Why does the craigslist ad include a grainy photo of a 356? I'm not complaining, because silver 356 with red interior. Just wondering.

Yeah, I threw the crappy 356 photo in to remind people of why the silver/red combination is so unbelievably cool. I need to update the ad, but I am going to broaden the sales effort out if I don't get a taker near the asking price shortly.

The Ferrari story goes like this: I never really bonded with this Boxster. It's a great car, it just isn't doing anything for me. So I thought I would get rid of it and buy an air-cooled 911--hopefully with a G50 transmission. But the pricing of those things has just gotten stupid. I was looking at all of these overpriced ads and thought to myself--"For these prices you may as well just get a Ferrari."

Oops.

I found an '84 308GTSi Quatrovalvole about an hour away. It met my two conditions--it had to be a driver and it had to be NOT red. I put 10% down and financed the rest of it through PenFed.org and now I'm driving a Grassroots Prancing Horse. Go figure. It's been reasonably well serviced, has Bosch FI, and really isn't as comlicated as you think. The online community is awesome and VERY open to the DIY ethic. Not much pretense at all.

Oh, and it's a Ferrari. Which means kids point and shout, babies cry, and women, well, women...

I, like you prior to getting the Ferrari, would LOVE to pick up a 964, but I'm almost 10 years late to that party. I'd love to get one, but it won't be in the next 5 years, and possibly the next 10. Kudos for thinking outside the box and looking at what you could get for that money when you think about it. My Volvo and 986 projects together will cost less then a 964 currently does.

AaronBalto wrote: Oh, and it's a Ferrari. Which means kids point and shout, babies cry, and women, well, women think I'm Tom Selleck.

Finished that for you. Just last night I was thinking how Magnum P.I. was such a cool show. Selleck was cool, the 308 was awesome, and Hawaii was unspeakably gorgeous.

Congrats on the 308; great purchase decision. What color is it? Post more pictures! And post a video with wide open throttle!

David

Ah, yes, the enduring charm of Mr. Selleck. The color? NOT RED. It's a graphite color--Grigio Ferro. I'm now fluent in Eye-talian.

I like how this was all like, I have a huge sentimental value with this car and want to spend lots of money on preventative maintenance, to I never really bonded with this car so I said screw it and bought a Ferrari.

Winning

The Boxster was my father's car and I really thought it would be cool to hang onto it. Then I realized that he would have sold it in a New York minute to get into a Ferrari. Sentiment issues solved. Next.

AaronBalto wrote: ...And if it blows, it blows. Don't like it? What color Camry would you prefer?

I thought all Camry's were beige?

No, you can get Camry's in silver, too.

Actually, I've never seen a beige Camry. 93% of them are pale gold, however.

As a previous owner of a 308 for the love of the great spaghetti monster check the fuse box for any damage or incorrect assembly over the years.

Mine would have burned to the ground if not for the fire extinguisher I had in the car. Same goes with the fuel lines like all Italian cars.

The Ferrari will require 2x the IMS repair cost in maintenance every 30k miles--but it's a Ferrari. Bravo on the purchase.

FWIW, I'd think the resale on a car with a documented IMS fix would be much better. The first thing I asked my neighbor when he bought his '01 996 was if that was done (it was).

gamby wrote: The Ferrari will require 2x the IMS repair cost in maintenance every 30k miles--but it's a Ferrari. Bravo on the purchase. FWIW, I'd think the resale on a car with a documented IMS fix would be much better. The first thing I asked my neighbor when he bought his '01 996 was if that was done (it was).

Has the OP read GRM's recent story on 308 ownership? Nearly gave me a heart attack!

HiTempguy wrote:

gamby wrote: The Ferrari will require 2x the IMS repair cost in maintenance every 30k miles--but it's a Ferrari. Bravo on the purchase. FWIW, I'd think the resale on a car with a documented IMS fix would be much better. The first thing I asked my neighbor when he bought his '01 996 was if that was done (it was).

Has the OP read GRM's recent story on 308 ownership? Nearly gave me a heart attack!

I did, but that astronomical figure per 30k miles has been well-known for quite some time. My cousin's husband has an 06 F430 that had a $30k repair bill (covered by a $6k/year warranty) a couple of years ago. 2 cracked exhaust manifolds ($10k) and a bad F1 actuator that controls the tranny ($20k). Not for the meek or the poor.

Seriously, put my name on the list when the time comes. I love not-red 308QVs. I looked at a few of them before I bought my Cayman. I will own one some day, though I may hold out for a GTB.

Is that blue or gray? Either one would work for me.

That car is full of win! So sexy...

Here's the Weekend Update:

1) I sold the Boxster for full asking prices. Yes, I had an immediate wave of regret. It's a great car. But it had to go. That's life. But,.no, you don't need an IMS service to get full price. You need an oil analysis report.

2) I had SO MUCH FUN messing around with the 308 this weekend. It's lovely to work on. There seems to be a lot of controversy about how to set the cooling system up. It comes with a kind of light-pressure coolant cap (0.9 Bar, I think.) People seem to like to upgrade to modern coolant and go to a 1.1 Bar cap. The next thing is to decide at what temp the fans should switch on. There are 190 and 180 fan switches. I am going to throw in an adjustable switch and see what the car likes.

3) I have gathered everything I need to deal with the fuse-box upgrade, so I will probably start working on that tonight. From what I am reading, the engine and transmission are pretty stout. But nobody wants to deal with electrical problems, so it makes a lot of sense to deal with that seriously at the outset.

3) I had the wheels off and spent some time just looking things over. Everything on this car is really nicely engineered. It has stock Konis that are weeping a bit on the fronts. When the new wears off I will pull the fronts and have them rebuilt. Probably rebuild the calipers at the same time. Somewhere along the way someone painted them red--How do you say "rice" Italian? Rizzoto? The rears have e-brake arms on them and they don't work well at all.

Anyway, lots to do, but loving every aspect of this.

And Woody, the car is metallic dark grey. A buddy of mine has a dark blue 328 that looks really great. I should probably actually take a minute and wash this car--but I'm having too much fun!

In reply to AaronBalto:

Sounds really nice. I looked at a dark gray (Grigio?) carburated 308 GTS. That may be my favorite Ferrari color.

In reply to AaronBalto: The dark blue is my favorite, my 400i was that color. Striking but understated.

In reply to chandlerGTi:

Pic of blue 400i plz?

Can we get some more pictures pa pa pa pleeeease?

gamby wrote: In reply to chandlerGTi: Pic of blue 400i plz?

I have one crappy picture where it is in the background of my Dakota RT, what's funny is it is in my apartment parking lot. This was in 99 or 00 though, digital cameras were not normal and phones didn't do anything but make calls.

By popular demand, a few more pics:

I finished dorking around with the passenger side mirror and it's back on. Looking forward to some irresponsible driving this weekend.

^Love that Car.