Is this a true euro?

To me, it seems to be a true Euro, yes.
There is only one pic of the engine compartment, but it seems a true euro engine without any emission control device (and no cats) plus the car has the rear (engine) hood of the euro cars, with two parrallel row of louvers not connected by the five additionnal "full width" rows going fully from one side to the other as the american market cars (and all 328) for exctracting more air.
Probably an "euro" car that has been "federalized" when arriving in the USA by the addition of the american-type bumpers, and with the front louvers painted to look just like the american market cars.
I'll let the experts chime in...but of course, the easiest clue would be the VIN; it's a 1985, so she has one indeed. Why not ask for it? As we used say in old french "ça ne mange pas de pain" ("It doesn't eat any bread", meaning "why not try, even if you won't get any answer, at least that costs nothing")

Rgds

 

Yes, it is a euro.

 

Plus rear valance and mirrors are Euro.

 

It appears to be a true euro. The front bumper and amber turn signal covers may, as you stated, have been done for federalizing. It is too bad a VIN wasn't provided.

 

Did the bumpers really have to be swapped out to meet the EPA standard ? What about emissions, they are missing. That should have been a bigger issue. Why have I seen other Euros with the smaller bumpers in North America ? Is this a FrankenFerrari ?

 

I think the level of federalization varied by shop. Some imported euro cars had very minimal changes, while on others they were more invasive.

 

My late-84 Euro 308 GTS QV is rosso corsa with the black hood louvers. Aside from the federalized front bumper, that car looks to be Euro spec. It's a shame they didn't include a decent instrument panel shot, even if it has a miles per hour speedo there are other tells visible there (Note that the oil temp gauge is in *C, not *F as on the US cars).

 

As an owner of an '84 euro, the only items I saw that didn't look euro were the bumpers...again, very possible that whomever Federalized it replaced the bumpers as well. Mine has the euro bumpers; front and rear. The rear decklid, side mirrors, and euro coils are the visual give-aways that this is a euro.

Only 100% way to validate is the VIN...

 

You know what is interesting? Their "stock #" for this car is 58531.

58531 is the chassis number for a euro 308. According to my records, VIN ZFFLA13B000058531 is a 1985 308 red/tan LHD EU car.

if 58531 isn't the chassis number on this car it is one hell of a coincidence

 

Presumably this car has been damaged at some point otherwise why would they have replaced the bumpers with US ones? This was (presumably) not necessary for federalization.

 

Definitely looks Euro, but what I find the most unusual is the bigger US amber side lights instead of the thinner Euro QV ones. The Euro version can be rewired very easily to switch between signal repeater and side marker (or a hybrid of the 2). Perhaps someone just really liked the profile view of the US car?

As for emissions federalization, you'd be surprised how well some of that stuff can be hidden. Took me almost a year to find a rusty Mercedes charcoal canister, albeit disconnected, mounted on a frame crossmember. And as others have said the level of federalization varied greatly, as does the amount of it that's been removed since then.

 

When did they stop doing the Euro circular marker lights? Was it with the introduction of the QV?

 

Pretty common for euro cars to go through some level of conversion, and how much was done varies widely. My car has those big side markers but was otherwise mostly unchanged. I'm not certain, but I believe the side markers were part of the conversion and not factory. This car got the bumpers and the painted front louvers too, and some even got the mirrors and decklid. And a very few made it through without any changes. The US conversion was every bit as handbuilt as the cars themselves, and probably depended on whatever parts were on hand.

 

And, evidentally, mixed with a lot of funny business ( or just plain sloppy attention ). For example, in another thread here there is a 308QV with an import plate in the door jamb that has an import date stamp of 10/83. problem is the car wasn't even built until late March or early April of 1984.

Tell me how that makes sense.

 

While we’re on the subject of euro cars, can anyone tell me why the depth of the chin spoiler varies from car to car? I’ve seen some euor’s with a deeper chin spoiler than others. Did this vary by country? I assume some may have been changed after the fact but there seems to be a lot of variation that was done at the factory.

 

Yes, the QV had the "thin" rectangular lights in Euro trim. They aren't reflective like the US markers though, perhaps that is why some conversions switched to them. Also, I believe (but again not totally sure) that the small round light was brought back for the Euro 328.

I only know of 2 factory front valence depths, the normal and the deep. Both were available as an option in every market AFAIK. My Euro QV has the normal size in steel. You may be seeing aftermarket fiberglass valences from GTO kits, etc. I notice that too quite a bit on Ebay, and that would be my guess.

 

They have a different function on the euro as well (turn signal, not running light/reflector) -- so must be changed and rewired in the US.

 

My euro QV has the shallow front too and after hitting an unexpected speedbump last weekend, I'm VERY glad I don't have the deep one because it would have been on the road in pieces.

 

My USA QV has the deep spoiler option, but it is fiberglass. I am 100% sure because it has been sitting in my garage since I took it off 10 years ago.

Interesting that Ferrari would mix materials between markets but I am guessing the fiberglass would be a better lighter way to do it. Wonder why they gave us those and kept the steel ones for themselves overseas?

 

My understanding on the QV, and probably 2V injected as well, was that shallow ones were all steel, and deep ones were all fiberglass, regardless of market. I've heard conflicting stories about carb cars, so I can't really say for those. My only guess of material choice was that the deep was the "for looks"/sporty option and the shallow was the more conservative option for less than perfect road conditions. Another difference I usually see in photos is deep valences tend to have the same polished paint as the body, while shallow ones have the rock guard gel mix also used on the inside of fender flares.

 

Hello everyone, I've always wanted a 308 since I was a kid and have been lurking on this site for some time. Three times in the last 20 yrs I've come close to joining the club, today I did. The information provided on this site helped me tremendously and this afternoon I drove home the above mentioned beauty. I crawled over her (and records) for hours and while not perfect I fell in love. Details and a pic to follow (once I figure it out) and yes she is a Euro with documentation. Thanks to everyone here for the invaluable experience.