One to Buy: ex-Marcel Martin 1967 Fiat Dino 2000 Spider
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The 1968 Le Mans 24 Hours is arguably best remembered because of the five lap victory achieved by Pedro Rodriguez and Lucien Bianchi in their Gulf Oil-backed Ford GT40 run by John Wyer Automotive Engineering.
However, further down the order were a number of notable performances: Alfa Romeo claimed the two-litre Group 6 Prototype class with its Tipo 33/2s finishing fourth fifth and sixth while Alpine’s diminutive 1296cc A210 managed to break into the top ten and bag the 1.3-litre Prototype honours.
The most incongruous entry in the two-litre Group 6 class at Le Mans in 1968 was not a Prototype at all. Instead, running against purpose-built machinery from Alfa Romeo, Alpina and Porsche was a real curio: a Fiat Dino 2000 Spider entered by Marcel Martin under the Ecurie Fiat-Abarth France banner.
Having raced at Le Mans three times prior, Martin’s entry for the Dino was accepted, but as an insufficient number of cars had been built for the model to have been homologated in the more appropriate Grand Touring class, he was forced to run in the Prototype category.
Marcel Martin had taken delivery of the red Dino, chassis 135AS0000598, in December 1967. In preparation for its Le Mans outing, he had the red Spider’s engine sent to renowned Italian tuner, Virgilio Conrero, who tweaked the V6 to develop 185bhp (an extra 25bhp over standard). To improve cooling, the Dino sprouted a large hood scoop while to reduce weight, the bumpers were ditched and basic seats were installed.
Chassis ‘598’ qualified 46th of the 54 starters and, despite running hot owing to an ignition fault, Martin along with his co-driver, Jean Mesange, were still circulating after 24 hours of gruelling competition. Although the aforementioned issue meant the Dino was unclassified as it had covered insufficient distance, the Dino crossed the line in 16th position overall.
On January 30th, this most famous of Fiat Dinos will be going under the hammer as part of Broad Arrow Auctions’ Europe Online sale.
The car heads to auction after several years of storage and comes with a correct-type Ferrari Dino V6 engine and an extensive historical file with copies of Le Mans entry documents, period press articles and photographs.
