Tag Archives: 328

Road Legal Ferrari’s A Brief History – Niello Serrano Concours

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For Ferrari Friday GALPOT continues yesterdays perusal of vehicles on display at the Niello Serrano Concours thanks to Geoffrey Hortons photographs.

Ferrari 250 GTE 2 + 2, Niello Serrano Concours

First up a Ferrari 250 GT/E 2+2, one these models was Enzo Ferrari’s daily driver, early GALPOT readers may remember such a vehicle appearing in a previous blog, albeit modified into a replica 250 GT SWB Competizione.

Ferrari 275 GTS, Niello Serrano Concours

More exclusive, one of just 200 models built between 1965 and 1968, is this Ferrari 275 GTS powered by a 3.3 litre / 201 cui V12.

Ferrari Dino, Niello Serrano Concours

The V6 Ferrari Dino had been in production for two years and two distinct series from 1969 to 1971 before the first Series III Dino’s were manufactured for the US market, this is one of 1,431 Series III Dinos produced between 1971 and 1974.

Ferrari 365 GTC/4, Niello Serrano Concours

Manufactured between 1971 and 1972 the Ferrari 365 GTC/4 is a 2+2. One of the 500 examples produced appeared in the 1977 film Herbie Goes To Monte Carlo alongside several other Ferraris including a slightly more powerful 365 GTB/4 Daytona with which the GTC/4 shares a common chassis.

Ferrari 328 GTS, Niello Serrano Concours

Representing Maranello’s prancing black horse for the 1980’s at Niello Serrano was this Ferrari 328 GTS of which some 7400 were manufactured between 1985 and 1989.

Ferrari 550, Niello Serrano Concours

Ferrari returned to manufacturing motor cars with the engine in front of the driver in 1996 with the beefy 550. With a boot / trunk large enough to carry a set of golf clubs the Ferrari 550 was turned into a handy racer at Le Mans by the likes of Prodrive.

Ferrari 360, Niello Serrano Concours

Twentieth model in Ferraris catalogue of street legal exotics is the Ferrari 360 a model produced from 1999 – 2005 which you may remember from an earlier blog was made available with an optional Tubi Style exhaust to provide extra horsepower and amplify the sound.

Ferrari F430, Niello Serrano Concours

With a 200 mph top speed the Ferrari F430 that replaced the 360 in 2004 arguably had no need of gimmicks like optional Tubi Style exhausts. It looks good, sounds good and goes fast, pretty much everything one could want from a Ferrari except of course it’s replacement the F458 Italia.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing the delights of the California Concours season with us at GALPOT, I look forward to seeing what motoring delights he will find next year.

Thanks for joining me for Ferrari Friday, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at an innovative Lotus with a body designed by Peter Kirwan-Taylor. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Baby Testarossa – Ferrari 348 TS

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On Monday I looked at the GMC Syclone that was faster than a Ferrari, up to the 1/4 mile, today I am looking at the Spyder version of the Ferrari 348 that Car & Driver pitted the Syclone against in a road test.

Ferrari 348ts, BIAMF

The Ferrari 348 replaced the Ferrari 328 in 1989,

Ferrari 348ts, BIAMF

taking many of it’s striking styling queues from the Testarossa launched in 1984. The side mounted radiators meant passengers did not get toasted by the radiator pipes that ran alongside the cabin of the earlier 328 which featured a radiator mounted in the nose.

Ferrari 348ts, BIAMF

The 300 hp V8 motor was mounted longitudinally with a transverse gearbox ahead of the rear wheels, the opposite configuration of the earlier 328 which featured a transverse V8 engine and longitudinal gearbox.

Ferrari 348ts, BIAMF

While the Syclone proved faster than the 348 up to the 1/4 mile it soon ran out of puff when it reached 126 mph meaning this is the view Syclone drivers would get of the Ferrari as it powered up to 166 mph in a straight race.

Ferrari 348ts, BIAMF

8844 of these vehicles were produced from 1989 to 1995.

Thank for joining on this Ferrari Friday edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Did Magnumpi pass on this ? – Ferrari 328 GTS

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It must say something about the power of television that all though I have rarely watched it as an adult, I still know things about some of the folks who inhabit that world. Back in the 80’s there was a private eye show, the mother of a friend of mine used to refer affectionately to as ‘Magnumpi’, a private eye who lived in some completely improbable paradise and blagged pretty much everything he needed, including a Ferrari 308 GTS, from some benevolent fellow with a clipped English accent called Higgins.

Even though I never saw an entire episode I do know, but don’t ask me how, that Magnumpi decided to trade in his bachelor life style for a family and a regular (?) job in the Navy when the show came to an end. Today’s car the 328 GTS is probably the vehicle Magnumpi would have upgraded to if he had not been so rash.

The 328 GTS (GTS meaning Gran Turismo Spider – Targa top as opposed to its sibling the hard top GTB – Gran Turismo Berlinetta) out sold the GTB 5 to 1 between 1985 to 1989. It was powered by a 270 hp, 4 valve per cylinder, 3185 cc / 194 cui V8 good for taking the car to 60 mph in less than six seconds and on to over 160 mph.

328’s are considered by Ferrari aficionados to be the most reliable Ferrari’s ever built, because the engine does not need to be removed from the vehicle for routine maintenance. Just the kind of convenience a family man might be looking for, shame the 328 only has two seats !

Slightly Off Topic postscript to yesterdays blog I’d like to welcome everyone who has popped in from the Ferrari Chat Forum, and thank Julio Batista whose Dad raced 500 TRC #0698 against Armando Garcia Cifuentes, Julio kindly posted a photograph of 500 TRC #0690, the subject of yesterdays blog, which shows the extent of the damage sustained after its horrendous accident in Havana.

Thanks for popping by, I hope you’ll join me for an amazing life is stranger than fiction story about a small but hugely storied car from the United States tomorrow, don’t forget to come back now !

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