Ferrari GTO

[gn1220]

Last night, on the way to pick up some pictures we had developed, I was going down 119th st. and up next to me pulls a Ferrari GTO! This has long been my favorite Ferrari but, until last night, I'd never seen one in person. That car took my breath away, it was awesome. The sound was truely unique, and even though he never got on it, it was just bad a$$. To top it off, the plate read "WAY2FST" Too bad I was in the Wagon and not the GN. Just thought I'd share my "moment" with you .

 

[Gokou]

The first turbo car I ever drove was a 288GTO. Very cool cars. I think of them as a 308 on Steroids. It would roast the tires in 1st and 2nd gear when the boost hit, and it was trying awfully hard to lose traction in 3rd.

Still one of my favorite and IMO one of the most beautiful cars to come out of Modena. Unfortunately, you hardly ever see them.

My dad thought about buying one back in ~82 when they were going for about $80K. He bought a 308GTB instead at half the price, and then kicked himself in the ass as he watched the GTO's go up to 1-1.2 million by the late 80's, whereas he settled for a tenth of that when he sold the 308. The GTO's have crashed back down to ~$200K now.

Still, a very badass looking and performing car.

 

[PCS74]

Here are a few pics of a 308 based GTO that has been in the shop since the dawn of time:

http://home.swbell.net/pcs74/p1010171.jpg

http://home.swbell.net/pcs74/p1010173.jpg

http://home.swbell.net/pcs74/p1010175.jpg




This is one of those vehicles that has been in a shop so long that over a dozen people have been commissioned with finishing it. Several people have quit over it. The original build started out good, but a very poor fabricator was hired early on and put to work on it alone... absolutely nothing worse than a bad fabricator without a plan.

When I first started working at this shop I though this was a nice car(Just a few glances here and there). After I worked on it for a couple of days my opinion completely changed. I decided that I would not do anything on it unless I could re-do almost everything on it, that was a no-go at the time.

It is at a point where it basically needs to be completely disassembled and completely started over. It would make you cry if you knew how much was already invested in it.


Anyways, some basic specs:

Custom carbon-fiber/s-glass body
Billet block v-12
Testarossa cylinder heads
Twin turbos good for ~1500hp
Motec m48 , m8 and ADL dash (yes 2 ecu's)
Speedline wheels 245/18's and 335/18's

expected weight 2100 - 2200 wet
expected hp 1300 - 1400 on pump


There is hope for this car yet. It may be falling into new hands at the shop and be on it's way to being the respectable GTO that it should be.


Chris S

 

[Gokou]

Originally posted by PCS74
Here are a few pics of a 308 based GTO that has been in the shop since the dawn of time:

Chris S

Say, is that Norwood's shop? And is that one of his blocks?

 

[PCS74]

Yes, it is one of Bob's billet blocks.

The shop isn't really his anymore. He still does some work from there, but he is in the process of moving out. His focus is now on engine management and sport compact cars.

Most of his time is spent at Jotech Motorsports as he is partnered with them in a new Quaker State sport compact drag program. Kenny landed a nice sporsorship package and they are currently planning two new cars along with all the "big money" race program perks.

Bob sold the "core" of his business, all fabrication rights, performance upgrade rights, service and repair rights, clients etc. etc. to James Patterson who worked with Bob since the beginning. The business was dying and Bob wanted to let it go, so James bought it and is in the process of turning everything around. It is now know as Norwood Performance.

Hopefull within the next year some very nice projects should be emerging from the shop. Many TT Testarossa projects are lined up, a TT f360 project is being debated, hopefully James will get the go-ahead from the owner for redoing the GTO, and more...


Chris S