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Photography by Markus Haub
Dino was an odd brand, placed somewhere between Fiat and Ferrari. In fact, in the ‘60s it was to Ferrari what Dacia is in Europe to Renault, today—a subsidiary offering a more affordable car in larger numbers. And because Mr. Enzo Ferrari did not want to use his nice black horse logo on cars with fewer than twelve cylinders, they created the “Dino” trademark (named after his son Alfredo, nicknamed Dino). Dino Ferrari was working on a 6-cylinder engine for Formula 2 in the 1950s, before his untimely death.
Regulations for the 1967 Formula 2 season required motors be production-based with at least 500 examples in circulation. To achieve that quantity, Ferrari agreed to an alliance with Fiat and installed the new 2.0liter engine in a number of upper market front-engined cars with the name Dino. The first was the Fiat Dino Spider by Pininfarina, which was presented at the 1966 Torino Motor Show. A year later the Fiat Dino Coupe, designed by Bertone, came to market. Of the 7,803 Fiat vehicles produced, 26% were Spiders and 74% were Coupés.
Ferrari had used the ‘Dino’ name sporadically on racecars before and in 1965 with its own logo. At the Torino Salon that year Pininfarina showed the prototype Ferrari Dino 206 GT Berlinetta Speziale—a mid-engine sports car designed by Mr. Aldo Brovarone—and in 1968 a modified version by Leonardo Fioravanti went into production. The 206 GT was built 152 times until in 1969 the 246GT/GTS was launched with much higher production numbers (3761). That was when all Dinos were equipped with the bigger 2.4l engine making 180 hp, all of which were assembled by Ferrari in Maranello.
In 1971, the Dino V6 also found its way into the first Lancia Stratos prototype. It is said that at the time Bertone had received a 246 chassis with engine from Ferrari to test a new 2+2 configuration for a successor model and there and then installed this engine in the Lancia and presented it at the Torino show. Ferrari finally agreed to produce engines for the Stratos that and production started in 1972. The following year, the Ferrari Dino 308 GT4 designed by Marcello Gandini for Bertone went into production. It was the first production Ferrari with 8-cylinder engine, but technically had nothing in common with its predecessor 246. The first series was equipped with the Dino logo, but sales in the US market were poor and dealers begged for the Ferrari badge on the hood, which was installed from 1976. This marked the end of the Dino brand, after just over ten years.
Even though the brand my no longer exist in showrooms, it’s still very alive in enthusiasts’ minds. These photos are from a German Dino club meet. Enjoy!
Great article, I’ve always had a serious soft spot for Dinos. The 206s / 206sp racecar was probably more of the inspiration for the car design, as it was the chassis used for the Speziale. As for Enzo not wanting the Ferrari name on non-12 cylinder cars, there were the four cylinder Monzas of the ’50’s… But who cares, we have pictures of Dinos and I’m happy!
Alfredino discussed his ideas for a V6 just before his death. In ’56 ‘his’ engine was build wth his nickname on it. and in ’64 around 500 engines has to be build due to F2 regulations and that’s when Enzo asked FIAT to help, otherwise racing F2 would have been impossible for Ferrari. Great engines. And every Dino-badged car is a wannahave, despite the poor/amazing marketing strategies behind those cars, just like the true baby Ferrari’: ASA 1000.
And what does Pininfarina has to do with the Stratos and 308GT, both are designed by Gandini.
Good lord! When the comments reach the same number of words as the content it gets a bit ridiculous. It seems that you may not understand the point of a site like Petrolicious. It’s not a dialogue. Most of us come to look at fantastic photos, read some cool stories and enjoy what they are providing, for free!
Did you work for Ferrari? Were you ‘amico’ with Chinetti? This effort to ‘fact-check’ feels over the top.
Petrolicious, keep up the good work!
OK . So you’ve got the populist and commonly known incorrect story behind the realities of the ‘ Dino ‘ badge . But here’s the real insiders skinny that only a few know but has been proven as historical fact beyond any reasonable doubt .
The real story is … Ferrari itself actually created and developed from the ground up what was to be known later as the FIAT Dino [ Spyder and Coupe ] in house for his own brands use in order to compete with the then rapidly ascending Porsche 911 . The problem came about once the cars were finished .. with Enzo suddenly having a change of heart [ not an uncommon event for the Old Man ] deciding after all the money FIAT and Ferrari had invested into the cars that he did not want a ‘ bargain ‘ Ferrari being sold … and refusing to do so .
The bigger problem being at that point Ferrari was owned by Agnelli and FIAT …. and Gianni was not amused by Ferrari’s refusal to market the car so much money had been spent on to return the massive investment FIAT and Agnelli had made developing the thing . Initially when Agnelli offered to take the car over to the FIAT brand … Enzo flat out refused . After a few confrontations Agnelli finally laid down the ultimatum … ” Either we sell it as a Ferrari .. or we sell it as a FIAT .. or you’ll be removed from the company you created and we’ll sell it as any damn thing we chose ”
Enzo .. in a rare moment … backed down .. wisely choosing the ‘ sell it as a FIAT option ‘
Which means if you own or have owned a FIAT Dino [ I have ] … what you actually had/have … is the baby Ferrari that Enzo decided he did not want .
As to the 206/246 .. that was the ‘ bargain ‘ Ferrari Enzo later finally agreed to sell in ‘ his ‘ dealerships .. with Agnelli’s insistence .. and then marketing it as a ‘ tribute ‘ to his much loved and missed son rather than badge them as Ferrari’s [ the Old Man being one proud and obstinate SOB ]
And thats the real story behind the FIAT Dino [ via Andrea Curami , Gerald Roush , Luigi Chinetti etc etc etc ]
Ciao mi amicos … now you know !