The best hot hatch ever made* – with a Ferrari V8 – is up for sale

This is the best hot hatch ever made. Possibly. So good in fact, it was only made once, because when you match an old Ferrari V8 to a bespoke fibreglass body and gold BBS wheels, you don’t need a sequel.

Welcome back to the simply lovely Sbarro Super Eight. It was designed by Franco Sbarro, a man with prior experience of converting Ford GT40s and Lola T70s into road-going monsters.

Mr Sbarro took the bones of a Ferrari 308 - a Good Ferrari - and shortened the frame to accommodate a bespoke fibreglass body that itself took cues from the Super Eight’s predecessor. That car was called the Super Twelve, and… featured a pair of Kawasaki engines bolted together for a straight-twelve. Indeed.

This one of course, gets the 308’s 2.9-litre V8 mounted in the back (a configuration that’d only reappear much later in the excellent guise of the Clio V6), featuring dual overhead cams, four valves per cylinder and Bosch fuel injection. Power? Ah, that’d be 240bhp. Ish. No it’s not what you thought it’d be. Yes it’s very much enough.

Especially when matched to a five-speed manual gearbox sending power to the rear. A rounded, squat rear. The uniquely designed body of the Super Eight also features a louvred nose with square lamps, a square-ish silhouette, two doors, some strakes, four exhaust pipes and a set of 15in BBS rims.

They hide the 308’s vented brakes (and coilovers and suspension layout), while you can hide in a sea of tan leather and a bespoke cabin layout.

It was sold to its current owner four years ago, having spent time in a Swiss collection and before that Sbarro’s own museum, and comes to you now via Bring a Trailer wearing Dutch registration. Apparently the speedo reads 30k km – less than 19,000 miles. Barely run in. The current bid? At the time of writing, just over $26k, which is a bargain for… the best hot hatch ever made. Possibly.