The infamous "Craigslist 308 GT4" -- now that I own it ;)

As many of you now know, I decided to grab the infamous "decreasing price 1976 308 GT4" on Seattle Craigslist. I bought it last night. And because so many of you have asked -- here is the whole story with pictures.

What it is: Actually, it isn't a '76. It's a 1975 -- serial #12500. There's an original bill of sale from California showing it was actually first sold by the dealer with a little over 2000 miles as "new" in 1977. The car appears to have had just two titled owners, but four total owners (including the dealer.)

Why it had such a hard time selling here: To make a long story short, the guy who bought the car in 2007 and brought it up to WA bought a house from another guy, who held the contract. When the buyer of the house defaulted, the contract holder asked him to come up with some money and suggested selling the Ferrari. Over the course of six months or so, the guy simply had the car listed on Craigslist. After the car failed to sell, the contract holder finally decided to turn the screws and force the sale. Since the car doesn't run well at all and it looks crappy, nobody wanted to take it on, especially at a price that started at $17,500. More on the condition below...

Body/Paint/Chassis: The car still is Bianco Polo Park (white), but appears to have had multiple cheap resprays. There are paint cracks on the nose and front lid. Just looks like horrible prep/too thick paint or mud. Door gaps are even and it actually looks pretty straight. The only rust is a hole behind the passenger rear wheel, which opens right into the trunk area. It's not structural, and it's a pretty common area to rust, especially (as we all know) in these early GT4s. There's one small/deep dent on the engine lid that should be easy to remove. Chassis looks great -- astonishing as it might seem.

Engine: The original engine is gone. There is a note in the paperwork from the 1980s that says "the engine in your GT4 came out of a 78 or 79 308 GTB or GTS that was wrecked. The engine was totally rebuilt before being installed in the GT4." The previous owner had the belts, tensioners and gaskets (including head gaskets) replaced in '07. The guy who did the work got sick and the owner started running out of money, so it appears that the engine was put back together, but not tuned. Consequently, the engine runs like a first-week Biggest Loser contestant. It backfires, craps out and generally sounds just lousy. The front carbs are pulling no air, so valve adjustment and overall timing are probably WAY off. It's possible that there's a bent valve, but this is a worst-case scenario.

Tranny: Seems to go into gear. I know reverse and 1st work!

Interior: Brand new seats look great. Original door panels need some cleaning but are okay. Dash pad has two gouges, but in general is fine. The car has A/C originally, but all the parts have been removed.

Wheels and tires: Has the optional Campagnolo alloys with almost new Pirellis. Got to love those 70 series tires!!!

Others: Has the original tool kit and jack, as well as all the original paper work/warranty cards and all the receipts from new. Also came with a car cover, Ferrari license plate and the cheesiest Ferrari nylon pillow (picture taking the nose badge and making it 18-inches long and overstuffed!)

What I paid for it: If you're really, really, really dying to know and have a good reason to ask, you can try PMing me. Otherwise, just understand that it is worth more in parts for what I paid for it, which is why I bought it, because I didn't want anyone to part this out and ruin it forever. (I'm a collector car journalist -- I feel like it's a mission for us gearheads to save cars when we can make it happen.)

So Where Is It Now: It's sitting down at Madrona Autoworks in Olympia, which is owned by my friend (and fellow F-Chatter) Bartmondial. Bret is going to help me get this sucker running right.

The Plan: Get it running well. Drive the snot out of it. Have fun. Share it with my father (who has wanted a Ferrari since the 50s.) I'll also work on making it look much better too.

I'll tell you -- those Bertone lines grow on you pretty quickly. The overall sporty look of the 308 GT4 just looks so much better in person than in pictures.

Speaking of which...the pix.
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just call me Dennis Eckersley (or Lee Smith, Mariano Rivera...)

$5000? Heck, I plan to have this baby running like fiber through a geriatric for under $500! Now LOOKS are a different story.

 

nno:
good golly miss molly, you're right. It's titled and sold as new as a '75, but I'm guessing the dealership pulled some funny biz to get around taxes, clean air, etc...

I haven't run the full vin, but it appears to be a US spec car.

 

I just checked the picture of my door tag: Manufactured in JUNE 1976.

We're going with the explanation: changed to circumvent California Smog requirements.

Since it takes an act of god in WA to change the year of manufacture, it's staying AS IS on the title when it gets transferred.

 

I feel even better about my purchase today. I just learned my friend who a) owns a body shop, b)painted my 328 c)owns a Countach and 512BB (and formerly owned a show-winner Miura) went out and looked at the car three weeks ago. He thinks I got a great deal. I would have expected him to say "why did you buy that piece of junk?" but he thinks it will be a good driver.