1972 Dino 246 GTS

Fraser Martin
18 June 2009

Originally described in the brochure as 'almost a Ferrari', the Dino 246 was the second model to bear the name of Enzo Ferrari's late son Dino, and was designed to do battle with the Porsche 911 of the period. The 246 was produced between 1972 and 1974 and used a cast iron block of 2.4-litre in the V6 engine, with aluminium heads – the previous model, the 206 with 2.0 litres and an all-alloy engine, was superseded by the demand for more power.

A correct Dino should never appear with Ferrari logos, though many owners add them, and the cars were never fi tted with 'prancing horse' badges. The idea behind the car was to provide an entry level European sports car that, whilst having Ferrari's reputation behind it, would nevertheless be a second line of product for the Italian marque. Enzo Ferrari did not want to market a 'cheaper' Ferrari and the V12-engined cars in the contemporary line-up were too expensive, particularly in the US markets, to compete with the likes of Porsche and Jaguar.

The 1972 GTS shown here is not just one of only 1274 cars made in Spyder form, with the detachable roof section as opposed to the hardtop GT, but has a very special provenance – this is the actual launch car from the Ferrari stand at the 1972 Los Angeles Motor Show, and was imported to Dubai from the US by a local businessman and collector in 2005, after a complete nut-and-bolt rebuild at Maranello, where the cars were originally manufactured.

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Gaurav Dhar says

Re: 1972 Dino 246 GTS
I had the pleasure of seeing this car in person at the Bonhams Classic Car workshop last year. A lovely example to say the least, the article doing it justice ! Well written. The owner indeed has some other tasty treats tucked away and I await with eagerness to see what you manage to write about next from his collection. It would be wonderful if our ExoClass Club would be allowed the privilige of a tour by the owner of his collection one day. Keep up the good work. Best, Gaurav Dhar Reply

23 July 2009

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