1976 Ferrari 308 GTB Vetroresina

This car, Lot 229, sold for $69,962, including buyer’s premium, on May 11, 2012, at Bonhams’ Monaco Motorcar auction.

Bonhams’ print catalog originally described Ferrari 308 GTB s/n 19755 as a fiberglass dry-sump version, but it is not. This is actually a much rarer car — a wet-sump, fiberglass U.S.-spec car.

The dry-sump fiberglass 308 GTB is the holy grail of 308s. They are also quite elusive. I’ve seen all six of the Bugatti Royales, many of the Ferrari 250 GTOs and most of the 275 GTB NART spiders. I’ve judged V8 Ferraris at scores of Ferrari concours, but I don’t remember ever seeing a dry-sump, fiberglass 308 in the flesh.

The basic 308 configurations are the 308 GT4 (a 2+2) and the GTB and GTS versions. GTB stands for Grand Touring Berlinetta, “Berlinetta” being an Italian word for a small light coupe. GTS stands for Grand Touring Spider.

Italians call two-seat convertibles spiders. The term is thought to be a reference to the top bows looking like spider legs. In the case of a 308 GTS, the top is actually a removable panel that would be called a Targa in Porsche-speak. The first 712 308 GTB bodies were made out of fiberglass; all other 308 models were built out of steel.

308 is Ferrari code for 3 liters and 8 cylinders. All 308s have a four-cam, 3-liter V8 engine. There are different configurations of the basic block, depending on the model, market and year of the car. The first 308 GTB and GTS models and all 308 GT4s have two-valves-per-cylinder engines, with four 2-barrel Weber carburetors. Carbureted motors can have a single distributor or dual distributors, with either dry-sump or wet-sump lubrication.

The carbureted 308s were followed by a two-valve-per-cylinder version with Bosch fuel injection. These models were called GTBi and GTSi. The “i” indicates the fuel-injected engine. The final 308 model featured a four-valve-per-cylinder engine with upgraded Bosch fuel injection. This version was given the name 308 GTB Quattrovalvole and GTS Quattrovalvole to acknowledge the four-valve engine.

Fiberglass cars rule the 308 roost

Escalating emissions standards ruled the 308 era. The race for cleaner exhaust drained horsepower faster than Ferrari’s technology could replace it. The 308 may be the only Ferrari model that had a higher horsepower engine at the beginning of its production than at its end. Ferrari was reluctant to admit their new models had less horsepower than the older ones, so inflated or misleading ratings got thrown around. The truth is, no other 308 engine ever matched the power of the 255-hp, dry-sump engine.

It is the early 308 models that make a collector’s heart flutter. The fiberglass, dry-sump GTBs sit at the top of the 308 collector’s wish list. Collectors like cars that no one else has.

The generally accepted production figure for fiberglass 308s is only 712 cars. There are twice as many F40s as fiberglass, dry-sump 308s. Approximately 100 of the 712 were U.S. versions with wet-sump engines.

Collectors like the highest-performance version of a model. The European dry-sump engine offered the highest performance of the all the 308 engines. The fiberglass 308 cars were the lightest of all the 308s. The combination produced the fastest 308 of the series.

Collectors also like something to brag about, and having one of the only production Ferrari models ever built with a fiberglass body is pretty cool. Score one with a dry-sump engine, and you really have something special.

There weren’t a lot of fiberglass 308s built, and few hit the resale market. There also aren’t a lot of collectors looking for them, but that may soon change. For example, 246 Dinos have moved from the $100,000 range to the $200,000 and $300,000 range.

There’s room for a collectible V8 Ferrari in the $100,000 range. Some Porsche 911s are already past that range. A 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RSL will now sell in the $200,000 market. Porsche built twice as many RSLs as Ferrari built dry-sump fiberglass 308s. Like the RSL, the fiberglass 308s were a lightweight version, and like the RSL, the dry-sump cars were the performance cars of the line. The RSL was the Porsche to have if you wanted to go racing, and so were the fiberglass dry-sump 308s.
But it’s a wet-sump car…
Bonhams first sold 308 s/n 19755 at their 2004 Monaco auction. The auction catalog at that time described the car as a fiberglass dry-sump version. It is not. It is a much rarer — but less desirable — wet-sump U.S. model. The incorrect text was copied almost in entirety from the 2004 catalog and reused in the 2012 catalog, and it again called 19755 a dry-sump car. Before the auction, the mistake was caught, and an addendum that correctly identified the car was added to the online catalog.

The seller claimed to have restored the car in 2005, which is a bit of an exaggeration. The interior appears to be original, and SCM’s auction analyst described the chassis as driver-quality. The incorrect valve-cover finish and worn paint on the air cleaner adds little confidence to the restoration quality.
Our subject car sold in 2004 for about $39,500. This time around, it pulled just shy of $70,000, breaking the $65,000 high estimate. The sale was probably a record for a 308 GTB at auction, but it is not out of line. Recently, an ultra-low-mile U.S. example reportedly sold in the $80,000 range. If a fiberglass 308 can break $100,000, the floodgates will open.

The seller made a tidy profit on 19755 and should be very happy with the sale. The buyer got a great car that may turn out to be a good investment, but, at the moment, let’s chalk this one up for the seller.