Throughout car-guy history, there has always been a vehicle that bears the namesake of a famous brand but is known within enthusiast circles to be the black sheep, or the warmed-over variant of a more plebeian model. If a car like this were to show up a marque-specific event, fellow attendees may smile, nod, and say nice things – but in their own minds, they may wonder what the owner was thinking when they agreed to pay exotic car repair bills without any of the status of collector car ownership. To that I say, enough!

All it took for me was a warm summer evening on my short ride home from work – 5 minutes, tops. With the windows down in my M3, I heard a voracious soundtrack blatting down the left lane and looked in my side view mirror to see a Mondial cruising by, with sounds emitting from the tail pipes that only an Italian V8 can produce. For a moment, I scoffed – “Huh, just a Mondial” – and then I saw the look on the driver’s face. Pure, unadulterated joy. The man was having the best ride an enthusiast could have, with the windows down to drink in a soundtrack that no recording artist can hope to match.

Will the Mondial like this one ever be at the top of the collector car foodchain? Probably not. But that afternoon I was reminded how little it matters what a car is worth or how many seats it has, if it brings joy to the owner. In between the repair bills, cosmetic fixes, insurance payments, and fuel costs is the reason we drive the weird, quirky, and temperamental cars we do: they keep us engaged, always reminding us that there’s more to them than aero kits and finned engine covers. While this Mondial may immediately become a money pit to reverse its years of dormancy, it’s completely worth it if the next owner can’t wait to drive to work the next morning.

In the seller’s listing here on eBay, it’s mentioned that due to the loss of space, it’s time to sell the Mondial on. I always wonder when I drive past those miniature colonies of storage units just what resides behind the metal doors; I have to admit, my mind doesn’t jump immediately to thoughts of a vintage Ferrari. Here’s hoping that this Mondial 8 finds a stable home before Thanksgiving and an owner with the resources to make windows-down cruising by next summer a top priority – even if it’s known as the Ferrari family’s ugly duckling.