My new 77' 308GTB!!

Well, my first Ferrari was delivered to me here in CT after being transported from WA. on saturday 04-09. Please excuse me for not having a picture to present but, the car is white on black with 46k miles and purchased from a fellow member on ferrariads.com. The exterior is beautiful and the interior is all original and almost flawless. I was not too keen on purchasing a white 308 althought it does contrast nicely with all of the black rubber and black painted metal. The only brightwork on these cars is the key hole and the prancing horse, everything else is black and it contrasts nicely with the white. I was suprised at how low the car is!! The roofline sits about 8 inches lower than my 03' Porsche C2 and at least a full foot and a half lower than my 03' E55K. I am 6'3" (34in inseam) with size 14 feet and I fit in the car very, very well. You wear the car more than just sit in it, like a nicely tailored suit. The car starts well (lot's of white smoke after it is driven hard and sits in a 35 degree garage (I seems to be steam?)) and idles to 1,000 rpm after it is warm.

This particular 308 came with a Tubi exhaust which sounds great at all RPM's although I have never heard an Ansa sport exhaust system. I was also amazed at how tall the gearing is!! First gear takes me to almost 40 mph at redline and the remainder of the gears are just as tall. With the tall gearing and huge amount of travel for the gas pedal it seems that the car has an endless amount of top end speed. Acceleration seems to suffer from the tall gearing, but make no mistake this thing is FAST. It pulls as hard as I need it to in all gears and at almost all revs! The Porsche with 320hp seems to be only marginaly faster than this early cam 308 and I am shocked. After reading many posts about how slow the 308 will be, I am very, very suprised with it's performance. The handling is odd to me since this is the first mid-engined car I have owned. The 308 pivots behind your shoulders and steering is direct and spot on at all speeds (no power steering). My car has new shocks, bushings, tires, new ferrari windshield, and about 3,000 miles on a fresh service from Alfa Of Tacoma.

The sounds!! Oh my god, the sounds!! From carb induction, four cams, gearbox whine, exhaust noise, road noise and wind noise it feels as though you are really doing something here. The clutch pressure is stiff and you forget about it quickly after the first shift, becoming second nature after a minute or two. Two days ago I took the car out for it's first hard (very hard) use. I wanted to build confidence in myself and also in the cars' reliability. After the car warmed up to temp. gear shifts could be snapped off at redline without fail. Downshifts could be double clutched or just dropped into their respective gate smoothly and with the appropriate gearbox whine. After 1 hour and a suprisingly large amount of fuel, I returned with a HUGE grin on my face! This was the first time I was able to drive a Ferrari and it was my own. The car is soooo much more in every respect than I thought it would be. The car does not smell of plastic and synthetics like my other two cars, the essence in the 308 is of fine leather, cloth and mechanical greatness. The gearbox feels tough as nails, almost truck like! There is never any doubt as to which gear you are in since the shifts are so sharp and sooo precise.

After all is said and done I could not be happier! Thanks BigTex, rifledriver and everyone else who was so very helpful during my search. I could have never done this without you guys and ferrarichat on my side. And yes, the car did leave two drops of oil on a piece of cardboard under the car after my one hour of hard driving.

best $26k i have ever spent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FOR SURE!!!

tickled pink in CT,
David

 

Many congradulations. Please post pics and your serial #. I'm #20783 and am wondering how close you are to me.

 

Fantastic review! Thanks for the insights, and glad to hear you're already driving 'er the way Enzo intended. Congrats!

Carmine

 

Serial number is *21719*. I find myself up late at night sitting in my garage on a stool and staring at it from every angle. I NEVER did that with my Porsche, Mercedes or whatever else I have owned. It is truly a work of art!

DG

 

That is awesome, congrats! That was Todd's car right? It is gorgous if is the same one I am thinking of.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Yes! That would be my car and thanks for the pic.. Todd is a great guy and it was a pleasure doing business with him.

David

 

Congratulations with your GTB , looks very beautiful and the white color thats very seldom to seen. my S/N. * 22101 * Drive fast and safe.308ROB

 

Congratulations!
I know exactly what you mean, and I think these cars (in good shape) are a great bargain at the low to mid 20's.
Have a blast.
Jim

 

That is a great writeup. Thanks for sharing your initial impression and excitement. I know it's always a blast to drive since it provide such a sensory overload, and makes you feel in touch with the whole driving experience.
I have just returned from New Haven, CT this week and when I was driving on the Merritt/15, I was thinking "Wow, what a beautiful drive it must be in the fall - with the foliage, the rolling hills, the overpass, lack of traffic". I'm almost tempted to ship my car out there just to drive around and take in the beauty of fall this year.
Enjoy and drive safely.

 

That car is very pretty and unusual. Kind of like an "albino" 308.

I agree - these cars are a steal right now for the enjoyment they give. And they do make your garage smell great after a hard drive.

 

Looks great! Enjoy it.

 

Awesome - Glad you are so happy with it! Enjoy it in good health. I absolutely love the look of the GTB's.

 

David, very nice GTB! nice to see it here on the site with us!

 

Wow, amazing write-up! Glad to hear you're having so much fun with your Ferrari. I love the 308s and would seriously consider a GTB (or GT4) as my first one. Here's hoping that day comes soon.

May you spend many happy miles behind the wheel.

edit- It's also great to hear that you had a good experience with FerrariAds.

 

Congrats David!!

Thats a beautiful 308 you have

 

I live exactly a mile away from the Merrit. If you want to ship out your 328, i might be able to find a spot in my garage for ya! Promise to exercise her regularly and send pics every so often....

 

Dave good luck and have fun. Just drive the thing they are great. It always takes an hour or so to wipe the smile off after I drive this thing. Great feeling , so I'll see you in the paddock at Limerock Park on Ferrari week end. Enjoy the ride

 

HAHAHA. Cool offer. Who knows what I might do - My brother who lives in Hamden doesn't know how to drive a stick so why not entrust it to a fellow F-chatter??

 

Congrats on your beautiful new GTB! Ch.#21719 is VERY close to my first GTB with ch.#21747....In fact, Robert Retzlaf's register only lists 5 other GTB's between the two.
http://www.r-design.net/308/index_e.html

 

Thank you for sharing your experiences. A wonderful post and a wonderful car. Jealous as heck

 

Glad you like your new 77. I was looking at it but missed the boat. It looked like a really nice car. I think 26K was a screaming deal for the car. Im 6'1" with big feet too Keep us posted.

Paul

 

Mine's #23227, Dec 1977 build date, one of the last for 1977.

I'm 6'3", size 13 shoes. Had to change to Ultimate Pedals to allow me to wear a right shoe while I drive--gas and brake are CLOSE together!

I agree--this old car offers PLENTY performance, and horrible fuel economy...LOL

Enjoy your moving work of art!!

Greg

 

Congrats and enjoy it.

 

Welcome aboard...you are on the other side now.

Please drive carefully so you can enjoy your car for years and years!!

 

very nice looking car, from your write-up it sounds like you now have the Ferrari fever, way to go. Enjoy it for many years to come.