- The Sbarro Super Eight debuted at the 1984 Geneva show and later joined a Swiss collection.
- In addition to having a Ferrari V8, the Super Eight is underpinned by the frame of a 308 GTB.
- According to the seller, it can be road-registered in the European Union and across the US.
When you think of a hot hatch, images of hatchbacks with punchy turbocharged engines and front-drive handling typically come to mind. The Sbarro Super Eight, however, has no time for conventions. It wasn’t just a deviation from the norm, it was a whole new blueprint for what a “hot hatch” could be. This one-off creation, conceived by the legendary Franco Sbarro, defies logic and embraces chaos with a mid-mounted Ferrari V8, all while retaining that distinctive, quirky Italian flair.
Unveiled at the 1984 Geneva Motor Show, the Sbarro Super Eight might as well have been a UFO in a sea of production-based hot hatches. Instead of a front-mounted engine or the usual front- or all-wheel drive setup, Sbarro slapped a 2.9-liter naturally aspirated V8 from a Ferrari 308 in the middle of the car. This alone makes it perhaps one of the coolest hot hatches ever conceived.
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The Super Eight followed in the footsteps of Sbarro’s even crazier Super Twelve, which had two Kawasaki engines joined together to create a high-revving inline-12. For the Super Eight, Sbarro started off with the frame from a 308 GTB before shortening it and installing a bespoke fiberglass body. The car has a very compact and wide footprint and looks brilliant. It’s painted red and sits on staggered-width 15-inch BBS wheels with gold-painted spokes.
While Sbarro built just a single example, they didn’t forget about the interior. It’s not the sort of place you’d expect to find yourself after a 15-minute test drive in something like a Ford Focus RS. It’s actually well thought-out and is trimmed in brown leather with wooden accents, a three-spoke Momo steering wheel, and custom gauges.
The Ferrari V8 is good for 240 hp and is mated to a five-speed manual transmission driving the rear wheels. Sbarro also retained several components from the Ferrari 308, including the brakes and double-wishbone independent suspension.
Bring a Trailer is handling the sale of the car and notes that it was delivered to its first owner shortly after being showcased in Geneva in 1984. It then spent time in the Sbarro Museum before being purchased by a Swiss collector and sold to the current owner four years ago. It’s currently located in Paris and can be road-registered across the entire European Union. It can also be imported and registered in the US.
