The Mondial T Cabriolet is one of the latest models from the successful 80s era. He rose to fame on his own merits but also for his stellar appearance in the cinema. Swipe for more details. I have a gallery of images for you.
When not Ferrari in the movies. For music culture, Scent of a Woman (1992) was an anchor with tango. The film directed by Martin Brest was the one that brought to Hollywood the famous melodies of Por una cabeza, an epic piece by Carlos Gardel with lyrics by Alfredo Le Pera.
For the automotive field, Esencia de Mujer was the production that told one of the many chapters in the history of ferrari. The 80s are summed up in that dealership that appears in one of its scenes and the Mondial T Convertible from 1989one of the last of that blessed era, the one that shines through the streets of New York.
So with those dizzying shots with Al Pacino in the skin of Frank Slade and Chris O’Donnell as Charlie Simms, I propose to delve into this markedly epochal design car. At what point in the Mondial family should the T Cabrio be placed? What modifications did Pininfarina apply to its design? What were your benefits?
Let’s start with the last question. Eight cylinders in V, 3404.70 cc of total displacement, 300 horses at 7200 revolutions per minute, maximum speed of 255 km/h, torque of 324 Nm at 4500 hp and acceleration from 0 to 100 in 6.3 seconds. All this through a motor scheme based on a longitudinal rear motor at 90°which immediately affected its design and its interior comfort.
With the T Cabriolet, Ferrari increased the available space in the cabin, in addition to all the redesign carried out. The backs of the rear seats were folding and thus the car achieved a flatter loading surface. The canvas top, meanwhile, could come out with the option of a leather cover.
The exterior also showed changes. The retractable headlamps were now more rectangular than those on previous versions of the Ferrari Mondial and those iconic air intakes in the side slots towards the rear wings like those seen on the Testarossa they reverted to the Mondial family sources: both cabriolet and coupé, those intakes kept their original size but adopted a more rectangular aesthetic.
The height of the Mondial range
The deepest renovation.
With the Mondial 8, the first of the range produced in 1980, Ferrari disregarded the logic of three digits as a model designation for the first time in its history. From that original version to the Mondial T, the Mondial QV of 1983 and the Mondial 3.2 of 1986 passed. Ferrari was a Swiss watch with this icon of the 80s, since three years later it launched the already explained Mondial T on the market.
The latter meant the culminating moment of its modernization, “the deepest renewal experienced during the life cycle of the car”, according to the brand itself. It was an evolution in design and drive scheme, where now the longitudinal engine and the transverse gearbox formed, seen from above, the T-shape that gives the model its name. The Ferrari Mondial T Cabriolet was, in addition to being a benchmark of the convertibles of the time, the car for which Al Pacino, in his interpretation of Lieutenant Slade, almost lost his head.