Guide: Ferrari Dino 206 Pininfarina Berlinetta Speciale
Background
The Dino road car project came about as Enzo Ferrari wanted to re-enter Formula 2 racing when new regulations would be introduced for 1967.
The revised regulatory framework had been announced by the FIA in early 1965: there would be a 1600cc, six cylinder limit and minimum production requirement of 500 engines. The engine blocks had to be used in a minimum of 500 road-going production cars all built within twelve consecutive months.
Enzo Ferrari considered his 65° Dino V6 the perfect base for a 1600cc F2 powerplant. However, the Maranello firm did not have the production capacity to make the 500 V6-powered road cars in the required timeframe.
Ferrari instead turned to Fiat and, in March 1965, the two companies signed an agreement that would see Fiat produce the V6 engine in sufficient numbers to allow its adoption in a new Dino-badged Ferrari Formula 2 car.
As part of the deal, Fiat would have access to the engine for their own range of Fiat Dinos and they would also assemble Ferrari’s own Dino-badged production model. It was hoped the Dino’s lower price point and higher anticipated sales volume would bring Ferrari some much-needed financial stability.
A mid-engined layout was chosen for the new V6-powered Ferrari whereas all the firm's previous production cars had used front-mounted V12s.
Ferrari re-launched the Dino brand in 1965 with a new sports racing car: the Dino 166 P. Just one example was built for that first year of competition and it bore chassis number 0834.
During the course of 1965, the 166 P was uprated to 206 P specification and, in both configurations, it proved an exceptionally fast machine. In two-litre form, the little car was good enough for Ludovico Scarfiotti to snatch the 1965 European Mountain Championship from mighty Porsche.
To preview what the new Ferrari Dino production car might look like, Pininfarina were commissioned to create a styling concept for the Paris Motor Show in October 1965. For this purpose, Ferrari dispatched the second Dino sports racing car chassis (0840) to Pininfarina’s Turin headquarters.
Work commenced in the spring of 1965.
Chassis
The Tipo 585 chassis sent to Pininfarina was a Grand Prix-style semi-monocoque that comprised lightweight tubular frames bolstered by stressed alloy panels riveted in place for extra rigidity.
The wheelbase measured 2280mm and fuel tanks were mounted in each rocker panel.
Suspension was independent all round via unequal-length wishbones, coil springs and telescopic Koni shocks. Anti-roll bars were installed at either end.
Dunlop supplied the ventilated disc brakes which were mounted outboard at the front and inboard at the rear.
15 x 6.5-inch Campagnolo cast alloy wheels came shod with Pirelli tyres and were held in place by a triple-eared hub nut.
Engine & Gearbox
As Pininfarina’s Dino Berlinetta Speciale was envisaged purely as a styling platform, the engine and gearbox casings were left empty.
In operational two-litre 1965 trim, the Tipo 231 65° V6 engine displaced 1986cc thanks to a bore and stroke of 86mm and 57mm respectively. It was an all-alloy dual overhead camshaft motor with dry-sump lubrication, two valves per cylinder, twin plug ignition and a pair of Marelli distributors.
The 206 P engine used for hillclimbing in 1965 ran a compression ratio of 9.8:1 and three Weber 40 DCN carburettors. It was a real screamer and produced 205bhp at 8800rpm.
A five-speed non-synchromesh gearbox with twin-plate clutch was mounted in unit with the differential.
Bodywork
Pininfarina's low-slung aluminium bodywork was given an unusual nose treatment that featured four headlights housed under a full-width Plexiglas cover. This unconventional arrangement gave the car a particularly distinctive appearance and, while it wasn't used on any subsequent Ferraris, Pininfarina did adopt a similar look for the Fiat Dino Spider produced between 1966 and 1973.
Scalloped intakes were carved out from each flank. They fed cool air towards the engine and the inboard rear brakes and became a Ferrari-Pininfarina trademark for many years to come.
A five-window cockpit gave excellent all-round visibility. The rear windscreen was a single piece of concave glass that merged with the flying buttresses which swept down towards the tail. An extremely elegant mid-engined styling solution, this was another feature adopted on many subsequent production Ferraris.
The otherwise flat rear deck housed a ventilated teardrop blister to cover the downdraught carburettors.
At the back of the car, Pininfarina incorporated a truncated Kamm tail with the main fascia neatly recessed from the outer edges. Two large banks of cooling vents were split by a license plate holder and custom single-piece tail lights were installed on either side.
The finished car was given a coat of traditional red paint.
Interior
Much of the interior was trimmed to match the bodywork.
Red vinyl upholstery covered the sills, rear bulkhead, lower door panels and the back half of the transmission tunnel.
The bucket seats had red bolsters and ribbed white centres.
Black vinyl was used for the upper door panels and the unique triple-cowled dash.
The instrument binnacle was home to a central 10,000rpm tach flanked to the left by an oil pressure gauge and to the right by a fuel level indicator. All three instruments were supplied by Veglia.
The leather-rimmed steering wheel had three natural aluminium spokes and a Dino horn push.
Like the Dino sports racing cars of this era, chassis 0840 was built in right-hand drive with a left-hand open-gate gearchange.
Subsequent History
Following its Paris debut, 0840 was displayed at motor shows in Turin (November 1965) and New York (April 1966).
It then returned to the Pininfarina plant where it resided until June 1967.
At this point, the car was gifted (with Enzo Ferraris’ approval) to the Le Mans museum after the Automobile Club de l’Ouest paid homage to Jean-Baptiste Farina by naming the square in front of their museum in his honour.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Ferrari - https://www.ferrari.com & Pininfarina - https://pininfarina.it
