October 9, 2009
Dino Ferrari 308GT4
And you thought that Adam has run out of Italian cars for the show, guess again! This weeks Featured car is Adam’s own Dino Ferrari 308GT4. This car has a small transverse mounted V8 and has some interesting features, including the Professors hot looking air filters.
**This car is currently for Sale on Ebay Starting 10/27/2009**
Adam is selling this car, check it out on eBay at by clicking the link. Ebay has many more pictures of the car as well.
Ebay Link to Adam Carolla’s Dino Ferrari 308GT4
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haha… its richard hammond’s ferrari from TOP GEAR ….
love all the videos…. but a yellow Ferrari?
I agree with Adam, once you shave the sidemarkers
it’ll look 1k times better
You don’t like team Belgium? The side markers are really stupid looking, these are the ones that Adam loves to rant about.
Sandy
love the yellow known as fly yellow, it’s a classic ferrari color. i’d much rather have a yellow one than a common red one in any model
Beautiful car…. it looks much better than the hyped up Testarossa, the 365 or the horrible F40
Looks like it needs a ring job. Nice anyway.
Hehe, you should see some of the old (low mileage) Lambo’s fire up. My diesel Excursion has less smoke 😉
I always ask if this is a common thing and most of the guys that have them say they all do it (smoke) until they are warmed up… Go figure. Not sure if rings, valve guides, or what, but seems to be common on many of the older cars. One thing is that car has not run in a few years but I’ll expect it to puff one way or the other 😉
One nut job told me they are built loose for performace so they smoke a little, I grinned, nodded my head and walked away 😉
Sandy
Or it could just be that these were built in the days before sophisticated computer-controlled choke systems. When cold they naturally run a tad rich and smoke a bit. Besides there is no aroma so intoxicating to a gearhead than slightly rich exhaust! Add in a loud burble on the throttle overrun while downshifting and you have a full sensual symphony!
I’m a habitual car photographer and I have a friend with a Dino 308GT4… This car looks fantastic in close up shots with a very wide angle lens. Lots of wonderful little details that are invisible from 20 feet. The intakes as Adam mentioned, the top-mounted “grille”, lots of interesting bends and gaps in the sheet metal. Wonderful car! Thanks for sharing.
–chuck
Hey Chuck, my ears are burning! Yes, I’ve owned a Dino 308gt/4 for 10 years. Many of the comments in the video are right on target (side-markers, air cleaner). What was not mentioned is that this car has a perfect 50/50 balance and is one of the best handling Ferrari models ever built. That, is the real reason to own one. On a twisty road it is as good as it gets. They do smoke a bit when started cold but what I saw was a bit much. Lack of use and dry seals are the likely reasons for this. Get it out and drive it! One more tip. If the cam belts are even close to 30K miles or five years, don’t wait to put in new ones!
Well balanced car certainly. With all the mass placed in the center of the car it has an extremely low polar moment of inertia which makes turn in absolutely effortless and with razor sharp precision. It also makes the car more prone to an outright spin, but very controllable with cat like reflexes from the steering and the throttle. Not a 50/50 front to rear balance though. I believe it is closer to 42/58, most of the weight is in the rear half of the car, albeit not all the way in the rear like a 911.
I have the Magnum version btw.
Love the Dino Ferrari. The gauge layout w/ the large toggle switches and all is one of my favorite clusters of all time.
God damn those side markers are crazy big. I like the car, its different, if it wasnt yellow you could almost say it was understated. Light car, good V8, bit of work (NOT NOZZZZZ) and it would proberly take most cars off the line, plus its a Ferrari, who wouldnt want to own one, not matter what model it is….Even a Modial (I’d have it if it was given to me haha)!
Awesome podcast guys, listen to it all the way down here in Australia, would really love to hear your thoughts on some Aussie made cars, you have the Pontiac GTO and the G8 (Holden Commadore) and I have seen Adam test one.
Cheers
Jayson
Smoke is a looking a little blue. But, hey, it’s a handbuilt car with 45K miles (at least) that probably smoked when it had 10K on the clock.
Adam is so spot on with the stupid ass DOT crap they put on these cars. I guess recent euro cars have adopted all the DOT specs so we don’t notice it as much, but the man sure knew how to screw up a nice piece.
Also, Adam should really do a carcast making fun of the ricer culture. He’s constantly hinting at it when he disses slammed acuras, and the nozzzzzzz. I think it would be a great carcast. Yeah, you can build a ‘ghia that will be faster than a 599 in a drag race (or insert your favorite Civintegra here), but NOBODY will mistake you for anything but a poser.
This is one of the ugliest Ferrari’s I think I have ever seen… the Dino was a turd. Although if you want to give me one I’ll take it off your hands. But as I stated, UGLY car.
Hey Professor,
Were those pipercross airfilters hard to fit to the carbs? Did you use one of their base kits?
Shame to see it on the market but it will make somebody pretty happy! At least I could say Adam has one….
Spencer
They didn’t seem to have a base for the 308GT4 so I picked up a couple of blank bases that were the right length, some paper to make a pattern and made them up. Be careful on the orientation since the air filters have tabs that get in the way if you orient it and check things with filters attached. Mock up or you will have to so some hack work like I did after the fact. It would have been easy, if I did. Still pretty easy, I used my Miller plasma cutter and a small grinder to clean it up and make it fit. I think the carbs were DCNF’s but honestly don’t remember, but I did use the orig air filter box to get the pattern so start with that.
Yes on the pipercross as well.
Sandy
What would you charge to fab up another set?
Just buy Adam’s car and change them out 😉
No time really to do it. It was not really that hard since you have the base of the stock air box as a pattern. You would need a small saw, drill and a file and you could do it with a bit of time. Most any shop should be able to make them if you can’t.
Sandy
I have never really liked the “boxy” Dinos, but they are growing on me a lot. Yours looks very nice!
Gee, I am disappointed! My Series One European model Dino 308gt4 built in August, 1974 doesn’t smoke. Is there something wrong with it? It has 68,000 kilometers on the clock and performs effective well. It will still top 155 MPH. One of only 10 Series One’s in the USA. What would suggest I do to get it to smoke? I believe it is onld enoug to smoke.
Ha you have the one car! Nice, and not picking on your model but lets face it more often then not they do have that puff before they get warm. Not a big deal just not the greatest oil control in those cars.
Sandy