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Ferrari 488 GTB: celebrating the 308 GTB’s 40th in style

7 February, 2015

It’s been 40 years since Ferrari came out with the legendary 308 GTB, the marque’s first mid-engined V8 model, and now we have this — the Ferrari 488 GTB. It looks a little like a 458, doesn’t it? Don’t go thinking that this is just a normal 458 with some garnish, though — the most notable change is not aesthetic, but mechanical.

The 458’s brilliant 4.5-litre V8 is out of the picture here, replaced with an all-new turbocharged 3.9-litre V8 developed by Ferrari’s Formula 1 and World Endurance Championship engineers. How does 661hp and 560lb·ft sound? That’s said to make the 458 GTB good for the 0–100kph dash in three seconds, and 0–200kph in just over eight seconds. Fiorano is dispatched in one minute and 23 seconds, a full two seconds quicker than the 458.

Power isn’t everything, and you can bet Ferrari weren’t going to leave it at slapping a pair of turbos onto the engine. Aerodynamically, the 488 GTB is reported to produce 50 per cent more downforce and a reduced coefficient of drag, thanks to the double front spoiler, base-bleed side intakes, and active rear diffuser and spoiler. The F1-Trac and E-Diff work in conjunction with a revised Side Slip Control 2 (SSC2) system, keeping the 488 GTB stable around corners.

Inside, it’s all modern Ferrari, with the steering wheel the main business hub, and the rest of the cockpit tastefully finished. The 488 GTB is set to make its debut at the International Geneva Motor Show in March this year.

NZ Classic Car magazine, March/April 2025 issue 398, on sale now

23 February, 2025

An HQ to die for
Mention the acronym HQ and most people in the northern hemisphere will assume this is an abbreviation for Head Quarters. However, for those born before the mid-’80s in Australia and New Zealand, the same two letters only mean one thing – HQ Holden!
Christchurch enthusiast Ed Beattie has a beautiful collection of Holden and Chevrolet cars. He loves the bowtie and its Aussie cousin and has a stable of beautiful, powerful cars. His collection includes everything from a modern GTSR W507 HSV through the decades to a 1960s Camaro muscle car and much in between.
In the last two Holden Nationals (run biennially in 2021 and 2023), Ed won trophies for the Best Monaro and Best Decade with his amazing 1972 Holden Monaro GTS 350 with manual transmission.
Ed is a perfectionist and loves his cars to reflect precisely how they were on ‘Day 1,’ meaning when the dealer released them to the first customer, including any extras the dealer may have added or changed.

You’re the one that I want – 1973 Datsun 240K GT

21 February, 2025

In the early 1970s, Clark Caldow was a young sales rep travelling the North Island and doing big miles annually. He loved driving. In 1975 the firm he worked for asked Clark what he wanted for his new car, and Clark chose a brand-new Datsun 240K GT. The two-door car arrived, and Clark was smitten, or in his own words, he was “pole vaulting.”
Clark drove it all over the country, racking up thousands of miles. “It had quite a bit of pep with its SOHC 128 hp (96kW) of power mated to a four-speed manual gearbox,” he says. Weighing in at 1240kg meant the power to weight ratio was good for the time and its length at almost 4.5 metres meant it had good street presence.
Clark has been a car enthusiast all his life, and decided around nine years ago to look for one of these coupes. By sheer luck he very quickly found a mint example refurbished by an aircraft engineer, but it was in Perth.