More so than even the Parthenon grille of Rolls Royce, no other icon of automobilia engenders as much lust and envy as does Ferrari’s Prancing Horse. Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Mondial lets you join the horsey set on the cheap, but it’s up to you to say if it’s cheap enough.
After yesterday’s 1982 Honda CBX, I’m thinking we should do more bikes, after all it’d be pretty good for the soul. Also pretty good was the price of that six-packing mega-bike classic as it came away with a solid 71% Nice Price win. Let me tell you something on the down-low, I think that was the right result.
How’s your OCD treating you? Flaring up today? Good, because what you might want to do is pair yesterday’s hot Honda from 1982 with today’s Ferrari Mondial which just so happens to be from that very same year. That’s right, a pair of ‘82s, which makes 164, which is an old Alfa Romeo and we’re not going to talk about those right now.
Instead, let’s have a look at this 2+2 Ferrari. Now, considering that the Mondial is generally considered to be one of Pininfarina’s lesser efforts, and was in fact Ferrari’s most mundane model - and from the ‘80s - it sure had a hell of a run. The 308/328’s more capacious brother was produced from 1980 all the way through to ’93. Over that time its styling was updated, and its engine gained valves and was pivoted North-South instead of East-West, but it never gave up its inherent Mondiality.
This ’82, appropriately enough in Ferrari Red, is an early car and as such it has a number of styling tropes Toyota liberally lifted for the first generation MR2. That styling includes a lot of black trim, a nose that kinda looks like a 288 GTO, and prominent side strakes for the engine’s deep breathing exercises.
The engine doing all that breathing is a 2,927-cc DOHC Tipo F106B V8, here with Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection. That 200-bhp mill is paired like a fine Italian wine with a five-speed manual transmission, actuated via - are you sitting down - a dogleg gated shifter. Let me know when you’re ready to go on.
That shifter sits in a wide central console that also houses the radio somewhat weirdly at about mid-thigh level, just ahead of the seatbelt latches. There’s also randomly placed switches and no cup holders because that’s how it is in Ferrariland.
The first Ferrari I ever drove was a Mondial and I can say from experience that the footwells in these things are tighter than a Scotsman’s purse, and that the driving position is a bit uncomfortable if your name isn’t something like Tony, or maybe Koko.
This one looks to be in serviceable shape, however it’s not going to win any trophies at the horse show. The leather on the pilot’s seat shows signs of wear, as does the carpet and door panels. Of course it is a 33 year old car.
On the outside, the 31,000 mile coupe has paint wearing through on the off-side B-pillar and what looks to be pop-through on the trailing edge of the front fender and the bottom of the door.
Other than that it looks pretty solid in the pics and there doesn’t seem to be any major rust issues or signs of neglect. The seller says the timing belts were done 1,000 miles ago however he doesn’t have any of the service records for the car, having lost them in a move… rut-roh!
A Ferrari Mondial is presently perhaps the least desirable model of what we all know is a majorly desirable marque. That role used to be played by the Bertone designed 308 GT4, but the earlier car has been sent up the ladder and is now considered tres chic.
This in fact might be the cheapest way to get a Prancing Horse in your garage. Of course, without those service records this one might be hiding an issue that could make it one of the most expensive in the long run.
The price, in case you’d like to roll those bones, is $20,995, which seems cheap enough that you’d think it would have sold by now. Apparently it did and then the buyer pulled out at the last minute. That often makes babies, but in this case, didn’t make this Mondial someone else’s new baby.
What’s your take on this cheap seats Ferrari and that $20,995 price? Does that seem like a deal? Or, does this car’s presentation just not add up?
You decide!
eBay out of Pennsylvania, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to BenLikesCars for the hookup!
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