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Oh yes....note from the specs that has a full 255HP version of our engine. This was a continuation in my mind of the FIAT X1/9 school of thought, by Bertone. It remains as a footnote to History, as about that time the curtain opened on the Pininfarina GTB/S. It also resembles the GT4, a little. Even the Lancia Stratos?? So while it looks crazy to modern view, it was not as odd as you'd think, at the time.
Same for me; seen in almost any/every book about the 308. Surprised our own Mike didn't see it before. As an aside, the pics seems to have been taken at "Château de Chantilly" (Département de l'Oise, north of Paris, close to) Rgds
Design by Marcello Gandini. Same as for Lancia Stratos,308 GT4, Fiat X1/9, Citroen BX, Lamborghini Miura , Lamborghini Bravo, Lamborghini Countach, Alfa Romeo Carabo and many other dream cars
Hell looking at that last rear view, I can squint and see a Cadillac Allante!! Trunk profile and roof line..... Time for bed......LOL!
Wow - the 3/4 rear view is stunning - I can visualize it an SYD MEAD futuristic world! I am shocked that as a teenage owner of a 1976 X1/9, I don't remember it in a magazine!
Here are some of the beauty shots from the era, using the astronaut / jet fighter pilot theme. The interior shot shows gauge layout that is heavily leveraged from the 308 GT4
Fortunately, no I haven't. It is not sexy like most F cars, it looks like a kids transformer toy. Doug
It's from 1976 - When curves were the past, and everything in the future was going to angular and wedged shape (think Lamborghini Countach/Lotus Esprit S1/Fiat X1/9/Aston Martin Lagonda). People are looking at it in horror today, and mocking it's appearance, because they're looking at it out of the context of when it was made. If we look back to the fashions of the 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's, in general, they look ridiculous now (Teddy boy suits & crepe shoes, winkle picker shoes, kipper ties, flared trousers/bell bottoms, "power suits" with huge shoulder pads, puffball skirts, "Miami Vice" style suits with the jacket sleeves rolled up, shell suits etc., etc., etc.), but in period, they were all seen as being cool. Take a look at the car on which the Rainbow is based on: The Ferrari 308 GT4. When it came out in the 70's, it was hailed as being a great looking car, with a nod to the future, rather than rehashing the past. Within a very short time though, it lost favour, and became one of the most disliked Ferrari's of all time. In the late 80's/early 90's the 308 GT4 was the bargain basement Ferrari, with used prices dropping down into the same sort of area as a four door Ford family saloon. The problem?: It aged incredibly badly at the time! It turned out that the future wasn't all angular, and sharp wedged shaped - People wanted curves, as demonstrated by the instant and continuing love for the 308/328 GTB/GTS series. Ferrari realised they needed a four seater that was curvier than the 308 GT4, and went to Pininfarina to create the Mondial (still not the greatest design ever, but it didn't "age badly" in the way that the 308 GT4 did). The 348 suffered a similar fate to the 308 GT4. When it first came out, people loved the look, it was an evolution of the 80's Testarossa look, and hinted at a very stylised future, rather than just rehashing the past again. But as with the 308 GT4, the love was short lived. The overly detailed slats and grilles styling aged very quickly (albeit not quite as badly as the 308 GT4 did, in part because the 348 possessed curves), and the 348 became a bargain basement Ferrari, still unloved by many to this day. Again, Ferrari realised that their customers wanted their Ferrari's to look less futuristic, and be a bit more traditional, and so the door slats were dropped, and the rear light grille and rectangular tail lights were dropped. Unhindered intakes replaced the door slats,four round tail lights replaced the rectangular lights, and the nose of the car was given a slightly more rounded appearance, creating the F355. Look closely though, and you will realise that the design of the F355 is basically just a facelift of the 348 design. Something strange though, has happened to both the 308 GT4 and the 348 - Suddenly, they have a retro-cool to them. People (not everyone, but a lot more than there used to be), are starting to look at them and think: "Actually, that's a better looking car than I thought it was!" The fanbase for both cars is growing, year on year, and the values of both are starting to climb (in the UK right now, the 308 GT4 sells for a higher price than almost all of the Mondial's, and 348's are priced higher than some of the 360's for sale!) So the Ferrari Rainbow: In some ways it's a bit of 1970's Bertone futuristic folley, but it was deemed cool in it's day (for a short while at least), and whilst it's unlikely to make a "cool-look comeback" in the manner of the 308 GT4 & 348, it should really be viewed in the context of when it was made - at a time when flares/bell bottoms were deemed to be cool!
Have not seen nor thought about the Rainbow in a very long time, but if memory serves, it was offered through Hammacher Schlemmer and the price tag was a cool $250k....that's going completely off of 30, 40 year-old memories, could be off on the price.
