Ferrari Mondial

The Ferrari Mondial is a 2+2 coupe automobile produced by Ferrari from 1980 through 1993. It replaced the angular 208/308 GT4. The "Mondial" name came from Ferrari's history — the famed 500 Mondial race car of the early 1950s. Despite its predecessor being Bertone styled, the Mondial saw Ferrari return to Pininfarina for styling. It was sold as a mid-sized coupe and, eventually, a cabriolet. The Mondial was conceived as a 'usable' model, offering the practicality of four seats and the performance of a Ferrari. The car had a slightly higher roofline than its stablemates, with a single long door either side, offering easy access and good interior space, reasonable rear legroom, while allround visibility was excellent.

The Mondial was produced in fairly high numbers for a Ferrari, with more than 6,800 produced in its 13-year run, and was one of Ferrari's most commercially successful models. The car body was not built as a monocoque in the same way as a conventional car; the steel outer body was produced by the famous Italian coachbuilder Carrozzeria Scaglietti, just down the road in nearby Modena, built over a lightweight steel box-section space frame. The engine cover and rear luggage compartment lids are in light alloy. The seats and interior were trimmed in Connolly hide, contrasting with the body color. Most cars were painted rosso red, but some were black or silver, and a few were dark blue.

The Mondial was the first Ferrari car where the entire engine/gearbox/rear suspension assembly was mounted on a detachable steel subframe, making engine removal for a major rebuild or cylinder head removal much easier than it was on previous models. Unusually, the handbrake is situated between the driver's seat and the inner sill. Once the handbrake is set it drops down so as not to impede egress and ingress. Instead of the conventional "H" shift pattern, the gearbox has 1st gear situated in a "dog leg" to the left and back, behind reverse. This pattern allows quicker gear shifts between 2nd and 3rd gear, and also between 4th and 5th.