When Ferrari unveiled the 308 GT4 at the Paris Salon de l'Automobile in October 1973, it broke with every convention the marque had established. Designed by Marcello Gandini at Bertone rather than Pininfarina, and badged purely as a Dino, the car introduced a transverse mid-mounted 2.9-litre V8 to Ferrari's road-car line for the first time — a layout that would define every Ferrari V8 that followed for the next two decades.
The Only Bertone Ferrari: A 2+2 Grand Tourer with a V8 at Its Heart
The 308 GT4's 2927 cc DOHC 90° V8, fed by four Weber 40 DCNF carburettors and producing approximately 255 hp at 7,700 rpm, was longitudinally mid-mounted on a purpose-designed platform built to accommodate genuine 2+2 seating. That wheelbase extension to 2,550 mm gave the GT4 a practical edge over the two-seat Dino it complemented, making it a usable grand tourer rather than a weekend sprint car. Production continued until 1980, with approximately 2,826 units built across the full run.
A Momentary Identity: The Pure Dino Year of 1973
Until 1976, Ferrari chose not to place its prancing-horse badge on the 308 GT4 — the car was sold exclusively under the Dino name. The 1973 model year therefore represents the purest expression of that transitional branding: no Ferrari script, no cavallino rampante, just the Dino roundel on a Bertone body. It was also the first production Ferrari to carry a V8, establishing the engine family that underpinned the 308 GTB, 328 and beyond. For collectors, this makes the early GT4 a genuinely singular artefact in Ferrari's history rather than a footnote to it.
The 1:12 Scale Model by Top Marques Collectibles
Top Marques Collectibles produces this 308 GT4 as a 1:12 scale model car, a format that allows the angular Gandini surfaces and the complex greenhouse of the 2+2 body to read with a clarity impossible at smaller scales. Large-format 1:12 resin models of the 308 GT4 are scarce in the collector market, and Top Marques' release addresses a genuine gap for anyone building a serious Ferrari road-car collection around the Dino era. The model is listed on Top Marques' own product pages under their 1:12 Ferrari programme.
