Ferrari Dino 206 GT and 246 GT

Dino 206 GT and 246 GT at a glance

All Ferrari and Dino models are listed in the Ferrari catalogue.

Origins: the Dino name and the prototypes

The name honours Alfredo "Dino" Ferrari, Enzo Ferrari's son, who died in 1956 while working on a V-engine project. From the late 1950s it was used for Ferrari's V-engined Formula One and sports racing cars. The 1965 166 P was the first model to carry a Dino badge on its nose instead of the prancing horse: a yellow rectangle with a blue script signature.

There were also commercial reasons for the road car. Ferrari needed more sales and lower production costs, and a smaller car that could be built on an assembly line would be the company's first. Racing rules helped to shape the plan: from 1967, Formula 2 engines had to be based on a production engine built in at least 500 units a year. Ferrari could not build that many on its own, so it turned to Fiat. Fiat produced the V6 both for its own front-engined Fiat Dino coupé and spider and for Ferrari's mid-engined car.

Pininfarina showed the first design study, the Dino 206 GT Speciale, at the 1965 Paris motor show, with a mid-mounted engine and headlights under a full-width clear cover. A second prototype at the 1966 Turin show had an elliptical grille, headlights in the wings and a higher roof. On a third prototype in 1967 the V6 was turned 90 degrees to sit across the car, with the gearbox below and behind it. The car shown at the Turin show in November 1967 was almost identical to the production model.

Dino 206 GT (1967–1969)

Production of the 206 GT ran from 1968 into 1969. Ferrari says about 150 were built over nine months; Wikipedia gives 152. All were left-hand drive. Compared with the show cars, production cars lost the clear headlight covers and gained quarter lights in the door windows. The 206 GT can be recognised by its exposed chrome fuel filler cap on the left rear pillar. The chassis numbers used a new, even-numbered sequence for the Dino brand, and the factory type reference was 607.

The body was made entirely of aluminium, unusual for Ferrari at the time. It had a Kamm tail with two round tail lights on each side and an oval instrument panel with black-faced dials, features also seen on the 365 GTB/4 Daytona.

The engine, type 135B, is a 65° V6 with chain-driven twin overhead camshafts per bank, an aluminium-alloy block with cast-iron liners and a displacement of 1,987 cc (bore 86 mm, stroke 57 mm). Three twin-choke Weber carburettors sit in the vee. It produced 132 kW (180 PS) at 8,000 rpm and 187 Nm at 6,500 rpm. The Dinoplex electronic ignition developed by Magneti Marelli was Ferrari's first electronic ignition, and the 206 GT was also the first Ferrari with rack-and-pinion steering.

Wikipedia notes that the engine was the same as in the Fiat Dino, for which Fiat quoted a lower output. 150 engines from the first 1968 batch went into 206 GTs. The road-going version of the racing V6 had been adapted by Aurelio Lampredi at Fiat.

Dino 246 GT and GTS (1969–1974)

In 1969 the 2.0-litre engine was replaced by a 2.4-litre unit, and the car became the 246 GT. To reduce cost, the body was now made mostly of steel, and the larger engine had a cast-iron block with alloy heads. The wheelbase grew to 2,340 mm - Ferrari says by 60 mm, Wikipedia by 53 mm - with a longer engine cover and a repositioned fuel filler under a flap. The interior was revised, and the engine lid had 14 vents instead of 12.

The 2,419 cc V6 has a 9.0:1 compression ratio, two valves per cylinder and three Weber 40 DCNF carburettors. It produces 143 kW (195 PS) at 7,600 rpm and 226 Nm at 5,500 rpm. US cars, with an air pump and different timing, were rated at 130 kW (175 hp). The coupé weighs 1,080 kg.

The targa-topped 246 GTS appeared in 1972 and weighs 1,100 kg. US-market cars had side marker lights, and buyers could order flared wheel arches, Daytona-style seats and wide Campagnolo alloy wheels.

Three series of the 246

In total Ferrari built 3,569 Dino 246s: 2,295 GT coupés and 1,274 GTS targas. Ferrari notes that demand was still high when production ended in 1973–74.

Chassis and engineering

The chassis is built from longitudinal main tubes with cross bracing and subframes. Suspension is independent all round with wishbones, coil springs, hydraulic dampers and anti-roll bars at the front and rear, and the car has servo-assisted ventilated disc brakes on all four wheels. The five-speed all-synchromesh gearbox was designed and built by Ferrari and sits in unit with the engine, below and behind it.

The 2.4-litre V6 had a long career outside the Dino. It was used in the Fiat Dino 2400 and in the Lancia Stratos rally car.

Legacy and collectors

The Dino was Ferrari's first car built in larger numbers, and it changed how the company approached smaller sports cars. Its successors were the Bertone-styled 2+2 Dino 308 GT4 and the two-seat Ferrari 308 GTB/GTS, which moved from a V6 to a V8. In 2004 Sports Car International placed the Dino sixth among the top sports cars of the 1970s, and Motor Trend Classic ranked it seventh in its list of the ten greatest Ferraris.

The 1975 Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash across the United States was won by a Dino 246 GTS. Ferrari's sales brochure called the car "Tiny, brilliant, safe… almost a Ferrari", and Ferrari itself notes that purists first doubted it was a "real" Ferrari until they saw and drove it. Talk of reviving the name has continued since; see our article on plans to revive the Dino name. The wider story is in our history of Ferrari.

For collectors the main groups are clear. The aluminium 206 GT is the rarest. The early Series I and II 246 cars have their own wheels and wipers, and the more common Series III includes all GTS targas.

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