Why some 308's have black inlet above headlights

The same reason some have red rocker panels and others have black. The same reason some have GTS have red A pillars and some have black. Because that's the way Ferrari decided to make them. They changed between model years and delivery country. It's just what they did.

 

To the best of my knowledge it was only certain year US cars that had the black vents behind the headlights. As for the extra vent, depends whether you’re talking about the front bonnet in which case it was the QV models that were equipped with these, if it’s the engine cover (if my memory is correct) all cars up until sometime in 77 only had two sets of vents, from then on again it was the US cars that had the third set of vents that ran across the width of the engine cover. It wasn’t until the 328 that all world regions had the vents across the engine cover.


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All U.S cars had...
1. Black vents above the headlights. I believe QV cars only. Euro spec cars were body colored.

2. “Flag” shaped rear view mirrors. Euro spec QV cars had the smaller, sleeker, mirrors with the tiny Ferrari logo.

3. Extra vent across the back bonnet. Euro cars only had the 2 vents on each side of the deck lid

4. Larger front and rear bumpers that protruded out much farther than the euro spec version.

sidenote: the extra “vent” you see on the front bonnet was on all QV cars, 82-85 only.

 

Any black fender vents on a 308 prior to the QV is incorrect.

 

Tommy has it correct....

In the beginning, the fender vents in front behind the headlights were body colored.
The front hood had no louvers, and ran hot in stop and go....

Restless evolution occurred...when the front hood got it's louvers, they were anodized black and the fender vents went black to match.
This was before the QV, (???) more like with injection and the addition of CATS...

The same item, the CATS introduced in 1978 in America, also added the additional vents in the rear engine lid. Also trying to eject heat...
Engine specs changed as well, mostly the camshaft grind...
The engine lid louvers have always been anodized black, never painted...well, sometimes as a refinish, but anodized is correct.

 

Lots of things happened at dealers.

One of my 1977s sat THREE years at Ron Tonkin, by 1980 they repainted the whole car, added the rear spoiler, and changed the fender vets to black to match the accent of the rear spoiler, I guess. Well before the QV certainly.

They were VERY tired of it on the showroom.
Gas crisis in America, you might recall

Carbed cars get 14MPG Highway, WAY less, around town (if driven as Enzo intended..)

 

Interesting they painted the vents black in 80.

And where the hell did they get a rear spoiler from THEN? A Boxer??

 

The rear spoiler on our cars was an early show car piece, before it was a production version I believe..

The further muddy the waters, they didn't paint them black.
I believe the "painted version" casting is a heavier piece than the lighter "anodized" one, having examined both.

But I could be totally wrong…...so many of these cars got refinished at some point, it's very hard to say!

 

I knew it was on that show car (was it 1977?) but that wouldn't give it a part number and a bunch on a shelf somewhere would it?

Interesting

 

Not all Euro QV cars had body coloured vents behind the headlights and in the hood - there were a small number of Euro QVs that had the anodized black vents on the front... mine included. It's an 1984 Euro GTS QV, delivered new on Jersey (Channel Islands), in Rosso Corsa with the anodized black front vents. The car still has original red paint and original anodized black vents.

 

I seem to recall that the roof spoiler became available with the 2-valve injected cars.

Rgds

 

All "standard continental" euro QVs (Italy, Germany, Benelux, France, U.K etc...) had body-colored vents. A very small number of cars destined for some "peripheric countries" shall we say, for instance Switzerland it seems, seem to have received factory black anodised vents, but it is a rare exception.

Rgds

 

I never saw one on a 2Vi back then. Not even in a magazine. Not until 1983.

Not saying it wasn't available to a customer, I just never saw one on a car until the QV and later when the owners of earlier ones started putting them on

 

I think the Japanese market got the US look with black vents as well.