Ferrari 308 GTB

Why it matters

Unveiled at the 1975 Paris Salon, the 308 GTB succeeded the Dino 246 as Ferrari’s two-seat, mid-engined berlinetta. Leonardo Fioravanti’s Pininfarina design revived the Dino’s flying-buttress theme in a sharper wedge, with bodies constructed by Scaglietti. The earliest cars used lightweight glass-reinforced-plastic bodywork—Vetroresina in Italian—before steel panels were phased in during 1977, adding approximately 150 kilograms. Its transversely mounted 2,927 cc Tipo F106 AB V8 featured four overhead camshafts, dry-sump lubrication in European specification and four twin-choke Weber carburetors, producing approximately 255 hp through a five-speed manual transaxle. Independent double-wishbone suspension and four-wheel disc brakes delivered exceptional agility. Of the 2,897 carbureted GTBs produced, approximately 712 were the coveted fiberglass-bodied cars that established the 308 as Ferrari’s definitive compact V8 berlinetta.