Hi all, First time Ferrari owner here: 1985 308 GTS QV. Like many here, this has been a dream car since I was a child and saw one for the first time... I find myself continuously going into the garage and pinching myself. Here's a pic when it came home 3 days ago: rosso corsa & black, 43K miles, 4th owner, just completed major service @ Dino Motors, complete service history from day 1, including some cool artifacts: original window sticker and original sales contract from Dec 1984 (paid for in cash back then). After searching for a few months and not coming up with cars that ticked all the right boxes in terms of condition, color combination, history, etc., I finally found this one. In fact, a HUGE thanks goes to Johannes and Danny at Dino Motors in San Mateo, CA... after deciding to call local Ferrari shops for potential leads on nice 308s, the guys at Dino happened to have this beauty which was having its major service done in preparation for being put up for sale. Johannes and Danny were super helpful helping me learn about the car and putting me in touch with the (now prior) owner... they are SUPER knowledgeable about all gens of Ferrari (going to their shop is a treat in its own right: saw 250, Daytona, Testarossa, 308/328, 360, as well as a Miura SV), but perhaps the best thing: not only do they make a living working on Ferraris, they also own several amongst them. The car has been exclusively worked on by Dino Motors for the past 10 years. Although the car has a proud new owner, the one thing that will not change is that it will continue to be exclusively worked on at Dino Motors. The 308 is joining a couple of other toys in my garage: 2003 Porsche 911 Turbo, 1969 Mercedes 280SL... yep, pretty much a dream garage! =) A huge thanks also to this awesome board and all the helpful folks which contribute content which helped to make me appreciate these cars even more, as well as become a better buyer. I'm looking forward to contributing here as well! Ruben Image Unavailable, Please Login
Welcome and congratulations on your new toy. Best year for the 308 ( of course I am a little biased). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Welcome to the 'family' Ruben. Underline David's comment above. It's the cars of course but it is also very much the people. P.S. after 35 years in Ferraris there are still mornings when I get up from my breakfast coffee and go to my garage, look at my Maranello or 412 and just smile and feel good.
enjoy her in good spirit. Sell the beetle and the merc. You will not really have any use for them soon. ( just kidding of course)
Congrats, and a very warm welcome to you! 308 QV's are wonderful cars. You will enjoy your stewardship of that beauty.
Love these stories, they seem to be a reoccurring theme around here. I know I went through the same experience when I got mine six years ago. Heck, I still do! Congrats! The 308 QV is a great model. -F
Yup. There's an epidemic of these things turning up in garages. Be sure to lock your doors or you too could be a victim.
Welcome and congratulations! Johannes was the one that did the last major on my GTB before it left the Republic of Kalifornia and came east. In fact - once he learned it was leaving CA he took it back into his shop and rejetted and re-tuned the carbs - no need to pass CA emissions here. He is a great guy and does excellent work. Your 308 is in good hands.
Wow - thank you all for the very nice welcome! The chassis # is 54159 with a build date of October 1984. By the way, I meant to ask you guys about this: the only odd thing I came up with when digging through the car's paperwork was that the original window sticker specifies the car as red with tan interior (the car is actually red and black)... everything else about the window sticker is totally correct. Everyone that has seen the car and knows about them has mentioned that the interior looks to be the original one and prior owners have said that the window sticker had a misprint. Was this a case of one too many grappa after lunch back in Maranello on a good day in 1984? Anyone else have this with their car? Either way, I couldn't be happier with this beautiful car! Here's one more pic in the garage with the 911 (please excuse the mess in the garage - this is my project in the next couple of weeks)... this brings to mind Jeremy Clarkson's infamous description of the 911 "looks like a squashed up VW Beetle"... nonetheless IMHO, no other car better fits the description of everyday super-car than the 911 Turbo. Cheers! Ruben Image Unavailable, Please Login
They would have to pry it out of my cold dead heads. Or write a check for around $160,000, the going price for a Stradale. Nothing less. -F
First off, given the way Italians do things, a misprint is not out of question. Heck, a mess up on the factory floor is not out of question. They do things a little differently than say the Germans. I suggest registering the car with Ferrari. It can be done on the Owner's site. Not sure the url but if you poke around the corporate Ferrari site you should be able to find the owner's section where you can enter your VIN and your name and in a few days Ferrari will confirm the ownership. And they will give you the original details of the car (specifically the factory color specification of the exterior and interior). -F
Bought mine in March this year (55057, not too far apart from yours) and am presently (albeit slowly) redoing the garage as well. Great minds think alike! Congrats and enjoy in good health! Mark
Thanks Furman - that's a great suggestion... posting the URL here in case someone else is interested: FerrariRegistrationOwner Ruben
Yes, that is an assumption on my part. Cool, let us know what you come up with. I am curious what Ferrari has on file for your car. -F
