1982-1985 Ferrari 208 GTB Turbo

Inspired by the success turbo-charging had on the Formula 1 competitions, Ferrari decided to adopt it on road-cars and in 1982 they revealed the 208 GTB Turbo, a model created specially for the Italian market. It remained into production until 1985 with 437 units produced.

Ferrari also needed a car with small displacement in order to avoid huge taxes at the moment. As a result the 328 was built in order to redress the power difference between the 2 litre and 3 litre engines, without increasing the tax burden on the client.

As usual the man behind the car’s look was Pininfarina who adopted a very small body with a deep front spoiler with a row of five horizontal cooling slots just below the radiator grille and the front lid featured a row of satin black finished louvres to increase airflow through the radiator, due to the higher temperatures created by the turbocharging of the engine.

On the lower body sides just in front of each rear wheel arch there was a NACA duct, and a spoiler was fitted to the rear of the roof between the buttresses that ran into the rear wings. The tail of the car featured a badge proclaiming “Turbo” and the twin paired exhaust pipes were within shrouds. Pirelli P 7 tyres on 16” rims were available as an option to the standard metric Michelin TRX tyres.