328 GTB / GTS (328)

Refinement, Not Replacement By 1985 the transverse-V8 Ferrari was a decade old. The 308 GTB had arrived in 1975, acquired fuel injection, then four valves per cylinder in 1982, and had quietly become the company's volume model. Rather than start again, Maranello enlarged the engine, tidied the body and let the design see out the decade. Ferrari's own record has the 328 GTB shown at the Frankfurt Salon in the autumn of 1985 and replaced by the 348 tb in the autumn of 1989 - four model years, and the last of the line before the 348 turned the engine through ninety degrees and changed the character of the car entirely. The 328 is therefore not a new idea but a finished one, and almost every difference from the 308 is a correction rather than an invention.

The 3.2-Litre Quattrovalvole The engine is the clearest of those corrections. The quattrovalvole V8 went from 2,927 cc to 3,185 cc, bore rising from 81 mm to 83 mm and stroke from 71 mm to 73.6 mm, with compression lifted from 9.2:1 to 9.8:1 on European cars and from 8.6:1 to 9.2:1 on catalysed American ones. Ferrari's type reference is F 105 CB 000. Bosch K-Jetronic mechanical injection was carried over and Marelli MED 806 A electronic ignition fitted. European output rose to 270 bhp at 7,000 rpm against the quattrovalvole's 240, with 224 lb-ft at 5,500 rpm; the American car, breathing through catalysts, was quoted at 260 bhp and about 213.5 lb-ft, and from the spring of 1987 a further tipo 046 specification with KE3-Jetronic served Switzerland and Sweden at 255 bhp. Thirty horsepower is not transformative, and peak power was never the point: the gain sits in the mid-range, which is exactly where the 308 had always felt thin.

Pininfarina's Second Pass The body changes are subtle in photographs and obvious in the metal. The nose was rounded and the wedge softened, the louvres behind the headlight pods deleted, the radiator exhaust louvre enlarged and the tail restyled. The most consequential change was the bumpers, which became body-coloured mouldings blended into the front and rear valances in place of the 308's black rubber-faced items - done deliberately so that the eight-cylinder cars, the Mondial 3.2 among them, read as one family. Beneath the skin the F106 tubular frame continued under new numbering, the track was widened by 25 mm at the front and 5 mm at the rear, Koni dampers were fitted throughout, the rack was quickened to the ratio used on the 288 GTO, and the bodyshell was galvanised. That last item has done more for survival rates than anything else on the list.

February 1988: ABS, Geometry and Convex Wheels The mid-life change arrived in February 1988, from chassis 76626. Anti-lock braking was not a bolt-on: the front suspension geometry was reworked to a negative wheel offset and the dampers retuned to reduce squat and dive, and the new offset required new wheels, the concave 16-inch pattern giving way to the convex design shared with the Mondial 3.2. Revised cars carry a Cavallino Rampante on each door mirror and twin bonnet catches, and are commonly described as MY 1988 1/2. Whether ABS was optional or standard depends on which source is consulted and probably on the market; American cars went without it entirely through 1988 and received it only for model year 1989. Collectors read the change in both directions - the later car is the better-developed one, the earlier the purer - and the market has never settled the argument.

Targas, Right-Hand Drive and the Afterlife Buyers voted for the removable roof by a margin that still shapes the market: 6,068 GTS against 1,344 GTB, about four and a half to one. Right-hand-drive numbers are smaller again, 130 GTBs and 542 GTSs being the figures usually quoted, with a further 152 right-hand-drive GTSs said to have gone to Australia. Production ended in 1989 and the 348 took over. What the 328 acquired afterwards was a reputation none of its successors managed: among the older mid-engined V8s it is the car specialists describe as dependable, in large part because its cam-belt service can be carried out with the engine in the car - a sentence that cannot be written about the 355 that followed.

The mechanical package is the least troublesome of the older mid-engined V8s, and specialists say so plainly - Continental AutoSports' technical manager described the 328 as one of the most reliable models Ferrari ever built, provided it is maintained. Oil weeps are normal rather than alarming: cam covers, cam seals and the gearshift shaft seal are the usual sources, and a light drip from the sump area is expected. Electrical faults are the more common irritation, with arcing at the fuse-box terminals a known pattern and climate-control switches failing at the illumination first, which means replacing the whole switch. K-Jetronic is mechanically robust but resents standing, and cars recommissioned after long storage frequently need fuel lines, an accumulator or a warm-up regulator. The scheduled work is where the money goes. The belt service runs to roughly $3,500 to $5,900 at American independents by owners' own accounts, with a UK specialist quoted nearer $2,100 for comparable work; dealer menu pricing for a 308/328 major service starts at $8,250 and rises to $12,999 where valve covers, cam seals and shim adjustment are included. Valves want checking at 15,000-mile intervals and gearbox oil every two years in a car covering meaningful distance. On American cars, NHTSA campaign 89V111000 of May 1989 replaced the four front lower suspension arm forks with thicker items after they were found liable to deform following a substantial impact.

Belt-service history is the dominant document. The interval is quoted at five years or 30,000 miles, and unlike most later mid-engined Ferraris the job is done with the engine in the car, so the consequence of a lapse is measured in engine damage rather than in an unpayable bill. Dated invoices naming the tensioner and idler bearings, not just the belts, are what separate a documented car from an asserted one; a car whose last belt is undated should be costed as needing one immediately. Establish the specification before the condition. Chassis 76626 and February 1988 divide the run: ABS cars carry convex wheels, negative-offset front geometry, twin bonnet catches and Cavallino Rampante badges on the door mirrors, and a car advertised as a late one wearing concave wheels needs explaining. Confirm which market the engine was built for - European 270 bhp, catalysed American 260 bhp, or the Swiss and Swedish tipo 046 at 255 bhp - since the paperwork does not always say. The shell is galvanised but not immune: check sills, the front of the rear arches, the battery tray and the boot floor, and on a GTS the targa panel seals and the channel the panel sits in. Matching engine and gearbox numbers and a Ferrari Classiche certificate both show up in the strongest auction results. On an American car, confirm the 1989 NHTSA recall on the front lower suspension arm forks was carried out. Finally, weigh a car that has sat: K-Jetronic systems and fuel lines dislike long storage more than they dislike use.

As of August 2026, classic.com's Market Benchmark for the 328 GTB stands at approximately $173,011 on a rising trend, and for the 328 GTS at approximately $115,000 - $115,363 on the model landing page and $115,108 on the GTS sub-market page, also rising. The GTB premium is roughly fifty per cent, which is the scarcity ratio expressing itself directly. The lowest sale classic.com tracks is $47,250, a 1988 GTS in April 2023; current asking prices on the site span roughly $112,000 to $290,000. Auction evidence sits above the benchmarks and is dominated by mileage. RM Sotheby's sold a 1988 GTB from the Longhorn Collection, non-ABS and showing 8,380 miles, for $212,800 at Arizona in 2026; a 1989 GTB with 13,335 km and Swiss delivery made EUR 120,750 at Paris in 2024; a 1989 GTS with 28,417 km and a 2023 belt change made EUR 92,000 at Villa Erba in 2023; and a Classiche-certified 1989 GTS showing 2,400 km made $235,200 at Miami in 2022. All four are 'Sold for' figures and therefore include buyer's premium, not hammer. In Britain, Retro Motor quoted a retail spread of roughly 62,000 to 180,000 pounds for the model in 2026. Prices quoted here are as of August 2026.