Some Ferrari tell a story that goes far beyond their performance or market value, such as the moving story of this Ferrari 308 GTSi from 1982. For nearly eighteen years, it sat motionless in a garage, covered in dust, never seeing the light of day again. Today, her son has decided to bring it back to life, as a tribute to the man who made her childhood dream come true.
A lifelong dream sparked by a Ferrari Daytona
The story begins in the late 1960s. Sam Milano was just a teenager at the time, working at a gas station with his brother. One day, a black Ferrari Daytona pulled up in front of him. The owner invited him to get behind the wheel. That moment would change his life.
From that moment on, Sam set himself a goal: one day, he would own a Ferrari. It was an ambitious dream for a man from a working-class background, who would nevertheless devote his entire life to cars. As the owner of a body shop for nearly thirty years, he finally bought the car of his dreams in 1984: a red 1982 Ferrari 308 GTSi.
Magnum's Ferrari
The 308 GTSi was one of the most desirable Ferraris of its time. Made famous by the TV series *Magnum*, it featured a 2.9-liter fuel-injected V8 paired with a metal-grid manual transmission, which has since become one of the hallmarks of classic Ferraris.
The U.S. version produces about 205 ch. It accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in about 7 seconds, and its top speed exceeds 230 km/h. But for Sam, the numbers don’t matter much. This car is, above all, the realization of a dream. His son Danny sums it up perfectly:
«He was the working-class guy who had managed to buy a Ferrari.»
Of all the cars Sam Milano will own in his lifetime, this is the only one he will keep.
The Breakdown
Until 2008, Sam drove his Ferrari almost every weekend. Then a mechanical failure forced him to take the car off the road. Rather than sell it, he decided to wait until he retired to restore it completely.
He built his own house, set up a workshop, installed car lifts he’d salvaged from his old garage, and was already preparing for the return of his Ferrari. But fate had other plans. Just four months after his retirement, Sam passed away suddenly. The Ferrari remained frozen in time.
A car that his son had never seen in the sunlight
When Danny inherited the Ferrari 308 GTSi, the car had only 19,000 miles on it—a little over 30,000 kilometers. That’s an exceptional mileage for a Ferrari that’s over forty years old. Yet his son admits something surprising:
«I'd never seen the car in the sun. I'd always seen it in the garage.»
Determined to honor his father's memory, he turned to American specialist Larry Kosilla, founder of AMMO NYC, to restore the Ferrari to its former glory.
«I'm going to take it for a spin in her honor.»
Hidden beneath several centimeters of dust is a remarkably well-preserved red paint job. Since the car had been stored indoors for nearly two decades, the original clear coat and paint ultimately held up better than anyone could have imagined.
The restoration work takes four days: thorough cleaning, meticulous polishing, restoration of the plastic parts, leather treatment, and refurbishment of the interior.
In the storage compartments, the restorer even discovered old New York toll tokens as well as several audio cassettes that had been forgotten for decades.
Some imperfections have been intentionally left as is to preserve the car’s history. The small stone chips on the hood and fenders have simply been touched up. As for the engine, it remains sealed. Danny wants to be the first to open it, just as his father would have done.
When Danny sees the finished Ferrari, his reaction is immediate:
«It's ten times better than I imagined.»
The red paint regains its luster, the interior comes back to life, and the 308 seems to be from another era.
The next step will be the most important one: getting the V8 running again after eighteen years of inactivity. Danny plans to do some of the work himself, with the help of Ferrari specialists. His goal isn’t to drive thousands of kilometers, but simply to bring his father’s dream back to life.
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