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Let’s Go Racing: 1967 Ferrari Dino 206 S

Yes, we know it’s not from a barn but spend a moment suspending disbelief and imagine yourself in this car. It is the mid-1960s and every kind of racing is going great guns. CanAm is galvanizing fans with 1000 hp cars and celebrity drivers like Jim Hall, Parnelli Jones, and Dan Gurney. Carroll Shelby starts making cars. Trans-Am is formed. The 24 Hours of Daytona holds its inaugural race. Formula 1 expands allowable engine displacement to 3 liters. The Ford/Ferrari rivalry is in full swing. Into this thundering ecosystem, the Porsche 911, Jaguar E-type, Lotus Cortina, and Ferrari Dino 246 are born. Ah yes, that Dino. Here at RM Sotheby’s, available by sealed bid (auction closes February 17th), is one of the rarest sports racers in the world, a parent to the production Dino, this 1967 Ferrari Dino 206 S. One of thirteen examples clothed in Piero Drogo’s spyder bodywork, chassis number 032 raced in several Italian hillclimbs when new. It was sold and resold a number of times, until in the early 2000’s it crashed in a Ferrari Historic Challenge race. In 2003 it was restored for the first time in the UK. Its next restoration was at the Ferrari factory where it received its Red Book via Ferrari Classiche. Thanks to Araknid78 for this spectacular tip!

The Dino nameplate first came to life in 1957 associated with a V6 engine installed in a Formula 2 single seater; by the time this car hit the pavement, the motor had seen ten years of evolution. This car’s rear-mounted 2.0 liter V6 was fitted with Lucas injection from the factory and generated 220 bhp at full song. Top speed ran to 260 kph. Importantly, the description of this car indicates that Maranello’s Classiche department noted the car has “a correct type Dino 206 engine” which to me screams non-original. The five-speed gearbox is matching numbers.

The interior is all business, and you’d better be narrow! Gauges include a tachometer, oil pressure, fuel, and water temperature. Incidentally, the gearchange is non-synchro. Ferraris synthesize the tension between power and beauty perfectly: here’s the delicate door button, and the almost ridiculously fragile mirror. At the same time, these cars were fiercely competitive, placing well at Spa, the Targa Florio, and Nurburgring.

Bidders interested in the estimate on this car must call Sotheby’s. Fortunately, we have one prior sale to generate a guess at the number. In 2015 at Pebble Beach, Gooding sold a 1966 206 S for $2.31 million which was well below the estimate. That year represented a price top for many marques. Soon enough, we’ll know what the market thinks of this one. As a postscript, it’s worth noting that the fabulously popular Ferrari Dino 206GT and 246GT/S are derived from this very car. Introduced at the 1965 Paris Motor Show, the Ferrari Dino 206 Pininfarina Berlinetta Speciale sat on the race car’s chassis and was the precursor to Ferrari’s best-selling production car to that date.

Comments

  1. Avatar sakingsbury20

    hmmm….I’m thinkn thats kph not mph on the top speed…

    Like 2
    • Avatar Michelle Rand Staff

      You’re right, I will correct, thanks!

      Like 2
  2. Avatar PairsNPaint

    What a gorgeous machine.

    Like 3
  3. Avatar Soft Enzo

    Nice car. it would be great if it had air conditioning and a 2 speed Powerglide transmission.

    Like 2
    • Avatar nlpnt

      Will you settle for a targa top and Fiat 850 taillights?

      Like 0
  4. Avatar Michael Berkemeier

    Hmmmm…wonder if they offer no-money down financing? I wonder what my weeklys would be…

    Like 0
  5. Avatar Howie

    So no Craigslist on this one?

    Like 2
  6. Avatar Bruce

    You only have to see one in real life to have that image burned into your mind. I think that this design is as beautiful or maybe even more so then the P-3 & P-4 Ferrari’s that raced against Ford. They are smaller, much lighter and so very low. There is hardly a straight line on them and as a stylistic exercise a tour de force. That they went like a scaled cat did not hurt. This will hurt some out there but compared to the 904 Porsche side by side is a revelation. The 904 is drab and non interesting in comparison. To the lucky man who purchases it please let the public see this machine as both a successful racing car but as the work of art that it is.

    Like 7
  7. Avatar David Winstead

    I owned a 246 a number of years ago. Bought for$50,000. Red/tan. At 8000rpm you would listen and dream that evening about the sound. Unfortunately, after6 years of ownership, Wayne Carini sold it for me. I sold it before the big runup in pricing. Beautiful and artistic. Although the Ferrari club always placed me in the back of the 12 cylinders. Oh well.

    Like 6
  8. Avatar Judge parker

    Maybe the most beautiful racing car ever made. I’m old enough to have seen them at Daytona and the sound they made on the back banking, especially after dark when the field was spread out, is a thing I’ll never forget. Awesome is an overused word these days but the song of these little Dinosaur was just that.

    Like 4
  9. Avatar douglas hunt

    I was a kid, mom bought me a big color book of Ferrari’s….there was a 206 SP pictured in the book, first one I had seen, just as this one, red with yellow wheels…to say I was awed would be an understatement.

    the back of the book had a 33 rpm vinyl record of Ferrari sounds.

    I am still hoping I can find that book as I have inherited that home I grew up in, and there is an attic full of things to go through

    Like 0

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