The inevitable ban of cars powered by fossil fuels means that we should enjoy them while we still can. On this premise, Chris Harris went out and bought himself an old Ferrari Mondial, which he plans to use on a constant basis, and maybe drive it to the South of France one day.
Nevertheless, it is going to be a rather long journey before he will fully enjoy his new, old Prancing Horse machine, because it may look very good inside and out, but it needs a little bit of TLC in the engine compartment and underneath.
Harris said that his Mondial leaks fuel, which is why he drove it with a fire extinguisher in the back, and that the underside needs some welding. New tires are also on the list, because the Michelins currently hugging those classic rims are probably more than 20 years old. Also, putting the roof up requires a lot of manual labor and steady hands.
Ferrari built the Mondial between 1980 and 1993, and while the first ones were “laughable”, according to the Top Gear co-presenter, this one “feels proper spritely to me”.
It is a Mondial 3.2 Convertible, made in 1988, with a 3.2-liter (hence the suffix) V8 engine that made almost 270 HP back in the day. Harris claims that despite tipping the scales at around 3,500 lbs (1.6 tons), it is quite agile, and a joy to drive, especially with that mid-engine layout and gated manual transmission.
The Mondial is “the perfect antidote for the new car market”, Harris said, admitting that he paid just a little over £21,000 for it, equaling to almost $30,000 at the current exchange rates.
Mind you, that’s used BMW 4 Series Convertible territory, or new, decent-specced Volkswagen Polo realm, for a real Ferrari that’s still capable of putting a big smile on the faces of those holding the wheel, which is a win-win in our book.
After a series of unfortunate events put an end to Cristian's dream of entering a custom built & tuned old-school Dacia into a rally competition, he moved on to drive press cars and write for a living. He's worked for several automotive online journals and now he's back at autoevolution after his first tour in the mid-2000s. Full profile
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