Introduced in 1977, this targa-topped Ferrari brought open-air driving to the mid-engined V8 line that had begun with the 308 GTB. Developed with Pininfarina, it kept the same basic shape and road-going character as the coupe but used a removable roof panel stored behind the seats, along with body reinforcement to preserve rigidity. Ferrari’s own historical material places its arrival in late 1977 and notes that, by 1980, the car’s carbureted setup was superseded by fuel-injected versions that carried the revised GTSi naming, which effectively marked the end of the original nameplate’s first run.
The car became one of the most recognizable Ferraris of the late 1970s and early 1980s, helped in part by television exposure in Magnum, P.I. That visibility broadened its appeal beyond traditional Ferrari buyers and turned the open-top V8 into a pop-culture icon. Within Ferrari history, it also represents an important step in the company’s long-running mid-engine V8 story: a more accessible, everyday-useable exotic that balanced classic Italian styling with a practical removable roof and the intimacy of a small-displacement V8.
Today, it is remembered as the original open-top member of the 308 family, bridging the early carbureted era and the later fuel-injected and quattrovalvole developments that followed.