Ferrari Mondial

Vehicle Overview

The Ferrari Mondial: The Dino 308 GT4 had not been as successful as Enzo Ferrari had hoped, not because of its mechanical layout as a mid-engined 2+2 coupé, but because of the design by Bertone. For this reason, a new car, called the Mondial 8, was proposed in 1980. The name Mondial was dedicated to the previous year’s F1 world championship victory, as had already been done for a famous model from the 1950s. This time the design was entrusted to Pininfarina. The Mondial’s aesthetics, although designed for a 2+2 car, differed from the ‘wedge’ shape of the 308 GT4 in that it had a less aggressive line much more suited to a 4-seater car. The large side grilles appeared for the first time, which would later also be adapted on the Ferrari Testarossa. The Mondial was one of Ferrari’s first world cars, with a tubular chassis, an elongated wheelbase, transverse engine, independent suspension, five gears, and an innovative removable rear frame to facilitate mechanical work (a technique later used on later Ferraris). The elegant and well-defined cockpit featured new plastic inserts and electric buttons to replace the mechanical pull-rods. This was complemented by four Connolly leather seats, an on-board computer and a Marelli Digiplex electronic ignition system. The car adopted a 2926 cm³, 214 hp V8 engine derived from that of the Ferrari 308 GTB combined with Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection. Top speed was 220 km/h. To comply with strict anti-pollution regulations, the export version for the Swiss and US markets adopted a lower compression and a catalytic converter that lowered its power output. In addition, cars destined for the US market, again to comply with local homologation regulations, had more prominent bumpers and side marker lights. The cold impact for export versions, coupled with recurring electrical system failures in the early models, led Ferrari engineers and technicians to experiment with the 4-valve cylinder engine derived from Formula 1 cars on the next version of the Mondial. The very first versions were single-mirror and had black side grilles, a solution later abandoned in favour of the double external mirror and grilles to match the bodywork. No cabriolet versions of the Mondial 8 were produced (only the later ‘Quattrovalvole’ version saw an open-top version), and all 703 units in the first series had an electrically opening sunroof, as well as central locking and electric adjustment of the rear-view mirrors, and electrically opening three bonnets (the front with the spare wheel and some services, the middle with the engine compartment and the large, for a Ferrari, rear boot). Also of note was the fact that it was the first fuel-injected Ferrari V8 road car, as well as being the first to adopt the detachable rear frame to facilitate removal of the engine.