Fiat Dino/ Born: 1967 Died: 1973 The Dino was born of the need for Ferrari to homologate its small V6 engine for Formula 2 racing, and was originally intended to become a sports car marque in its own right.
But to produce the 2.-litre engine in enough quantities - 500 were required for homologation - the company went into a partnership with Fiat (this was before Ferrari became part of the Fiat auto empire) to produce the car in a Fiat variant.
Ferrari on the other hand sold its own versions without the prancing horse logo, as a Dino GT and had their engine mid-car mounted. Fiat badge nothwithstanding, the Dino wasn't cheap, and sold for about the same price as an upper level Mercedes SL. They also differed from the Ferrari-built car in that they came in coupé and spider formats, designed by Bertone and Pininfarina respectively.
The name Dino was a kind of memorial to Enzo Ferrari's son Dino who died at a young age the year before the engine was first built in 1957. The Fiat Dino was introduced to the automotive world at the 1967 Turin Motor Show, a year after the racing GT Ferrari version had been rolled out.
The spider version came first, and though well received, it suffered somewhat in the shadow of the production Ferrari Dino 206 which had just been released. The Fiat also got a problem reputation for build quality and consequent unreliability in minor ways that nevertheless took the shine off the car. One that proved hard to polish back even after the problems had been solved. The Fiat also had a detuned version of the Ferrari engine, at 160hp it was 20 horses down on the other car. But its 0-60mph sprint performance of less than eight seconds was still excellent.
The transmission was a five-speed made by Ferrari. There was an independent front suspension, and a live axle rear setup which was considered by the experts to diminish the car's potential. But it had disc brakes all round. Despite the downsides mentioned above, the version built over the first two years sold well, with the 1,163 units a good eight times more than the 206 GT managed. A coupé version was revealed at the 1967 Geneva Motor Show, with more aggressive styling and as a full four-seater, thanks to a longer wheelbase. It was also distinctly more luxurious than the spider and aimed at a more mature audience, the kind that appreciated full wood trim and electric windows.
It sold almost 3,700 copies over the next two years, powered by the same engine as the spider had been. Still a good engine, but still iffy enough in long-term reliability, as might be expected from a power unit designed primarily for racing. Meantime, Fiat had been working on a new engine, a 2.4-litre V6, in cast iron against the Dino's aluminium unit. It was fitted in both the Fiat cars and the Ferrari 246GT variant from 1969, and gave the Fiats 180hp output and significant extra torque. With the new engine came independent rear suspension as well as a number of changes to the electrics and brakes.
The coupé also got interior revisions with the advent of the '2400' badge on the back, including new seats with incorporated headrests. By now, though, the sales position with the Ferrari cousin had changed, and even with a Fiat engine now under the hood the Dino 246 GT massively improved its attraction to buyers.
However, both it and the Fiat Dino 2400 found themselves among the victims of the oil shocks of the early '70s, and in the summer of 1972 the Fiat's coupé version ceased production. Two years later the 1973-produced spider versions finally ran out. Today the 2400s are more valuable, not least because the Fiat 2.4 engine is considered to be much better than the original Ferrari unit. An opinion underscored by the subsequent sterling performance of the engine in the Group B racer, the Stratos from Lancia.