Ferrari 328

Ferrari 328 at a glance

All Ferrari models of the period are in the Ferrari catalogue.

History: from the 308 to the 328

By the mid-1980s the 308 had been in production for ten years. Rather than design a new car, Ferrari updated it. The 328 was presented at the Frankfurt motor show in 1985, alongside the four-seat Mondial 3.2. Ferrari's own description is simple: the 328 is essentially a revised 308 GTB.

Before the final car, Ferrari tried another idea. In the summer of 1984 it built a prototype, chassis 49543, as a soft-top convertible. The open car was dropped, and the 328 kept the two body styles of its predecessor: the GTB berlinetta with a fixed roof and the GTS with a removable roof panel.

The 328 remained in production for four model years, from 1986 to 1989. In autumn 1989 it was replaced by the 348 tb. Ferrari calls the 328 GTB and GTS the final developments of its normally aspirated transverse V8 two-seat series, so the 328 was therefore the last of Ferrari's transverse V8 two-seaters, a line that had begun with the 308 GTB in 1975.

Design: what changed from the 308

Leonardo Fioravanti at Pininfarina, who had drawn the 308, also revised it for the 328. The wedge shape became softer, with a rounder nose and a new tail panel. Bumpers in body colour were integrated into the front and rear panels, as on the Mondial 3.2. The louvres behind the headlight pods were removed, and the front lid got a larger outlet for the radiator air. Even the door catches were new.

Inside, Ferrari changed the seat upholstery and stitching, the door panels and the switches. The instruments, with orange markings on black and back-lighting, came from the 1984 288 GTO, and a Momo steering wheel was fitted. Options included air conditioning, a leather dashboard and headlining, metallic paint, Pirelli P7 tyres and a rear spoiler, which was standard in Japan.

The body was still built mainly of steel, with an aluminium front lid. Wikipedia notes that the use of galvanised steel was an important improvement in corrosion protection over earlier models.

Engine and gearbox

The engine, type F105CB, is a development of the four-valve V8 of the 308 Quattrovalvole. The bore grew to 83 mm and the stroke to 73.6 mm, giving 3,185 cc. Fuel injection is still the mechanical Bosch K-Jetronic, now combined with Marelli MED 806 A electronic ignition. Ferrari quotes 199 kW (270 PS) at 7,000 rpm. That is about 63 kW per litre, against about 61 kW per litre for the earlier four-valve 308. Wikipedia gives a torque of 304 Nm.

The engine is mounted across the car behind the cabin. The five-speed all-synchromesh gearbox sits in unit with it, below and behind the sump, and is operated through Ferrari's traditional open gate.

Chassis and brakes

The frame is a tubular steel structure with oval-section tubes. The floor pan combines steel with a fibreglass sandwich. Suspension is independent all round, with unequal-length double wishbones, coil springs, Koni telescopic dampers and anti-roll bars at both ends. The brakes are large ventilated discs with twin-piston calipers and a dual hydraulic circuit. Steering is by unassisted rack and pinion, with 3.25 turns from lock to lock.

ABS and the 1988 update

The only major mechanical change came in 1988. Ferrari introduced anti-lock brakes, which needed a new suspension geometry with negative steering offset; this also reduced squat under acceleration and dive under braking. From chassis 76626, built in February 1988, the cars received the revised suspension and new 16-inch wheels with a convex centre instead of the earlier flat "star" design, whether or not ABS was fitted.

In Europe ABS was an option on cars from mid-1988 and on all 1989 cars. In the United States, mid-1988 cars had no ABS, but it was standard on all 1989 model-year cars. Late cars also carry small prancing-horse emblems on the door mirrors.

GTB Turbo and GTS Turbo for Italy

In Italy, cars with engines over two litres were taxed at 38 per cent VAT instead of 18 per cent. For this market Ferrari offered the GTB Turbo and GTS Turbo from 1986, successors to the 208 Turbo. Their 1,991 cc V8 (bore 66.8 mm, stroke 71 mm) has a water-cooled IHI turbocharger with 1.05 bar of boost and a Behr air-to-air intercooler on top of the engine. The engineer responsible was Nicola Materazzi.

The turbo engine produces 187 kW (254 PS) at 6,500 rpm and 328 Nm at 4,100 rpm - more torque than the 3.2-litre car. Ferrari claimed 0–100 km/h in 6.3 seconds and 253 km/h; the Italian magazine Quattroruote measured 6.6 seconds and 251 km/h in June 1986. The Turbo models can be recognised by NACA air intakes behind the rear wheel arches, five vents in the rear bumper, a black roof spoiler and a boost gauge inside. In total 1,136 were built: 308 GTB Turbos and 828 GTS Turbos.

Legacy and collectors

The 328 brought the transverse V8 Ferrari to its most mature form. It kept the shape and layout of the 308 but added a larger engine, improved corrosion protection and, at the end, ABS. Its production of 7,412 cars in four years shows how popular the formula had become; together the 308 and 328 reached nearly 20,000 cars. The GTS outsold the GTB by more than four to one.

For collectors, the main differences are the body style (the rarer GTB or the more common GTS), the market version and the year: cars from February 1988 have the revised suspension and convex wheels, and many late cars have ABS. The Italian-market Turbo models form a separate, small group. More about the company is in our history of Ferrari.

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