New to me 1979 Ferrari 308 GTS

I have a 78 GTS, can't help with the tyres I'm afraid as I'm not at home, but you can't post an "I've just Bought..." thread without a picture or two!! Come on Graham lets have a gander!!

 

congratulations on your purchase, as for as your size tire check a parts manual for your year vehicle it will list all the tires available from the factory.
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the great and worst thing about Ferrari's from this era is that they were spec with a lot of different options most are dealer install and will not be reflected in the vin number or build sheet.

 

Almost certain it could only be either 14 with Michelin or 16 with Pirelli - I suggest that as the Pirellis were absolutely brand new (eg not shown in 78 owners manual) the dealer got it wrong.....

 

P7 s came with 16 inch Penta wheels .
14 inch std ( wheels came with XWX by 1979 . You can get CN36 s as a cheaper option aftermarket.

There’s a mistake in your early documentation for this car - not rare , don’t worry about it .
Welcome to the world of vague 70 s Ferrari records .

The suspension design / development in 75/76 was done for the then “ ballon “ XWX .

 

They did a 61/2 wheel as well . 14 inch
Mostly fitted on the 2.0 L home market variants . So your 7 1/2 are “ wide “ 14 inch .

 

i have a 1981 GTSi and on my build sheet show 14" rims but the car came with the 220/55vr390's the guy a bought the car from had the rims and wheels change the day he picked it up the salesman sold him on that it will be easier to drive slow and park it better(he was not lying) and add a few extras that day lol,

 

@Longstone Tyres

 

Hi

Thank you for the order.

https://www.longstonetyres.co.uk/classic-car-tyres/ferrari/308-gts.html

Please report back and tell us how fabulous your car is.

Also Merry Christmas and remeber to take tyre safety very seriously.

 

I don't suppose i could ask you to post a picture of your order sheet for my records please.

this is what i have from my 1980 Pirelli fitment guide.

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Then this is what Pirelli say in 1984

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The Cinturato P7 was an ultra low profile tyres. i'm not sure i have come accross anything taller than a 55% profile in the P7. So a 205/70R14 P7 doesnt seem likely. The clue could be in the wider 7.5" rim? maybe they had something like a 235/55R14 P7 maybe, However i can't come up with any evidence that Pirelli made a tyre that size and i doubt they wood. I have never come accross anything it would fit. Pirelli do make the 205/55R14 P7 again now. That was fitted to the Maserati BiTurbo, but that isn't anywhere near tall enough for you.

These are the P7 that Pirelli make now.

https://www.longstonetyres.co.uk/pirelli-collezione/cinturato-p7.html

Are you sure it isn't P5 or P6? The P5 is likely. That is the 70 profile that Pirelli developed for fast luxury cars in the late 1970s in conjunction with Jaguar. The P5 also features in this back to back tyre test.

https://www.longstone.com/images/tire-test/auto-bild-klassik-e-type-jaguar-tyre-test-english-final.pdf

Worth noting that the P5 was actually designed to go with power steering and this test is done on a non power steering car that is supposed to fit a smaller tyre, and the Dunlop Sport Classic has benefitted from modern computer tread modeling which is why it scores so well, and even with the massive advantage that gives it for noise and rolling resistence it only manages a draw with the P5. (however if you do actually add up the scores it looks like the maths are wrong anyway)

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There is a chance it could be maybe a 60 profile P6? could have been a 225/60R14 P6 if they made one.

Out of interest if i could have a copy of that build sheet i would ask Pirelli what their thoughts are. they might have some records of it in their archive which would be cool.
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