A V12-Swapped Ferrari 308 QV Will Be Auctioned Next Month
If you missed the ‘4.8 12’ badge on the rump of this tidy-looking Ferrari 308 GTS QV, you’d have no idea that it’s hiding a very big secret. A V12-sized secret.
The car was delivered to its first owner in 1985, who is said to have been a tad disappointed by the 237bhp output of the V8-powered supercar. His solution was a drastic one: he took the car to a chap called Nigel Hudson, who shoehorned in the kind of 4.8-litre V12 you’d usually find in a Ferrari 400, giving the 308 a boost of around 100bhp in the process.
Given that this involved transplanting a V12 designed for a front-mounted, longitudinal configuration into the transverse, mid-engined 308, it can’t have been an easy job. The work was completed in the late 1980s, and the finish product - believed to be one of only four V12-engined 308s in existence - was affectionately christened ‘Nigel’s Flyer’.
It spent 10 years in dry storage before being ‘rescued’ by its current owner, who took it back to Hudson for an extensive two year rebuild.
This quirky (and no doubt amazing-sounding) Ferrari will go under the hammer at Silverstone Auction’s event at the Silverstone Wing on 13 May, along with the Porsche 911 Speedster we were looking at recently. The estimate is £50,000 to £60,000.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
Stop shaming! Real 308s have curves!
Aww yee…
Given this engine swap was done about 30 years ago, it makes Ryan Tuerck’s Ferrari engined GT86 a bit less impressive…
Swapped it with a v12, than put it in store for 10 years.
It’s probably dangerously unstable with that big V12 crammed into the back. Owner must have gotten scared.
Is it still a four valve though? Otherwise it isn’t a Quattrovalvole anymore
Should have swapped the Enzo’s engine into it so it would be like real life Forza
Bit hard to use an engine from 2002 in the late 1980’s…
When you own a Ferrari but need more POWEEERRR
Forza horizon 3 much
“The car was delivered to its first owner in 1985, who is said to have been a tad disappointed by the 237bhp output of the V8-powered supercar.”
Yeah right. That means he was either unaware of the Testarossa, or didn’t have the cash in hand to buy it right away. More likely however, is that he was completely mad. I wonder what the weight distribution on this thing is like.
The testarossa has a flat 12. I think it would be too wide to fit in the 308 anyway
£50,000-£60,000 is not too bad for a 308,especially since it has been V12 Swapped…
It’s most likely that affordable BECAUSE it was V12-swapped. Ferrari enthusiasts are a strict bunch. They value originality above everything else.
im reporting this for porn.
That’s pretty much why I was getting horny