In 1975, the only Ferrari you could buy in America wasn’t actually a Ferrari, it was a Dino. The Dino 308 GT4 was a mid-engine V8, which was something no Ferrari ever had prior. All Ferraris were 12 cylinder engines, thus the reason the 308 GT4 was badged and sold as a Dino. Unfortunately, this did not help sales. The public saw Dino as a “lesser” car than a Ferrari, and customers buying a Ferrari in 1975 thought the car should say “Ferrari” on it. So mid-1975, Ferrari issued a bulletin to re-badge the Dino as a Ferrari. Despite the generally great reviews on performance and handling, the general public just couldn’t seem to get over the Bertone wedge design thus some cars languished on dealer lots for years. 

10388 was completed March 14, 1975. It left the factory as a Dino 308 GT4 painted in Verde Pino Metallizzato (106-G-30) with a beige leather interior (VM 3218). It was imported to America by Bill Harrah via his company, Modern Classic Motors in Reno, NV. All Ferraris during that time went through MCM or Chinetti and ended up at other dealerships. In this case, 10388 found its way to Ferrari Los Gatos, which opened its doors early 1976. At some point, whether it was done at MCM or Ferrari Los Gatos, the Dino badges were replaced with Ferrari badges. You can reach your hand in under the front nose and feel the horizontal rectangle indention where the Dino badge was mounted. That was filled in and the vertical Ferrari badge affixed in its place. The Dino horn button was replaced with a prancing horse, and the wheels were likely replaced with Ferrari five-point star wheels sporting the Ferrari prancing horse center caps. A silver prancing horse was affixed to the back of the car, to the right of the license plate.

A doctor, Gerard, in the Los Angeles area ended up buying the car over the phone because he was “offered a discount,” the sale was recorded as May 14, 1976, thus making the doctor the first and original owner of 10388. He wanted to be able to record notes while he was in the car, so he had the dealership install a dictaphone, and of course the stereo is also a cassette player and recorder. Ferrari didn’t install stereos at the factory back then, that was left up to dealers and customers as to what they wanted.

Gerard kept the car a little over three years until he sold it to the second owner, also in the Los Angeles area, on September 14, 1979. The Second owner, Chris P., replaced the original license plate with a personalized plate that read “GRNMSTR” (Green Monster), but then he sold the car on November 11, 1982 to the third owner, Frank D. Nothing of note was done to the car by Frank D., who ended up selling the car to its fourth owner in May, 2014, Fred H.

Fred, as I’ve been told, was simply not a “car guy” at all. Fred was friends with a gentleman named Ed Niles who is a legend in the Ferrari community. Ed likely convinced Fred that he needed a Ferrari in his life. And my guess is that Ed probably convinced Fred that he needed a red Ferrari in his life. On June 19, 1989, Fred had the car painted red at Silva’s Auto Body & Paint in Westminster, CA. What happened there caused the car to sit in a garage for the next 25 years.

Or did it? It had just been painted when Fred discovered a cracked exhaust manifold, there’s no way to know if it happened at the shop or existed before he had it painted. I would suspect he pursued every avenue to get it repaired if he thought the shop was at fault, but ultimately he either couldn’t or wouldn’t spend the money for repairs thus left the car sitting in his garage at home in Orange County. Fred was getting up there in age and apparently had no intention of ever doing anything with the car, or as Ed Niles said “I think he’s ready to admit he made a mistake parking it and let it go,” (although he tried to pass it on to his son, but he didn’t want it either).

On May 26, 2014, Jim S. bought the car thus becoming the fifth owner. Obviously, it wasn’t running, but the paint was in great shape. Jim took the car back home to San Francisco and spent a whole lot of time and money getting the car back on the road. He had the engine addressed, rebuilt the front and rear suspension, had the interior re-dyed and cleaned up, and so much more. He paid attention to all the details, and did his best tracking down original parts and keeping the car in “as it left the factory” condition.

Jim also had another Ferrari, a 308 GTS QV model. But now he was relocating to Reno and felt it was time to sell the 308 GT4. That’s when our paths converged as I happened to be in the right place at the right time, and on October 1, 2021, I became the sixth owner of 10388. We later realized our paths actually converged years before I bought the car. Jim had taken the car to a cars and coffee event at Canepa on June 13, 2015. I, too, was at that event and took 29 photos of the car. I had no idea I would be its new owner just over six years later.

The car came complete with the books and manuals, the original dictaphone and stereo are still in-tact, all the records pretty much since new (the first one dates back to July 9, 1976), and a host of other things like sales brochures, and even actual photographs of 10388 in its original color before it was painted red.

My goal with this car was to restore it back to its original color within three or four year, but an unfortunate mishap accelerated that timeline. While pulling into my driveway at a sharp angle on a dark evening, I managed to scrape the rear passenger side against my own Toyota 4Runner parked in the driveway. This put a rather nasty, unsightly scratch down the side of my Dino. After speaking with a few body shops, it was evident that the entire car would have to be repainted due to its unibody construction as there’s no place to blend the paint. Most shops didn’t want to touch it either.

I was introduced to the great folks at Dog House Auto Restoration in Watsonville, CA, and they took 10388 in for a complete repaint in January, 2022. They completely stripped the car down to bare metal and resprayed the car its original color of Verde Pino Metallizzato, and put all Dino badges back in place, completing the job in August, 2022. When I arrived to pick up the car it was the first time I had ever seen one in that color in person, it was literally jaw-dropping. I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was, and really couldn’t believe I was the owner.

I drive the car regularly, at least when weather permits. I show the car at events throughout the year whenever possible and have managed to bring home a few awards including “Best in Show”. This car was everything I could have imagined—and more! I would say they’ll bury me in this car, but that would be a tragedy for such a great car. I suspect my wife will be the one selling this car as I’m sure she’ll outlive me.