Inspired by the success turbo-charging had on the Formula 1 competitions, Ferrari in 1982 revealed the 208 GTB Turbo, a model created specially for the Italian market. It remained into production until 1985 with only 437 left hand drive units produced. This was the first road going Ferrari with turbo charging.
Ferrari designer, Pininfarina 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.
The interior was almost identical with the one from its bigger brother the 308: a pair of leather trimmed bucket seats, whilst the main instruments were contained in a hooded nacelle in front of the driver, who was provided with a three spoke leather rimmed steering wheel. The clock and oil temperature gauge were mounted in a separate panel on the lower left edge of the dashboard. The gear lever in an open gate was mounted in the driver’s side of the center console, which also contained ancillary switchgear, the handbrake and an ashtray.
Under the hood there was a transversely mid-mounted aluminium V8 engine, with a capacity of just 1991cc and a compression ratio of 7:1 which put out a then impressive 220bhp at 7000rpm and was mated to an all synchromesh 5-speed gearbox. Its top speed was rated at 242km/h and its 0-100km/h acceleration time was 6.0 seconds.
This rare Ferrari sits with collectors and museums today and the last time a unit was for sale its price was GBP88,000, which is about RM500,000 before local taxes.
