Wha? No 3x8's in Maranello ??

Screw that!
I'm not going.

 

Guess the guy that told me to get a real Ferrari may have been right...Maybe they have a 3x8 at the Fiat factory.

 

The 360 is the 'new" 308GTB, they'll litter the streets like beer cans before long....

 

But Maranello IS Fiat.
One thing's for sure: The people over there have absolutely no idea of the company's heritage. Money is the word today, no passion, no creativity, no culture, political correctness.

Here's a old post of fellow FChatter RifleDriver some years back:
In 1999 I was sitting in the factory listening to a course teaching us how to properly deal with a new space age body material being used on the new 360. That material was aluminum. I explained for myself and a few other of the more senior people in the room that there was nothing new about aluminum in fabricating bodies and that they had a good example sitting in the outer waiting room, a TR. I was told there was no Testarossa out there, it was an old race car. I further explained it was a TR 250. None of the factory people present had ever heard of such a thing. When we were leaving for lunch I noticed several factory people had gotten hold of a pocket magnet and were checking the car to see if I was correct. I could not hide my laughter.


These are the same people that will now tell you that they, and really only they have the knowledge, information, resources and know how to properly repair or restore your vintage Ferrari.

What a joke.

Its about opening another avenue for income, pure and simple.

The difference is that it is they that are new to the party.

Link to his post: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showpost.php?p=136078060&postcount=26

 

Great to have been there and seen it Geno!

Yes, it's all about making money, but I doubt that it was any different when our cars were built.
The difference is the mugs and teddy-bears you find now. Shareholders need to be pleased, and anything generating revenue goes, it seems. A general trend anywhere you look.

We need to be careful though talking our own cars down, and I am as much guilty as the next guy at times, especially when in the company of other Ferrari-people. Remind yourself that a 308 when new was a fantastic piece of equipment, and one in good fettle still is today.
It's certainly a crying shame that there is no representation of the model at the factory, as it was, not only in financial aspects, a very important car for Maranello.
And look at what the competition was building at the time: no double wishbones but McPherson struts, just as an example.

Let me get off my soap-box....

 

Because the 308s are all out being driven instead of trapped in a museum.

 

Word!!

That's how I rescued mine.

 

During the Mille Miglia this year we visited the Galleria. They were moving cars in the round exhibition room and some of them were parked outside the doors. They were a vetroresina 308, a 328 and a 328 Turbo. So the factory does recognize our 'lowly' models.

 

+1. Ditto that. It seems to me that the corporate culture at ferrari today is all about branding and marketing. In other words, designing to a demographic that fits within the full product line up that Fiat has planned for itself and its divisions. All the darn merchandising and logo licensing, the classiche program, the 101 different models with names like "HGTE" "Challenge Stradale" "Scuderia" "GTC" etc. It's all just a bunch of marketing bs to sell the same darn thing with a minor tweak or two while charging a whole bunch more money for it by convincing the buyer they have something exclusive. Gimme a break.

 

Our "Lowly" models indeed...

Never mind the profit* that the thousands of cars have provided the "Dark Side".
No body was complaining when Magnum PI was 'racing' around Hawaii in one either.
I think the 308 series is the MOST recognizable Ferrari out there still...

*This is the word at Fiat.

Our Swiss Friend has it correctly. Stratos, you know what I have been suspecting for some time and rediscovered on a trip to Maranello 2 weeks ago.

Nicely perceived.

 

Wow ... have things changed. I went to Maranello on a whim in the winter of (I hate to admit this) 1981. I was in the Navy at the time and 4 of of us took a road trip to locations of choice. My choice was the F-car factory. My Commanding Officer told me that if I bought a car he'd bring it back on the ship. BWAHAHA like a junior officer in the Navy was going to have the $$$ to buy a new Ferrari. OK thanks Captain ... appreciate the offer.

Well we went, walked right up, went in and were given a grand tour complete with being allowed to sit in and start up a 308 and a BB 512. I looked at those pictures just the other day. What a trip. To see the workers actually hand building the cars, watching the assembly line moving at a snails pace, seeing stacks of crankshafts and walking around 2v engines as they were moved into place was priceless.

Things change, too bad they don't always change for the best. I wouldn't want to go now.

 

...cool

It was a different time.
A different mind set.
Bobbytinvab...you were lucky to be there. Full marks.

IT WOULD BE VERY COOL IF YOU SCANNED SOME OF THOSE PIX< I BET THE community would dig it...Please consider it.

I was there in 1989...no VIN Number no love.
Period. Don't let the door hit you in the a** on the way out.

Still love my car though.

 

Yes, please post those pictures. I am sure all here would love to see them.

George

 

Thanks for the kind words guys, I'll need to scan the pictures so I can can post them. I'll start a new thread when I get it done.

 

awesome! I hope to one day be able to do the same thing.