Ferrari Mondial Design

Based on a long-wheelbase 308 platform, Pininfarina styled the Mondial like a sleek bullet. The basic body form was classic mid-engine Ferrari with a sharply defined nose, a low mid-section, and a tapered rear with firmly sculpted straight edges. The 1980 Mondial 8 set the basic design and evolved quite gently through 1982's Mondial quatrovalvole and the 1985 Mondial 3.2, which saw revisions similar to those wrought on the 308 by the 328. In 1989 the Mondial t completed the series.

A distinctive styling feature of the Mondial was the large, daring trapezoidal air intakes with their four long strakes. On the first Mondial 8s these strakes were matte black, but the factory soon began producing them in body colour.

The single greatest change to the shape of the Mondial came in 1983 when Ferrari provided a convertible version of the car. The thick canvass top was cut to replicate the shape of the coupe's roof when raised, and the buttresses of the soft top are perhaps even sleeker. The sprung and reinforced top is operated manually, and stows beneath a durable soft hood protruding just above the rear deck line.