do you think the car has been resprayed previously? Because it is odd to have factory paint bubble like that on the flat panel areas. I can understand rust around constant wet areas down low, but to me this looks like a respray with poor preparation?
Cheers, BB

 

I was typing while you posted the above ..... you just answered what I suspected

 

Hi Pete,
Very strange similarities with me and my 308, 1980, same colour, same seats and interior colour, chassis 29973 so just a few after yours off the line.

Purchased mid last year in very similar condition to yours, had been in storage for 20 years, but had sort of been kept on the button so risked driving it back from essex where i bought it! The time after that it went onto four cylinders just before I sent it off for full engine/glass out paint and full mechanical refurb. Some of the things discovered were a bit alarming so def get it sorted before driving much more.

I’m not sure what you paid for the car, but as you say the values will be fine especially for good cars and yours will come up great, so worth putting some good cash into restoration.

In answer to your question about paint colour, definitely do it in the original colour I would say. Same for interior colour, you can check the original spec by asking Tony Willis (ferrari archive) to send you copies of the build / order sheets. But thats a bit easier for me to say as I restored a 27k mile carb car which is in Azzuro which i have also kept so I have two colours! IMG]//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190901/7fce0433f831918844e31f9f5bc925b5.jpg[/IMG]

Here’s mine when I bought it.. hope to have it back by November!



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All euro 308s were non-cat, Alan. That one, being UK, is an euro model, so non-cat, and dry sump to boot.
And all euro 328s were non-cat too, except the swiss model from mid 1987 onwards.

Rgds

 

Nice car, as you possibly already know it's one of just 211 UK RHD carb/dry sump cars.I heard less than 100 left.

Mine is '77 ,also R Chiaro but with Nero.I love the Blue too.

I had the usual few bubbles on top of the front wings and the small sections in front of the doors/sills done so was a relatively small job,kept it original colour as that was easier at the time..

Seats were pretty good with a bit of wear on driver side ,sent car to Connolly and was very pleased with the refresh they did.Still smells great 25 years later.

Anyhow good luck,should be well worth the effort and expense.

 

Just subscribed to your channel and left a comment.
Looks great for 28 years hidden away. I assume you have an F355 and Dino (restoring the latter).

Also my fiancee's youngest son is a drummer too. Good luck with it.

 

Hello Pete,
Just reading about your 308, Ive now had mine for 12 years! Wouldn't be without it, I also have a 1972 Europa TC.
Looking forward to seeing how the renovation goes.
My son Jet (ex pupil from ACM) told me about your 308 barn find.
Regards

Phil

 

Your car will be a great car once its done, such low mileage is rare for 308’s normally they get a lot of use over many different owners.

I had to do the ashtray on mine.. nightmare to get right! Don’t powder coat like I stupidly did, then had to strip again and dry painted.

I ordered a new carpet set from Lakewell, pretty good apart from the heel pads which were slightly different shape but thats OCD detial!

Good luck


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Just wrap it in the color you like this way it stays origional when you take the wrap off if you sell it