So how much does a Ferrari 308 cost to run

Well apart from the petrol costs (remember is a 3l V8 with big carbs) the annual service charge is probably around £500-1000. What do you get for your money ? Well assuming your car is just being maintained then it's things like fluid change (engine oil, brake fluid, coolant), belt checks, brake checks and adjustments. All these things sound pretty normal and in fact the price of parts is reasonable for the type of car e.g. brake pads £20, alternator belt £15. So really, you could do all these regular jobs yourself as they are no more difficult then on any other car - in fact probably easier than a modern car.

Ferrari (apparently) recommend a cam belt change every two years - hmm, if the car's only done a few thousand miles it seems overkill but since aftermarket belts are much cheaper than broken valves and pistons then it's probably a good idea to stick to this maintainance schedule. You can always have a look at other things whilst you're in there with the covers off - e.g. the cam belt drive pulleys and bearings, and leaks around these and the crankshaft.


The killer is the cost of labour. Working on 308's is easy. They are old fashioned simple technology, but there aren't many workshops around who dare to take them on. Hence you have to pay specialist labour rates of around £70 / hour and an annual service could easily clock up 20 hours - you do the Maths.

I do most of the work on the car myself, but to maintain a Ferrari specialist service history for the car Nick Cartwright does the annual and MOT. If times get hard, then I'll have to do it all myself.

VW Type 3 fastback the latest edition

So not quite of Italian origin but whilst browsing ebay's classic car section for anything within 5 miles I found an interesting project. 99% nut and bolt, body-off, ground-up (and all the rest) restored Volkswagen Type 3 Fastback and an early one at that.


Basically the guy who rebuilt it had just to fit the windscreen and tighten a few nuts - but never did. So we bought it and I did and it was MOT'd within a couple of weeks.

Abandoned supercars

How does it happen? who would spend all that money and leave the car to rot. I guess there's always an interesting story behind the demise of a car and I just love wondering. Here's a great thread on FerrariChat with lots of pictures of adandoned Ferraris. Also another which includes other abandoned makes. I think if I had a barn I would fill it full of old cars too.

Image of the famouse, abandoned "GTO in a field" chassic #3589GT Ferrari 250 GTO (copyrighted to the original image owner). Another great picture and story of the car is here.

Lamborghini Urraco or Ferrari Dino 308 GT4

Launched earlier than the GT4, the Lamborghini Urraco is the next closest car in the class - in fact it's a bit too close.
Designed by Lamborghinis favourite, Bertone, the Urraco had an all new mid-ish transverse mounted V8 and was a 2+2 based around a monocoque - and as any Italian car fan knows rust is an issue, especially with uni-construction cars. I prefer Ferrari's approach of a substantial space frame with body panels attached.

I discovered the Urraco before the GT4 and thought that rear quarter was the best thing I'd ever seen. I also think overall they are a better looking car, so why then do I have a GT4 instead? Well the Urraco is on my 'list' but the Ferrari is an easier hobby car to maintain with parts readily available and relatively cheap (relative to what though you may ask - well I'll talk about that next time).

Perhaps they will never be quite as desirable as a Ferrari for this reason, but if you see a cheap one that doesn't have rust and engine issues and you have the skills to run old Italian cars then buy and store it - it's a pretty Lamborghini.

Lamborghini Urraco or Ferrari Dino 308 GT4 - I'll have one of each please!

Summer fun

ahh for the long summer evenings in a Dino...

It's time to buy a V12 Ferrari

Surely it is enevitable that all Ferrari's increase in value after some point. You only have to look at what happened to Dino 246 prices a few years ago and more recently the increase in value for the larger, less popular V12 GT cars like the 250, 330 and 365.

I would suggest that the time is right to be looking at the final classic V12 model, the 365 GT4 2+2 and 400/412.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Ferrari_400.jpg

It's a bit ugly - or is it? The more I look at this model the more I like it and even better it's cheap as chips. £5K gets you a project, £10K will get you something which is legal, £20K gets you something perfect. Not bad when you look under the bonnet and there's a Ferrari V12 engine.

All things being equal then these cars must go up in price once they hit the age at which we get all nostalgic about them (like the Dino). Maybe not yet, but the prices are rock bottom so buy one, stick it in your garage and discover it again in a few years.

Better still, buy one and drive it. The neighbours won't know what's going on!

How easy is it to own a 70's Italian car such as a Fiat or Ferrari ?

It is true that to own a 70's Fiat you have to be an enthusiast and prepared to get your hands dirty although one can often benefit from someone else's hard work. For example I rebuilt my '76 from the ground up and fitted many new parts (including the master cylinders!), but it only sold for £1250. I wish I still had it, but I had to make space for my GT4.

Most common classic cars tend to be cheap to buy and parts are very cheap (apart from body panels on the X1/9) relative to a modern car and the associated running costs.
Classic cars are much easier to maintain that modern cars due to their inherent simplicity - even Ferrari's.The main problem is finding a garage or shop who you would trust to do the work and will charge you a reasonable rate. I guess it's down to geography. For example owning, running and maintaining a 70's Triumph in the UK is easy because it's home territory for the marque. Equally air cooled VW's made it to all parts of the world so are well understood everywhere. But take your X1/9 to a garage to have them fix the headlamps because they don't pop up and you'll probably get a hefty bill. But let's face it, if you can fix the headlamps on an X1/9 then you can say that you can fix Ferrari's and Lamborghini's too which sounds kind of exotic.

I grew up on a diet of Fiat's and so moving to a 77 Ferrari 308 GT4 was no effort or shock. I could see how it could be for most people though and I would advise owning a cheap well maintained 70's Italian car before moving to the expensive stuff so you get the thrill and experience the levels of maintenance required.

Fiat 128 3p running and driving and for sale now! £450

Did some work on the 128 3p and managed to get it started. Needed to replace the plugs (they were well past it) and clean and resit the points. Also cleaned the idle jets and fires up and runs nicely now.
Tried to drive it but the clutch was seized so I used all the old tricks summarised here and it eventually it freed off. Took it for a spin round the block and it's great. Nippy and the gears are smooth.

It's for sale now as I've a bit too much on my plate at the moment so if you fancy it then £450 secures it for you just email me.

Fiat 128 3p

Bought myself a Fiat 128 3p, something I always fancied and in particularly in this colour scheme and trim level. It's pretty rusty and quite sorry for itseft and doesn't yet run although did last year.
I'm going to assess it over the next few weeks and use it to generally learn about this model although I have twenty years of experience with Fiats of this era.

Carburettor setup on Ferrari 308 GT4

Used Birdman’s excellent carburettor sync tutorials to set the four Webers up. A little scary as you have to reset all the control screws and adjustments before you start. However, it all worked out and ran very well afterwards. Used an STE flow meter from CB Performance

Have been assessing the spark plug colours since and adjusting the mixture control screws where necessary to bring the plug colour up to a nice biscuit.

Also found a great article and discussion of Weber carburettors here

Spark plug change Ferrari 308 GT4

Spark plugs changed. NGK BP6ES, stock 0.7mm gap

1 Biscuit
2 Biscuit
3 Dirty
4 Biscuit
5 Dirty
6 Dirty
7 Biscuit – difficult to get out, the seal lock ring had run down the plug thread
8 Biscuit

Great plug discussion on www.ferrarichat.com and the NGK website

Watery grease on plug ceramic for plugs 6 and 7. Plug extender seals 6,7,8 hard and perished. Replaced extenders and seals with new from Superformance costing £80 total.

Replacing main fuel hose on Ferrari 308 GT4

Replaced main fuel pipes with Demon Tweeks Sytec 8mm and 6mm cotton over braid OEM style and Norma 12-13mm clips from ebay here




Renewed perished OEM style (but 19mm ID - oem is 20mm ID) crank case breather hose from http://www.thinkauto.com/moqoilhose.htm

Difficult to get on but used the hot water to soften. Used Fiat Punto Mk1 (->1999) - Breather Tube airbox plain oil breather hose on cam cover to balance pipe sections.

Removed the forward carburettor bank choke lever as it could be moved by the oil breather hose. Choke isn’t used anyway as these carbs don't really need it.