The Mondial was designed by Pininfarina of Turin, the vehicle designer with whom Ferrari had worked very closely since 1951.

Pininfarina’s bodywork was manufactured by Ferrari’s regular coachbuilder Carrozzeria Scaglietti. Its structure conformed with Ferrari’s practice at the time, with outer body panels fitted onto a separate space-frame chassis constructed from tubular box or oval-shaped steel sections. While most body panels are steel pressings, the front lid and rear engine cover of the Mondial 8 and QV models are from aluminium.

The Mondial chassis includes several detachable sub-frames holding major mechanical assemblies, including one at the rear supporting the entire engine/transmission/rear suspension assembly. This design considerably simplifies engine removal for a major rebuild or cylinder head removal compared to previous Ferrari V8 vehicles.

Electrically actuated pop-up headlights fit flush to the vehicle nose, and contain twin round lamps in each for all 8, QV and 3.2 models, and a single homofocal rectangular unit each side of the Mondial t.

In the Mondial 8, QV and 3.2 models, the transmission housing is integral with the engine sump casting, albeit with its own oil supply, sitting below and slightly to one side of the main block.

Drive to the gearbox is via a single-plate, diaphragm-spring clutch and a set of drop-gears located outboard of the left-hand end of the crankshaft, with output torque feeding into a friction-plate limited-slip final drive unit offset to the rear of the gearbox.

The Ferrari Mondial is a mid-engined, V8-powered grand tourer which was produced by Italian manufacturer Ferrari between 1980 and 1993.