The coolest hot hatch of all time with Ferrari V8 is for sale

The sensational Sbarro Super Eight is being auctioned online. Sell your belongings and strike a bargain

Photo by: Bring a Trailer

By: Stefan Wagner

Dec 7, 2024 at 6:16am ET

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This has to be the coolest, most beautiful, most spectacular, almost certainly even the best compact sports car of all time. I mean, you only have to look at the bright red, incredibly wide cube, and it's a one-off to boot.

The combination of an old Ferrari V8, completely independent fibreglass body and golden BBS rims in a car that is just 3.15 metres long is also too crazy to give the world a second one.

Say hello (or: good to see you again) to the marvellous Sbarro Super Eight. The car saw the light of day in 1984 and was the brainchild of Franco Sbarro. The man had previously gained experience in transforming Ford GT40s and Lola T70s into absolute monsters with a road licence.

Photos by: Bring a Trailer

The good Mr Sbarro obtained the chassis of a Ferrari 308 and shortened the frame to obvious mini dimensions so that he could fit the aforementioned fibreglass body over it. This in turn borrowed from the Super Eight's predecessor. That was the Super Twelve in 1982 and yes, it is as crazy as it sounds. In the Super Twelve, two Kawasaki engines were combined to create an in-line twelve-cylinder engine. Goodness gracious.

In contrast, this reads almost exotic. In the rear of the little Sbarro sits the 2.9-litre V8 from the Ferrari 308 (the configuration is somehow reminiscent of the magnificent Renault Clio V6, which would not follow until 17 years later) with two overhead camshafts, four valves per cylinder and fuel injection from Bosch. The power output is 240 PS and I know you would have expected more, but are you insane? This thing is almost three metres long.

Photos by: Bring a Trailer

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We also have a 5-speed manual gearbox and rear-wheel drive, so there should be plenty to do. The design of the Super Eight is just great. It looks like a Seat Ibiza at the front and a bit like a Renault 5 Turbo at the back. At the side we have a bit of Ferrari Testarossa (or King Mercedes 560 SEL), two doors, four exhaust tailpipes and the sharp BBS 15-inch tyres.

Behind them are the ventilated brakes of the 308, as well as its chassis and layout. Inside, you can expect an opulent luxury interior in the unrivalled style of the 80s with an ocean of brown leather.

Gallery: Sbarro Super Eight (1984)

Source: Bring a Trailer

The current owner has owned the Sbarro for four years. Prior to that, the car was in a Swiss collection and before that in Sbarro's own museum. The online car auction house Bring a Trailer is now offering the magnificent one-off with Dutch papers. The mileage is just under 30,000 kilometres (18,641 miles).

And in terms of price, things are now going pretty well. At the time of publication of this article, the auction ends in four days. The current bid is 110,000 US dollars, or around £86,200. It is likely to rise significantly ... and quite rightly so.