After a lot of rainy weekends, we finally had a dry one and on the first day of Spring to boot! Saturday was beautiful and sunny, but I had other things to do that day. Sunday was a bit cooler and cloudy, but I had a chance to take a few hours and pilot the 308 through cow country. The sun was out and it was mostly warm when I left so I took the targa top off. Even though I had the heater on, it was a bit chilly on the drive out. By the time I stopped to turn around, I decided to put the top back on because the sun was obscured by clouds. Still, it was a wonderful drive and I had a great time.
When I got home, I noticed something strange climbing out of the car. My legs were sore. It was like I just did a bunch of leg presses at the gym. The early 308s had a heavy clutch pedal. REALLY heavy. Heavy to the point where driving our manual transmission 3/4 ton Dodge Ram feels like a cakewalk. Somewhere around 1980, Ferrari switched to a different clutch actuation mechanism that supposedly lightened up the pedal effort quite a bit. There was even a Ferrari service bulletin (SB21-2) printed 03/19/1981 that outlined the change and included a parts list and diagrams to retrofit the new system to the older cars. Unfortunately, my car was never retrofitted. Apparently, the parts are available but cost about $1000. For that money, I think I'll just keep my heavy clutch pedal and continue to get a lower body workout every time I drive.
Follow along as a childhood obsession with owning a Ferrari 308 becomes a reality.
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