Wading into Ferrari ownership with a Dino 308 GT4

In all my travels, I had only been to Italy once, so I was excited to finally spend some meaningful time in the birth country of my beloved Alfa Spider. About two years ago, our friends invited us there to join them. 

But our friends’ focus was on another Italian marque. That marque was Ferrari.

[We planned our own European road trip–and you can, too]

Thanks to their friends at Ferrari of Austin, we were afforded a very deluxe experience in Modena with a factory tour, a trip to the Ferrari museum, and a visit to the place where seriously wealthy people can choose absurdly priced options to make their new Ferrari even more special. We ended this truly magical experience with lunch at Enzo Ferrari’s favorite lunch spot, Ristorante Cavallino.

I have never owned a Ferrari, nor have I really ever wanted to own one. As a rough-around-the-edges kid growing up in a Ford dealership, I was a Cobra fan who saw Ferraris as something to be pummeled, not fawned over. 

Despite my misgivings over what this day in Modena cost (the dealer in Austin, not us), I was skeptical at best. By midday, I was transformed. I had seen the light, and that light shone racing red–or, as we say in Modena, Rosso Corsa.

And so the search began. I had dragged home and restored just about every other marque, so why not a Ferrari?

Choosing your first Ferrari is a bit intimidating. The storied company has built a myriad of models starting in 1947, and the prices range from expensive to insane.

I decided very quickly that I wanted a classic Ferrari. I’m a sports car guy, not a supercar guy. And frankly, I struggle with a lot of the imagery associated with newer cars of the marque. Showing off wealth is not something I need to do.

And being the cheapskate that I am, I decided the budget needed to be under $100,000–and preferably way under $100,000. These parameters made the choices much simpler, as there are only a few cars that fit these parameters. 

After driving a few cars, including the Mondial, I decided that the Dino 308 GT4, built from 1974 to ’80, hit all my buttons. First, it has that unmistakable wedge styling done by Marcello Gandini while he was at the Bertone studio. While many still haven’t warmed up to this style (think Fiat X1/9 or Lotus Esprit), I like it, and it looks like nothing else in my garage.

[Ferrari Dino 308 GT4: Buy one now? | Buyer's Guide]

I talked to friends who own these cars. When guys like Jason Cammisa, Bruce Trenery, and Larry Webster told me they’re amazing cars, I was willing to listen.

I began reading everything I could about these cars, from our own buyer’s guide to original Road & Track reviews. I then watched every video I could find. By a stroke of incredible luck, while at the Beaulieu swap meet last year, I stumbled on an original 308 GT4 brochure for about $10.

While at Monterey last summer, I finally got to sit in one. The experts at the Gooding auction kindly let me check out the car, even though I made it clear that I was still in the research phase of the hunt. I would not be a bidder that day. 

I fit quite well. And looking through that Momo wheel at those Veglia gauges made me realize that, yes, a Ferrari was for me.

In the past, I have jumped on the first car I’ve seen, often to learn soon after that perhaps I made a mistake. This time, I was bit more patient.

I studied harder. I used Bring a Trailer, Hagerty’s valuation tools and other sources to determine which one I wanted and what the cars were actually worth.

Prices ranged from less than $50,000 to well over $100,000 for a concours-correct car. I didn’t need the best one; I wanted a car that I could take on one of our road tours.

I still hadn’t driven one until very recently. Fate had me in South Florida on another errand–ironically, to buy another car, a Mustang GT, for our sister publication.

A new friend who had come on one of our tours had told me that he had one and was thinking of selling it. It was an early car, which is lighter and faster. In my opinion, its grille looks a bit more classic. The car had air conditioning and wore red over tan leather, my ideal combination. 

I know that an experienced Ferrari aficionado will say that red is for beginners, but heck, in the world of Ferraris, I was a neophyte and, damn it, I wanted a red one.

The car had some needs but seemed basically sound. By the time I’d gotten it into redline in third gear, I was hooked. That flat-plane crank V8 singing through that Ansa exhaust truly mesmerized me. It was a life-changing moment. 

I couldn’t get that driving experience out of my head. So, after a bit of haggling–and after selling a couple of other cars–at 65 years old, I am now, finally, in the Ferrari fold.

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