End of production for the 308

But not curious enough to try looking for any of the previous threads or register sites ? Maybe a year later

 

Look for instance at Alberto's thread, "the last but one drysump car is almost ready".
And Robert Retzlaff's site, the 308 GTB register.
Rgds

 

Don't sweat it, Jimmie's just trying to get to 10,000

 

[QUOTE="DonB, post: 146255890, member: 1764" My 308GTB 29179 was built is September of '79. Just curious.[/QUOTE]
My carb 308 GTS 30209 built November 1979

 

Jimmie (greyboxer)

what are your cambelt change intervals and what oil is best to use? Just curious.

Best from Germany
Martin
(carb #34379, fourth last built carb GTB, finished 28th October '80)

 

Why people feel the need to be a D**k with a response like the above is beyond me.

Answer the guys question or don't.

 

I have a Sept.1980 GTSI that is FI. Hope that helps

 

And I remember reading it here somewhere that there are also carb 308's made in Sept. '1980 as well, so maybe Sept. 80 was the month that it changed? I think that in Sept '80 the clock and temp gauge were moved (like mine) to a vertical position on the console too.

Hopefully Alberto and/or Neofer will chime in here

 

Read post #8. But I forget to mention. Mine is a Euro-car.

Best from Germany
Martin

 

This site has some good information on various 308 models and differences over time.
http://www.308-328.com

Ps. Click the American flag top right for English

Jeremy

 

1980 is a very difficult year for cross-checking the factory production figures. As for 308s, there was indeed an overlap, of course, for the end of production of the carbed cars, and the start of production of the two valve injected cars, during several weeks: the two variants were built together. And it seems that a small number of carbed cars were assembled after that still...
To the best of my knowledge, there is no complete accessible list by chassis numbers for the cars produced during the year 1980; furthermore, as said above, when you add the numbers of cars built variant by variant, these figures do not add right and do not recoup the total of cars produced for the year 1980 as given by the factory.

The best list that I know of are Robert Retzlaff's for the 308 GTB carbed, and Matthias Urban's for the whole Ferrari production. But these have missing numbers...collecting chassis numbers is a very difficult job, one that becomes more and more difficult when the list grows: it seems to peak at some time, but when reaching the last group of missing numbers, these are the one that are the most difficult to get. At these stage, the new chassis numbers do not come by dozens anymore, but one by one. A full complete, accurate, list will never been reached I guess.

Rgds

 

I am surprised that you suggest "weeks" of overlap rather than "months". Given the lack of correlation between chassis number and engine number, there seems to be general agreement that the Ferrari engine shop delivered loads of engines in bulk which were then selected almost randomly by the vehicle assembly teams. There is lots of evidence that there was much "random motion" elsewhere in the factory too.

Tangential but collateral to this, in the QV era there is an interesting photograph taken of the factory floor in October 1983 (the year and month of my car) showing both 1983 model year (black A pillar) and 1984 model year (body color A pillar) chassis side-by-side. I can imagine partially assembled cars being shunted aside awaiting something or other and unintentionally be slipped in the queue for longer than intended.

 

Completely agree. Such pictures underline your theory. Moreover I think about, which engine I would pick up first from this bulk, and how did the engine shop arrange this bulk. Say, which numbers are those in the back row.

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Best from Germany
Martin

 

I don't know exactly when my 34465 was produced: very likely December 1980, as it was registered on January 7, 1981. Maybe it was the last one delivered, who knows: Ferrari no more gives those info. Classiche just wrote "1980" as production date.

Sooner or later I will move someone at the factory from his chair and will ask the favor to tell me exactly when.

ciao

 

Alberto's 34465 would have been manufactured in November 1980.
34329 is claimed to be the final carb GTB (perhaps for the US market?).
34501 is claimed to be the final carb GTS.

Accuracy of the above info, from my archives, is of course not guaranteed.

My own 33589 is injected, with a September 1980 build month.

Thanks - DM

 

There are other sources, which claim, that the last carb GTB was #34349. This BS was the reason why I wrote to Ferrari back then and naively asked, whether my car is a converted GTBi, since it has a later ID, than what I can find in that widespread historian's BS.


See attached pdf for the reply I got.
Letter was dated 4th May 2000.

Best Regards from Germany
Martin

 

I haven't any written evidence, but I had the possibility to talk by words with the former Ferrari Classiche coordinator at the Factory, mr. Marco Arrighi. He confirmed that after my 34465 there were other two carbed cars, a GTB and a GTS. I forgot to ask him if the last known carbed GTB was a dry sump or a wet sump and now I cannot reach him anymore, as he leaved the factory. This is an official statement, even if not written

ciao

 

I'd be very surprised if you do because I don't believe there is a Boxer book with a complete list.

 

BTW. The picture I have shown in post #18 might be from the time in 1980 when there was some overlap. One can see a mix of carb drysump, carb wetsump and injected.

Best Regards
Martin

 

Perhaps some day the factory will feel there is no longer any financial incentive to withhold the information. It sure would be nice if they hired an inexpensive and earnest summer student to scan the catalog of index cards for each of the 308s and put them into an accessible database. Sad too that paper of the 1980s is extremely acidic so the index cards are slowly turning to powder.

…. call me a dreamer.