FERRARI

From 1977, all 308 bodies were made of steel with aluminium doors. In September, at the IAA Frankfurt Motor Show, the 308 GTS convertible was launched, filling the gap left 3 years earlier by the discontinuation of the 246 GTS. Pininfarina used the same principle of a removable roof that stows away behind the seats. The only difference with the GTBs was that the rear quarter windows were replaced by metal fins, which still provided side visibility. The abandonment of polyester shells is certainly justified in these new GTSs, whose rigidity would then have been insufficient. The men from Maranello certainly thought it more logical to standardise the hulls.

Four years later, the 400 GTi marks the switch to K-Jetronic fuel injection. This meant a loss of 25 bhp. Despite this, the car was a huge success, with three times as many units sold as the carburetted version! With an unladen weight of 1,800 kg, compared with 1,700 kg for the carburettor version, the car’s sporty character has been seriously undermined…

How do you fit four seats and a rear mid-engine into the same envelope, while maintaining a flattering and suggestive design in the tradition of Ferrari’s mid-engine Berlinettes? In a way, this was the question put to Pininfarina. The task was a delicate one, but the Italian coachbuilder came through with flying colours. Admittedly, the Ferrari Mondial 8 will never be the most adored Ferrari in the marque’s history. On the other hand, four-seater Ferraris will always lag behind the strict two-seater GTs and sedans in terms of image.

Until now, the Ferrari V8 was powered by 4 Weber 40 DCNF inverted twin-barrel carburettors. But increasingly draconian anti-pollution standards in the USA, Ferrari’s main market, forced Ferrari to modify its entire range. In the same year as the Mondial, the V8 in the 308 range was fitted with Bosch K-Jetronic indirect injection and Marelli Digiplex all-electronic ignition. While the environment benefits, the power output drops. Obviously, while the 308’s aesthetic and roadholding qualities do not suffer, it is pure performance that suffers at every level (top speed, acceleration, acceleration, etc.).

In addition to the engine, a number of changes have been made to improve the 308’s handling. The gearbox control and clutch have been modified to make them easier to handle, while the dry sump and oil tank have been discreetly removed from the European GTB, which was the last 308 to retain this system. On the other hand, all 308s now feature the 4-tailpipe exhaust system. The cabin was slightly redesigned, with a new steering wheel by Enrico Nardi, new upholstery and floor mats, and a different centre console.

On the Italian market, a little tax subtlety reduced VAT to 18% for cars with less than 2 litres of engine capacity. Any car with a larger engine capacity was taxed very heavily. With the Dino 208 GT4, Ferrari had already included a 2-litre atmo in its catalogue, which at the time only developed 170 bhp at 7,700 rpm. This formula met with some success, with 839 cars sold, and Ferrari initially extended the experiment as it stood from 1980 onwards, marketing a 208 GTB and GTS with the same two-litre V8 developing 155 bhp at 6,800 rpm.

Compared to its predecessor, the BB 512i has undergone a number of detailed changes. The front bumper has been fitted with an aerodynamic spoiler following studies in Pininfarina’s brand-new wind tunnel. This improves stability at high speeds. The front indicators slide into the thin blade of the bumper and the rear lights are now round in pairs of two instead of three. A Naca air intake has been added to the lower flanks in front of the rear wheel to optimise brake cooling. The roof was also slightly modified, as a result of the wind tunnel work. To give the car a better foothold on the ground and further improve its handling at high speeds, the wheels were made wider and the same size at the front and rear, making the body 3 cm wider.

The problem of the Mondial’s lack of power was solved as early as August 1982 with the launch of the Mondial Quattrovalvole, equipped with the V8 that had been fitted to the recently launched 308 GTB Quattrovalvole to increase its performance. The name ‘Quattrovalvole’, sometimes abbreviated QV, refers to the engine’s 4 valves per cylinder. The corner line of the Mondial 8 is retained on this model, with a “Quattrovalvole” logo on the rear of the bodywork. A few changes were made to the interior of the Mondial QV, mainly a redesign of the centre console, and a few modifications to the door panels and steering wheel. The chassis and suspension of the Mondial QV are virtually unchanged from those of the Mondial 8.