If you’re planning on making the Ferrari dream come true on a limited budget, joining the club doesn’t come cheaper than buying a Mondial. Referred to as Tipo F108, the mid-engine V8 grand tourer isn’t only the cheapest Prancing Horse around but also the most unloved model to come out of Maranello.
The successor of the 308 GT4 and predecessor of the California takes its name from… wait for it… the French word for global. Designed by the man who also penned 365 GTB/4 Daytona and F40 special edition, the Mondial was revealed with plenty of pomp and circumstance at the 1980 Geneva Motor Show.
Little did Ferrari know, but the Tipo F108 went on to become the laughing stock of motoring journalists and car enthusiasts from all across the world. On the other hand, the people who dismiss the Mondial have either experienced a better mid-engined machine or they can't get outside of the comfort zone of their Mustangs, M3s, Miatas, and all that jazz.
The styling isn’t up to snuff, your mechanic will love you considering the worrying reliability record, and handling doesn’t compare to that of the 308 GT4 before it. While some of us denigrate the Mondial, others are aware than a flop like this fellow here also embodies the prestige and mystique of the Cavallino Rampante.
Ferrari lover John Pogson, who’s raced and built Ferraris in addition to collecting them, defends the Mondial whenever possible. The Drive ran a segment on Pogson and the Mondial in 2016, and the verdict is simple. The maligned grand tourer with a gated manual transmission and Bertone styling “is one of the coolest, most accessible Ferraris around; not some lowly, Italian worm.”
Pogson used to race F40s back in the day, and “he doesn't care what you say about it.”
In conclusion, buy that Mondial if you feel like it. The snobs may look down on your decision, but at the end of the day, it’s your money and the car is more than adequate for a leisurely drive on winding roads on a sunny Sunday.
Autotrader and a few other car sales websites have plenty of Mondials on offer, and the cheapest we could find in the United States at the time of writing is a 1989 cabriolet with 41,794 miles on the odometer. Other cheap Ferrari models worth taking into consideration – as long as you’re prepared to spend a few bucks maintaining them – are the 308 GT4 mentioned a little earlier, the 400 series that Daft Punk drove in the science-fiction film Electroma, and the 348.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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