The Dino 206246 GTs are of course legends and icons. And now very expensive; the blue one in the pictures below sold in 2019 for $400k. Well, they are junior Ferraris of course, and the first of the line that led to the 308 GT and on into more modern times. But many find the original to be the best, stylistically, that is. And I agree.
As far as the experience of actually driving and testing one, I’ve got little to say, so I’ll let R&T take you through a pretty comprehensive test.
A wee bit of history: at the 1965 Paris Auto Show, Ferrari unveiled the Dino Berlinetta Speciale. It was based on a Dino 206 racing space-frame chassis. The body design was of course by Pininfarina, and the very last one that Battista “Pinin” Farina was involved with before his death.
In 1966, the more definitive Dino 206GT prototype was shown. It still had the longitudinal engine configuration of the racing chassis. That ate up too much space, so the production version, the 1967 206GT had a transverse engine, as well as numerous other stylistic and technical aspects.
The 206GT had a 2 L 60 degree V6, and that was upped to 2.4 liters in 1970, hence the 246 GT/GTS (the GTS had a Targa top).
I loved to read the Du Pont Registry when I was a kid in the late 1990s, these weren’t always the belle of the ball… Nice examples were in the $40k range, IIFC.
Saw one priced up outside a local barber at £5000. …… This was 1980 ,and was the price of a new Granada Ghia and I was
earning £50 a week. Should have saved up for it and would have been happy getting £40 grand for it 17 years later. Dam!. Only got myself to blame.
They were often in the back of Road & Track for $9,500 or so about forty years ago. Ten years later, I drove one that was being advertised for $250,000 with the wrong wheels and flares.
A V6 makes it only a half of a Ferrari. A Ferrari is a 12 cylinder car.
Yawn
That’s what Enzo himself purportedly said, which is why it wasn’t branded Ferrari. 0-60 mph in 8 seconds, 12mpg, big 205/70 tires. My how cars have changed. But they haven’t gotten any prettier.
Which is why it was never marketed as a Ferrari.
In my 43 years on this planet, I have driven two Ferraris. One 80s Testarossa, with the single left side mirror, and a Magnum P.I. ish 308 GTB. They were awful. The manual steering on the Testarossa was worse than the old F650 that I drove at a fish plant in my youth. Anything with a gated shifter makes the argument for manuals over automatics moot.
They’re pretty baubles, but not fun to drive or maintain. Can’t imagine the Dino was any better.
A classic case of don’t live your dreams then. You haven’t put me off. Most current models are ugly with flappy paddle auto gear boxes.
Kicking myself I didn’t blow ten grand on a 308GT4 15 years ago. They go for 30 us today.
I felt the same way about the first Countach I drove. Didn’t impress me. Now, I would absolutely cut off my right nut to drive a F40. When I started my mechanics apprenticeship, and I considered myself a mechanic not a technician, I worked on mostly European stuff. And the guy that had a Mercedes S600 as his daily driver, drove a 930 on the weekend. I also got to drive an early 90s NSX. They spoiled me for exotics. Would I drive a modern Ferrari or Lamborghini? Probably. I would likely enjoy it too. But its a different skill level required now, like a video game. If I want to muscle something and have to be skilled to shift and run down the road hard, it’ll be in a big block Chevelle or a mid year Vette.
The “junior Ferraris” the Dino ushered in became THE Ferrari at some point, probably starting with the F355. V12 Ferraris after the Testarossa seemed to only exist out of legacy and principal by then, I’d have trouble naming all the front engined V12 models in the last 20 years, but the mid engine V8 ones, every one! And I don’t even like any of them!
A great retrospective, given that its designer at Pininfarina, Aldo Brovarone, just died.
Same approximate weight distribution as a 911? Would choose Porsche every time unless I somehow invented a time machine. These go for serious coin….
The Ferrari Dino 206 GT is my favorite car of all time. Around ten years ago I spotted a yellow one in an exotic car repair shop here in Minnesota. Unfortunately they were closed. Observing this Italian masterpiece in the flesh confirmed in me an absolute unquestionable truth. That to realize self actualization it will be as a sculpture and to aspire to create such beauty.
These teeter close to being boring in photographs, suffering from their comparative ubiquity. it turns out there IS such A thing as too much publicity.
But it is not the reality. There, they verge instead somewhere closer to perfection. They are pretty, and delicate, and absurdly tiny. They look exotic enough to do high speeds, but also as if doing that would be a one-off before expiring of exhaustion.
The Dino is a beautiful piece of sculpture. Thought of as limited-edition art production, such as Rodin did, a copy from the edition is underpriced at half a million. That it also flogs along like a brute racecar and handles properly is practically beside the point, though it does add to the pleasure: “I am going out for a hoon in my Rodin” is something that cannot ever be said.
The leaded, “dirty” version tested here in ’73 did 7-dead for 0-60 and 148 mph, along with 20mpg , a significant difference. They too referenced the 911, saying it was faster until 100mph was crested, where the Italian pulled away significantly. Looking at the 7800 rpm power peak, that’s believable.
Ferrari has made plenty of stuff since that has been striking, but the Dino was the last thing they made that was beautiful.
Browsing over the specs, the performance numbers are positively tame by today’s standards, but one number stood out (well, all of these particular measurements did) far beyond others; 85 decibels at 50 MPH?! My ears hurt reading that…