Invoking the name “Ferrari” regarding the Fiat-branded Dino reaches beyond wishful thinking. Ferrari’s need to homologate 500 DOHC “Dino” V6 engines for racing spawned the joint venture with Fiat. The engine inspired the car name, and the rest is history. Though not a Ferrari, Dinos like this 1972 Fiat Dino 2400 in Livingston Manor, New York give buyers a coupe from Italian coach builder Bertone with a pure-bred prancing horse engine. Sadly this specimen’s Ferrari engine is rather… not present, rendering the Ferrari connection especially tenuous. Furthermore, structural and cosmetic rust abound, contrasting a decent original interior. Our own Jeff Lavery covered this car here in February 2022, and it appears again on eBay with a new back yard and fresh pictures. At least six bidders have pranced from dreaming to bidding, trotting the Dino’s market value across the $3000 line.
Instead of a gaping hole and grass beneath, picture a lovely 2.4L DOHC V6 in luscious red, making 180 HP during a year when Chevrolet’s 5.0L (307 cid) V8 made 130. Perhaps the ideal buyer has a wrecked Dino in one corner of their garage, powertrain intact.
Ferrari built some later Dinos, likely including this swan song ’72, in-house, further strengthening the assertion that the Dino is a “forgotten Ferrari.” Thanks to Hagerty for some details. With Bertone handling the coupe design, Pininfarina penned a (convertible) Spyder at Ferrari’s request.
Though faded, the interior looks fairly complete and well-kept considering its age. “Fiat” script adorns the steering wheel while “Bertone” graces the dashboard, with an owner-applied Ferrari prancing horse sticker for good measure. Undercarriage pictures paint a gruesome picture, suggesting an Appian Way-length journey to roadworthiness. A Dino engine and transmission fetched nearly $15,000 on Bring a Trailer back in 2019, so hold your horses on that LS swap, heartless hyenas! Describing your Dino to the novice, how many seconds before you mention “Ferrari?”
Fix It Again Tony
I am not surprised to see the same car pop up again in someone else’s back yard. Dealing with a total restoration, all the rust, and the need for a Ferrari V-6 and gearbox…all I can say is Mamma mia! Even if you sink in all the dozens of thousands of dollars needed, you would still only wind up with a non-numbers-matching FIAT four seater with a minor Ferrari connection. Still, you could sit in your FIAT and imagine that you are Raf Vallone, playing the Mafia boss, in the original Italian Job…
They are all just Dinos..Ferrari or FIAT..Ferrari did not put the F badge on early Dinos and they were deliberately marketed just as Dinos. The FIAT Coupes were actually built by Ferrari using a FIAT built Ferrari designed motor. IMHO all Dinos..these Coupes..the lovely Convertibles and the Berlinetas and “Targas” should all have just been branded as Dinos..they were all a FIAT/ Ferrari mix. I hope someone saves this. I drove one from Birmingham to London at a great rate of knots on the M1..memorable, comfortabel and short ride!
What a tragedy. Those are very scarce and beautiful cars.
How sad (again).
Taurus SHO, if you can figure out a bellhousing?
Lovely lines. Done right, it is a valuable machine. But what we have here is a mostly salvageable interior, decent glass, four wheels (which, if cleaned up, are probably worth close to the current bid all by themselves) a few trim pieces and a few body panels. Sadly, lighter-gage, pre-galvanized steel just evaporates unless it is in the desert south-west. But, unless I am missing something, this one isn’t. Post-electrical fire, the bone loss in this one makes a reed of a 99 year-old grandmother-with-a-walker look like an Olympian. Given the tepid warnings of in the auction text about welding and unseen rust, the primary structural deterioration in this Italian almost certainly too great to take the torque and stress of the original drive-train (let alone some, more powerful, variant). The body is mostly a good place to store what is left of the interior.
The last eBay auction didn’t hit reserve at just shy of $12k. By now, the mark experts would have snapped this up post-auction if the seller was realistic.
Love to hear what (and why) he or she thinks it is really worth, and what the “third-party” wants for the drive-train.
Ended: Jul 25, 2022 , 8:25PM
Current bid:US $4,050.00 [ 16 bids ]
Reserve not met
Located in:Livingston Manor, New York,
I wonder if I can fit one of these engines to a Fiat Spider 124 sport (?)