1969 Ferrari Dino 246

The Dino sports car was the result of an inspired collaboration between Ferrari and Pininfarina. Their history is rooted in the V-6 sports racers of the mid-1960s and in Pininfarina's Dino 206 S Speciale show car, which debuted at the 1965 Paris Salon. The following year, at Torino, the Dino Berlinetta GT made its appearance, complete with a transverse mid-mounted V-6 engine.

The first production Dino was dubbed the 206 GT, which denoted its 2.0-liter engine displacement size and its six cylinders. In this guise, it made its debut at Torino in 1967 as the first-ever mid-engine production car offered by Ferrari. They were purpose-built road cars infused with the companies racing DNA. Its body was formed from lightweight alloy by Ferrari's longtime coachbuilding partner, Scaglietti, over an oval-section tubular steel frame. The design was aggressive and visually suggestive of its top speed of over 140 mph.

The 206 GT entered production by February of 1968 and around 150 examples were built. It was followed by a 2.4-liter version on a longer wheelbase - the 246 GT - which replaced the Dino 206 in late 1969. The body was now steel and the cylinder block cast-iron rather than aluminum. A Targa-Top version, called the 246 GTS, followed in 1972. By the time production came to a close, a total of 2,487 GT coupes and 1,274 GTS Spiders were built by June of 1974.

by Daniel Vaughan | Nov 2017