It seems quite amazing that it is already 30 years since the 308 GTB made its public debut, as the Pininfarina designed body has stood the test of time well, still looking good and able to turn heads in the street, and even to people who weren't born when it was introduced it is instantly recognizable as a Ferrari.

Up until the late sixties Ferrari production road cars had traditionally featured a V12 engine, but the introduction of the Dino series with V6 engines towards the end of the decade changed the situation. The new "small" Ferrari attracted a new blossoming market of youthful buyers, and was a great success in the five year production period, despite an oil crisis and increased speed control legislation worldwide. Although there was the sister Dino 308 GT4 2+2 model with a V8 engine, it was not until the introduction of the 308 GTB in 1975 that the Dino 246 GT had a true successor.

As previously mentioned, the V8 wasn't a configuration traditionally favoured by Ferrari. After the 1964 158F1 car was replaced by a flat 12, the V8 engine then disappeared from the Ferrari line-up for almost a decade, before the concept was resurrected on their first eight-cylinder road car, the 3-litre transverse engined Dino 308 GT4, which appeared in 1973, and whose engine/transmission assembly was modelled on that used in the Dino 246 GT/GTS models.

This brings us up to the 308 GTB, which shared the same 3-litre V8 engine/transmission layout and which was presented to the public in October 1975 at the Paris Salon. Although the body style was a then in vogue wedge shape, there were shades of the Dino 246 in the Pininfarina design details, like the door scallops, buttressed vertical curved rear screen and twin paired tail light treatment. It was an instant hit both with the press and the public, and this model and the succeeding V8 models have now formed the backbone of Ferrari road car production for 30 years.

The 308 GTB also marked a first in Ferrari road car production as it was constructed with a fibre-glass body, although this construction method was superseded by more traditional steel and aluminium panels in late 1976 for USA market cars, and mid-1977 for European cars. A targa-roofed version, called the 308 GTS, joined the GTB in late 1977, easily identifiable by the black vinyl covered removable roof panel and black louvred panels over the rear quarter glass.

Less obvious, but certainly more significant, was the fact that the GTB version (with the exception of the American 1978 model year) was equipped with the dry sump version of the engine, whereas the GTS was a straight carry over of the 308 GT4's wet sump power unit.

In 1980, again due to emission legislation changes, particularly in the USA, a Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection system replaced the quad twin-choke Weber carburettor assembly and this led to a reduction in the power output as it was still in relatively early stages of development for road car use, but by everyday standards of the time you were still talking about a quick car. The model names became 308 GTBi and 308 GTSi, with this badging appearing on the tail panel, whilst subtle changes to the interior trim, the most noticeable being the change of the instrument binnacle face from an aluminium to a satin black finish, coincided with the change of model name.

For the Italian market a 2-litre version of the 308 series was produced from 1980, initially normally.phpirated, called the 208 GTB/S, it mirrored its 3-litre peers in appearance apart from the tail badges and satin black instead of body-colour louvres behind the headlight pods. This was superseded by a turbocharged version in 1982, which was Ferrari's first turbocharged road car. Initially only available in closed form, it was designated the 208 GTB Turbo. In 1983 a targa roof 208 GTS Turbo variant became available.

The problem of strangled power was addressed in 1982 with the introduction of the "quattrovalvole" (four valves per cylinder) models, which redressed the balance of power in Ferrari's favour whilst still satisfying emission legislation. There were some small external cosmetic changes to the 308 series, the most noticeable being a revised front grille layout with uncovered driving lights in the extremities, the addition of a slim louvre panel across the front lid and the "308 quattrovalvole" tail badge on both GTB and GTS. In the interior there were subtle changes to the seat stitch pattern, which now featured cloth centres as standard, although full leather was still available upon request, and the steering wheel was of a new three spoke design. The concurrent 208 Turbo models also featured the new front lid louvre but on these models it was painted satin black to match those behind the headlight pods. This model also featured a satin black spoiler at the trailing edge of the roof as standard, which was also available as an option on the 308 quattrovalvole.

The 308 series also spawned some competition development using the model as a base. A brutal 308 based twin-turbo model was developed by Carlo Facetti to contest the 1980 World Endurance Championship. He called it the Carma FF 308 and while blindingly fast it suffered from reliability problems and the project was soon abandoned. More successfully, in the early eighties a series of 308 GTB models were modified by Michelotto of Padova, who have done a large amount of small-series competition development work for Ferrari over the years, to become rally cars.

These were raced with considerable success in Italian national rallies, and also by the French importer CharlesPozzi, whose cars included back-to-back wins in the Tour de France Auto amongst their successes. Whilst on the development front, perhaps mention should also be made of another Michelotto creation, the 308 GT/M, of which just three cars were built in 1984. In appearance it was like a scaled-down 512 BB LM, and featured a longitudinally mounted naturally.phpirated V8 engine mated to a Hewland gearbox, whilst the body was manufactured from composite materials. Its basic shape was to be found later in the 288 Evoluzione, which led into the F40 in 1987.

The ultimate development of the series was launched at the 1984 Geneva Salon, where Ferrari stunned the motoring world when it presented the limited production GTO, with its twin turbo longitudinally mounted 2.8 litre V8 engine producing a claimed 400 bhp. A healthy dose of steroids gave the basically 308 shaped body a muscular stance, with bulging fenders covering split rim wheels, plus deep chin and tail spoilers. There were exhaust air slots in the rear wings, striking an analogy with the front wing slots on the legendary 250 GTO of 1962. It would be fair to call this the original supercar, as its success spawned a plethora of limited series models from other high profile manufacturers.

The 308 series production run came to an end 20 years ago in 1985, a decade after its introduction, when the 328 derivatives were announced at the Frankfurt Salon. The 308 GTB was an important model in the history of Ferrari, as it opened up Ferrari ownership to a much wider range of clients, pushing production figures to levels never previously achieved and, as previously noted, it and its successors have been the mainstay of Ferrari production for three decades and the 308 and 328 still form the core of much Ferrari-based activity today.

* This series were constructed by Michelotto of Padova on chassis from within the production series listed above, except the first which was built on a modified 308 GT4 chassis. Therefore they should not be included in the count of overall numbers built.

Click here to return to the Ferrari Happenings page.

 

'Classic' is an over-used word when applied to cars -but not to this Pininfarina shape

30 years on 308s are still popular - here at this year's AutoItalia festival....

...competing in the FHCC...

...and formula classic

Michelotto 308GTB at this year's Tour Lissac

Rare Michelotto 308 GT/M

288GTO was the ultimate development and the original supercar

What else was going on in '75? 'Bohemian Rhapsody' was No.1 for ever

pics by various