1978 | Ferrari 308 GTS

This early 308GTS has come to us from the long term owner, who purchased her at 26.050 miles in 2004

The history goes back to 1988 at which point the speedometer was showing 14654 on her MoT when she was 10 years old

Anyhow going back to the recent long term owner, she was kept in his motor house in South West Hertfordshire, hence servicing works were carried out mainly by Carl at Verdi Supercars or DK Engineering

There are a raft of invoices since his purchase as well MoT certificates back 37 years to validate the mileage since

Carl has recently finished a full repaint in Rosso Corsa which looks, as you can see in the pictures, immaculate

He also carried out a service which included a cam belt replacement - so all good news

Also he replaced the speedometer unit a couple of months after the last owner purchased her in 2004 and a new unit was installed - so the actual combined reading from the two speedometers is 33.345, showing that in his 21 year tenure he has hardly really used her at all

Before we had a professional photographer shoot this beauty, we asked our friendly ex-Connolly leather specialist ( over 30 years plying his trade ) to refresh the interior leather, so she looks 'as sharp as a pin' now

As an early car she has the benefit of non standard extras, such as deep front spoiler, roof spoiler, 16" alloys and the quad Ansa exhaust set up to the rear

Also the 'new' to the 308 was this small capacity V8 of just below 3.0 litres - a truly amazing piece of engineering design

Quad camshafts, 4 double choke Weber carburettors giving 255bhp (Jaguar's 5.3 litre V12 gave 271bhp) spinning up to 7750rpm giving this stunning looking car, according to the US magazine Road & Track, 0 - 60 mph in 5.7 seconds and topping out at a very creditable 157mph - truly astounding for such a small engine in this days

Why bother buying a Boxer, at that time, when the younger brother was just about fast as the big brother with the 512 BB just snatching victory with 5.3 seconds

This is probably why only 66 were sold in the UK against the 308 GTS having 184 in the UK

Hence these "little" Ferrari's have a huge following, as the blend of classic Pinninfarina allure together with astonishing handling and raw performance from the 3:0 litre V8 sound track is almost impossible to replicate with any other motor