The traffic is moving slowly; often, we are sitting still. This is, after all, peak afternoon rush hour in Cape Town, South Africa. A freshly restored 308 GTB is arguably not the best car to pilot through this slow-moving mass, but at least my fellow road users have ample opportunity to see a “brand new” classic Ferrari, responding with smiles and thumbs up.
I have to admit, it’s also pretty special from inside the car. Five years ago, this 308 had not run in more than a decade, and, as the pictures illustrate, at the time it was in a horrible state.
“Barn find” is a phrase that brings up countless thoughts and dreams; the experience is something many of us hope will happen someday. However, as one journalist wrote several years ago, thanks to this appeal all those proverbial barns much surely be empty by now. Plus, due to the internet and social media, the publicity surrounding the first sniff of such a find quickly spreads, ruining the romance and subjecting even the most far-gone cars to bidding wars.
Still, these finds do pop up here and there, if rarely nowadays—and even more so when it comes to Ferraris. But, as the owner of this 1980 example found out, it does still happen. And his story of finding this car in the back yard of a home not far from Cape Town’s central business district is almost unbelievable.
One day in 2019, the father of a colleague of current owner Stuart Mackay-Davidson [whose collection we featured in issue #210’s “Making Memories”—Ed.] saw the Ferrari advertised online. There was no picture accompanying the ad, however, so he figured it was either a con or some type of kit car.
“The way the car was advertised and how it all turned out was very unusual,” explains that colleague, Jacques. “We went to the house, and immediately the then-owner said no pictures were allowed. I walked down the driveway, had a closer look under the cloth and plastic covers, and realized it was a real 308. All of us were simply astonished to have found this car, especially considering where it was and in the state it was in.”
One almost never sees a Ferrari in this condition, a result of it being parked outside for numerous years. Cape Town has both very wet winters and very hot summers, which dried out all the perishables and led to rust invading a number of panels, especially the bottoms of the doors. Luckily, the windows had been left closed and no parts had been removed, meaning the accident-free 308 was still complete.
“When I looked at the chassis number, I realized it was very high,” Jacques continues about a car that turned out to be one of the last five carbureted 308s built. “That was when I told Stuart, a passionate collector, to come and have a look because I thought it could be a special car to buy. Some negotiations were done after a second visit, and the next day we collected the car on a low-bed truck.”
GIVEN THE 308’S CONDITION, a simple refreshening was never in the cards. The only plan that made sense was to completely disassemble the Ferrari and perform a full-on nut-and-bolt restoration.
Mackay-Davidson had worked with Ferrari specialist Carlo Viglietti before, when the latter had fully restored a ’69 Daytona for him. So the 308 was quickly entrusted to Viglietti, who also recognized the project’s potential and immediately set to work once the car arrived in his workshop.
“The car was purchased in 2019, but then the pandemic happened, obviously throwing a spanner in the works,” explains Viglietti. “Eventually, once properly on the go, we found the level of corrosion being the most significant damage on the car, owing to where it stood and the period of time it stood there.
“This has probably been the worst car I have had to deal with since I started working on cars in the 1970s,” he adds. “Under normal conditions, the cars I’ve restored are usually running, and you can make significant progress fairly quickly while taking it apart. Here, it was not the case. The rust had really settled into every nook and cranny. Even when I wanted to take the seats out, the bolts holding the seat rails down were so seized that I had to use a small angle grinder to cut them loose. That was also the case with the suspension parts, where a lot of bolts were seized solid.”
Surprisingly, there was almost no rust in the floor or chassis. The only thing that required repair was a small spot on the radiator mounts under the front hood, which was duly cut out and rewelded. The steel bodywork was a different story, however.
“I’m fortunate to be connected with good people who have the necessary skills,” says Viglietti. “We took the body right down to bare metal. They cut away all the rust and remanufactured the steel panels. We never bought a single new panel, everything was made locally here in Cape Town. The guys really did a fantastic job.”
More challenges arose when Viglietti turned his attention to the 2.9-liter V8. That’s when he discovered that the engine was seized, and the water passages were filled with corrosion. Luckily, after disassembling the engine, he discovered the aluminum block and cylinder heads themselves were not damaged, so could be water blasted—along with every other aluminum casing in the engine bay—and cleaned. Afterward, new pistons, rings, valves, gaskets, and more were installed.
“In the gearbox, we found a little corrosion in the differential’s planetary gears,” Viglietti adds, noting there were no other problems with the car’s original transaxle. “But we managed to clean that up.”
While the engine parts were away for cleaning, Viglietti personally tackled, among many other jobs, the carburetors. He took them completely apart—the shafts, butterflies, jets, everything—and rebuilt them to spec. The pedal box likewise had to be stripped and rebuilt, with several parts sent away for cadmium plating. The pedals themselves were powder coated. But some parts couldn’t be saved and had to be replaced with new ones.
“We replaced the windshield because it was starting to delaminate,” says Viglietti. “The rear glass was still fine, and obviously all the rubbers [gaskets] were replaced. We also fitted a new wiring harness. That is very important, since when you start putting a car back together, there’s just no way of doing a proper job without fitting a brand-new wiring harness.
“The braking system is also completely new,” he continues. “If you look underneath the car, everything is cadmium-plated that is supposed to be plated. There is a new oil cooler and new oil lines. On the 308, you have aluminum pipes that run through the center of the chassis from the engine to the radiator, and these were corroded as well. You won’t know, but we’ve used stainless-steel pipes instead of aluminum pipes, which will last longer. To replace them at a later stage is a massive, engine-out job. We view it as a product improvement step.”
Another minor departure from original came with the Ferrari’s exhaust, which had to be replaced from manifolds to muffler. While the car had left the factory with a single-outlet exhaust, Mackay-Davidson opted for a four-outlet exhaust.
“The fitting of this option is debatable, but at the end of the day it was an option offered by Ferrari at the time,” Viglietti says. “If you read the period reviews, the car feels a little asthmatic with the single-pipe exhaust system. The car doesn’t rev and breathe as easily as it could.”
It’s worth mentioning that, once you’ve seen, heard, and experienced a four-outlet exhaust system on a 308, it’s very hard to expect anything less. To most of us, in fact, the mere idea of a single-exhaust, eight-cylinder Ferrari simply sounds inappropriate.
With the car’s mechanicals and bodywork nearing completion, it was time to address the paint and interior. Mackay-Davidson had managed to track down the factory build sheets, which revealed that the 308 was originally black with tan interior and black carpets. But when Viglietti had stripped the bodywork, there had been no sign the car had ever been painted anything but red.
Further research soon revealed that the 308, which was always intended for South Africa, was indeed originally ordered in Nero—but had been changed to red while the car was on the production line, which meant the body was never painted in the color it was first ordered. Mackay-Davidson decided to “return” the car to its as-ordered color, and Harry van der Pol from Panelcor in Cape Town expertly sprayed the renewed exterior in black.
“The seat covers were done by Tappezzeria Luppi in Modena, Italy, to original specification,” notes Viglietti of the all-new tan interior. “He is a master at his work and also did the Daytona seats for us a few years ago. The dashboard, center console, and door pockets are vinyl.”
All told, the restoration took nearly five years. As you can imagine, it’s not easy to keep track of all the moving parts during that time.
“You have to work in a methodical way,” explains Viglietti, “and sometimes a lot of time passes between the smaller projects within the restoration. I’ve done it so many times, and the memory of doing it is in my head, but I still have to use the spares book to double check every part.”
Needless to say, the transformation is incredibly impressive. Even though I know how a literal rust bucket can be transformed, seeing this car in real life is jaw-dropping. And nearly as astonishing, the owner hands me the keys when it’s time to take the Ferrari out of town for its first real drive.
I’VE NEVER DRIVEN A 308 GTB BEFORE, and my first impression after sliding inside is that this car wasn’t made for my six-foot-one frame. The cabin is surprisingly tight, headroom is very limited, and the driver sits very close to the passenger. But with the seat moved all the way back and reclined beyond ideal, I’m able to get comfortable enough to inspect my surroundings.
That’s when I discover I’ve been transported 45 years into the past, with a small and beautifully simple MOMO three-spoke steering wheel situated dead ahead. The tall gear lever, with its dog-leg first, sits handily just beside my leg.
Further back on my right resides all the 1980s’ switchgear, but I won’t need any of those charming black-tipped switches and levers today. The only control I’ll be using is the indicator stalk, and twisting the end of it causes the headlights to pop up—what a sight!
Looking down into the footwell, I see that one bottom corner of the brake and clutch pedals has been cut away. It’s a smart idea, allowing me to slide my left foot to the left of the clutch pedal and rest it underneath, as well as making room for my right foot to depress the throttle without accidentally hitting the brake.
Pulling away, I’m immediately amazed at how easy it is to drive the car. There’s an aptly mechanical action to the shifting, which is an integral part of the era’s Ferrari experience, and the clack-clack sound when the lever touches the metal of the open gate only adds to the drama.
I have a good view over the hood, and, with my feet in line with the front wheels, guiding the car through the corners comes very naturally. I’m not chasing the V8’s redline today—only 120 miles have been added to the odometer since the engine rebuild—but when I push the throttle in third or fourth gear at 3,000 rpm, the car starts accelerating with intent. In lower gears, the tachometer needle swings rapidly into the middle of the rev range before I purposely short-shift. The engine note sounds deep and crisp, while the carburetors’ induction noise is nearby and engaging.
The car’s low weight adds to the enjoyment as I push harder through curves and under braking. Also noteworthy here is the steering weight, which feels light around the center but progressively loads up as I rotate the wheel. Honestly, it feels practically perfect.
This was the reborn Ferrari’s longest journey so far, and I’m glad to have captured the moment, after a mammoth, four and half year job. The end result was unquestionably worth the effort, the combination of classic design and good performance for the era making this drive an experience to remember. I may be new to the 308 GTB, but having driven a number of other Ferraris from the 1960s to the ’90s, I think the model arguably ranks as one of the de facto classics to consider buying. It’s that compelling.
