Welcome to Found Around Town, where we feature cars we find in a city where interesting ones are rare because everyone drives a Prius or rides a bicycle: Austin, Texas.
As I troll around the capital of Texas in search of interesting cars, I think I discovered what may be the ultimate hipster supercar: this mid-80s Ferrari 3.2 Mondial Cabriolet.
Austin is full of hipsters who prefer warm weather to places like Brooklyn or Boulder. As such, it's a city where vintage cameras, vinyl and clothes are extremely popular among the young folk. (Not that I'm judging them; I love Grizzly Bear and food trailers as much as the next guy.) But if you're a hipster who prefers a mid-engine performance machine to a fixxie, what are you supposed to drive?
I think this is it. It's from the '80s, it's not vintage enough to completely break your bank like a 1960s 250 or something, and it's also kind of obscure. In fact, I could just picture some mustachioed guy sipping a Lone Star at a house party and bragging about it. "It's a 3.2 Mondial. You've probably never heard of it before."
Anyway, I found the car in front of a Ferrari dealership of all places, where it was positively dwarfed by the massive FF sitting inside. This Mondial packed a mid-mounted 3.2-liter V8 good for about 260 horsepower. Interestingly enough, it's a 2+2, not a two-seater. Inside, we have a tan interior and — this is my favorite part — a gated five-speed manual shifter. Those are just so damned cool, man. It's a shame the gated manual is going away.
The one I found had a few rough spots, mainly on the paint and the front end. Overall it seemed to be in decent shape. Hopefully, driving it makes the owner very happy, because we all know the maintenance costs do not.