About two hours separates St Leonards-on-Sea and Wisborough Green, but it was enough time for me realise that I might be entering a new chapter in my automotive life. I had travelled just 65 miles, half of which were on the magical A272, in the Fiat Coupé I had bought just a couple of hours ago.
The little Fiat felt like a junior supercar. What I'd previously dismissed as nonsense about the character and soul of Italian cars was beginning to make sense. With every gear change (ignoring the dodgy synchromesh on second) and as the needle on the Veglia Borletti rev counter hurtled towards the 7000rpm redline (ignoring the ABS light immediately below it), I was falling hopelessly in love with a car that could be a financial disaster.
It's easy to be distracted by the Coupé's controversial styling and multitude of fine details, but its heart and soul is the 1995cc twin-overhead-cam 16-valve Lampredi engine which was singing a song far more tuneful than anything the (broken) radio-cassette player could offer on this Saturday afternoon.
By the time I'd reached Shaftesbury, after an epic drive along the A30 from Wilton, with the sun dropping below the hills to my right, the Fiat Coupé had got under my skin. But more than that: my thoughts were turning to Ferrari ownership...
A tad premature, perhaps, given the fact that I still had to cover the width of Dorset and Devon in a ‘spares or repair’ Fiat, and a to-do list to rival War and Peace was beginning to emerge, but I've never fancied a Ferrari. And yet, as the red sky was turning to inky blue, the thought of owning a car with that evocative yellow badge was looming large in my head.
Predictably, the Ferraris I was imagining as my love for the Fiat grew ever stronger were at the ‘cheaper’ end of the market. Dino 308 GT4, 400/412i, 328 GTB/GTS, 456, F355 and the subject of this blog post: the Mondial.
Launched at the 1980 Geneva motor show, the original Ferrari Mondial was a more affordable 2+2 alternative to the 400. It was also bigger, heavier and less aerodynamic than the 308 GT4 – the car it was designed to replace. Performance was underwhelming and the reception was muted – not great when you're using a name that paid homage to Ferrari race cars of the 1950s.
Things improved in 1982 when the Mondial gained four-valve cylinder heads to become the Quattrovalvole (QV), which resulted in better performance and increased sales. The Mondial Cabriolet arrived in 1983, followed in 1985 by the Mondial 3.2 GTB and GTS, which showcased styling tweaks inspired by the 328.
By now the Mondial had evolved into the car it should have been when it made its debut at the beginning of the 1980s, but there was still time for one last evolution: the Mondial T (officially a lowercase ‘t’). That's ‘t’ for transverse gearbox.
Visually similar to the outgoing 3.2, this swan song for the Mondial featured a 3404.7cc engine mounted longitudinally and fed by a new Bosch Motronic M 2.5 electronic injection system. With power increased to 296bhp at 7200rpm, the Mondial T could hit a top speed of 255km/h (158mph), sprinting to 62mph in 6.3 seconds.
The Mondial T represented a crossroads in Ferrari's history, and not just because its appearance came on the eve of a new decade. Its arrival coincided with the launch of the 348 TB and TS – the final V8 model developed under the watchful eye of Enzo Ferrari.
Owning a Mondial T is like enjoying the styling of the 1980s with the V8 engine that would see Ferrari through the 1990s. Which might explain why, in Petrolblog's head, the Mondial T is peak Ferrari. It's also why Petrolblog has spent a lot of time drooling over the photos of the 1993 car that'll go under the hammer at the Hampson Auctions sale at the end of July.
Just look at it. This slice of Maranello could be yours for the price of a new Hyundai Tucson. Makes you think, doesn't it?
Granted, you won't get the reassurance of Hyundai's five-year warranty or a boot large enough for a family holiday in Cornwall, but it's one of just 45 right-hand drive examples ever built. It also boasts the perfect combination of Rosso Corsa over Crema hide.
According to the Auto Express buying guide, one drawback of the Mondial T is that the engine and transmission must be removed to access various serviceable items, which could be expensive. On the plus side, the clutch is mounted at the rear, ‘making replacement a far less arduous task’. Not our words, Carol, but the words of Auto Express magazine...
I won't be buying the Mondial T when it goes under the hammer at Oulton Park on 27 July – I have a long list of things to sort on ‘My First Italian Car’ – but I'll be watching the auction with interest. Right now, a Mondial T is worryingly close to the top of the list of cars I fancy buying in 2026. What's the worst that could happen?
All photos courtesy of Hampson Auctions.
