Not every older Ferrari is beautiful or collectible. There is an entire run of cars in the 1970s — a not especially great era for automotive design — that we can all do without. I never found the 308/328 cars particularly attractive, although that could be based in part on Magnum P.I. snobbery, and how underpowered they were relative to their costs and other cars of the era.
One exception: Ferrari BB 512i. Made between 1976 and 1984, it replaced the gorgeous (front-engine) Daytona. It was the first in what would become a long series of mid-engine flat-12 engined Ferraris. It was the first mid-engine road-car to bear the Ferrari name and the Cavallino Rampante (prancing horse) logo. The lovely 246 GT (see this, this or this), the first mid-engined Ferrari road car, was sold under Dino name.
The name stood for its 5 liter, 12 cylinder engine design. Like everyone else, I heard the “BB” as Berlinetta Boxer, but that apparently is incorrect. According to a Ferrari engineer, it stood for “Berlinetta Bialbero” meant dual camshaft. Internally in Modena, it was secretly referred to as “Brigitte Bardot,” perceived to be exceptionally beautiful, like the French actress — hence the initials.
1,007 examples of these fuel injected (i) were built from 1981 to 1984. They went for about $60k new, but the car was never sold new in the United States — they were imported via 3rd parties into the US. Today, these go for $200k-400k — the example picture below was bid to $218,000, (but the reserve not met.)
Source: Bring A Trailer
