That's really cool MR.
Last year, I got my first up close and personal "glimpse" of a "real" 308.
A friend of mine has a storage warehouse he rents space out in.
One of his customers is a retired doctor who amuses himself by buying & selling fairly high end cars, at least they are to me.
The doc rents space in my buddies warehouse to store cars he's bought he doesn't have room for at his house.
I mean, we're not talking million dollar rides here, but to me, Porsche's, Ferrari's and Cobra's are fairly "high end" cars, and he's had all of them in there at one time or another.
Last year one of them was a 79' 308GTS.
He (my friend) knows I'm building a replica on a Fiero space frame, so after checking with the doc to make sure he didn't mind, he invited me up to look it over, take measurements and generally, just gawk and drool a little.
What surprised me the most was the limited space available for the driver and passenger. Don't know how TS ever got comfortable in it, no wonder there are very few times when he drove it with the targa roof on! The other thing that stood out to me, was how "fragile" or unsubstantial the handles and things that you had to use to drive the car were. Kind of reminded me of the first Toyota truck I had, where my first impressions left me declaring how aptly the name TOYota was, cause the stuff you had to "grab and use" (door handles-window cranks-switches, etc.) all were very tiny and seemed delicate, like a toy. Truth is, they turned out to be very durable and actually robust in cases, but that's what stood out to me.
He offered to let me drive it when the weather got better (it was winter when I went to look at it) but I didn't want to risk having something happen to it, with me behind the wheel! I did get a couple pics of me sitting in it with that "grin" on my face that you couldn't wipe off with sand paper, but that's as far as it went.
I did get lots of good pictures and measurements of everything I intend to alter on my "kit" to closer resemble the actual 308.
Anyway, didn't mean to get long winded there. Very cool you got to look Mr. Firth's over. I have always, and still do, think these cars have some of the best lines ever conceived for an automobile. The 355's aren't bad either, but whether it's because of the MPI association, or just my taste, I still prefer the 308. Just plain gorgeous lines for a car. Completely unrelated and in an entirely different direction, another one of my favorites is the 1940 Ford....beautiful! 57 Chevy is also on the list, although I think the 55-56 actually has nicer lines, the 57 was kind of "innovative" with the fins, but I really like the front end too.
Ok, I've rambled enough. My forum name kind of sums up my feelings on it better than anything else I could say I guess.
I see the car in Styles original post is relisted at a "Buy It Now" price of over $99,000....I know they took a jump last year, but haven't really kept up with it close enough to know if the trend has peaked and started to go the other direction, or if it's still "rising". A couple years ago, you could find a fairly nice 308 for under $30,000. The doc paid around $60,000 for his. He has since sold it and got a Porsche to enjoy for a while, till he see's something else he likes better!
) got it for $7.00! 