Hi Everyone, I just wanted to invite everyone to visit www.dino246.com . At present the information part of the site is not yet finished but the restoration blog is up and running. In this blog we will be documenting the restoration of our 1971 Dino 246GT. The goal is to restore the car to factory correct standards top to bottom with the site being a reference piece for future restorations. Updates should be fairly often as the goal is to have the whole car finished by mid 2011 so progress will be swift. I will try and post when updates are made but the sure fire way to get information fast is to register your e-mail on the blog. I will not do anything with the addresses it is just an automated way of letting people know when updates are made. Enjoy!
Rob very nice idea to restore a Canadian Dino 246 GT coupe back to the way it was delivered new at Yonge Steeles Motors in Willowdale Ontario Canada! Also to share with us the restoration of this Fly Yellow beauty on your web site. The early Canadian delivery Dino models were indeed Euro spec cars. The last car Yonge Steeles Motors had was a white Dino 246 GT coupe. Have you confirmed the original color combination for your Dino? CH
WOW that is fantastic data. Yes Matthias told us that the original colour was indeed white. It was later painted....wait for it....black and gold and then yellow in 1993. We will be restoring it back to yellow. White is an excellent colour but we always wanted a yellow one so we will make sure that it is painted a period correct shade of yellow. We will reveal in a future blog post some of the faint traces of white we found on the car. May I ask where you got this data about the YS Motors cars? I would be most interested. Also we have traced back every owner the car has had and are tracking them down for more info.
There was a Dino thread some time ago that mentioned there were two different versions of the so called 'Fly Yellow' color. Can't go wrong with Fly Yellow that is a favourite! In the 70's there was a greater variety of Ferrari colors chosen for Canadian deliveries. One of the last Dino models for Ontario was a silver Gts that YSM displayed at the Toronto Auto Show in 1974 beside a brown on tan Daytona Spyder. CH
The blog has received several updates and it is our plan to update every couple of days until completion. In addition to following the restoration we will profile shop tools, supplies, and procedures that can be applied to any project to help go more smoothly. http://dino246blog.blogspot.com/
Rob or Paul ; I am sure you will need it eventually but do you know the best place for me to obtain crackle black paint? Gary Espada 8394
Gary what you are after is more correctly referred to as 'wrinkle' finish and is available in 2 ways. 1. Buy VHT Wrinkle Paint. It comes in a spray can. The more you apply the more the paint wrinkles but it takes quite a lot of practice to get it right especially on larger areas as any overlaps result in thicker application and more wrinkles. In TO you can get this at Performance Improvements on the Queensway. 2. My favorite is to powdercoat. Any powdercoater will do this for you just ask for wrinkle black. The finish is durable and perfectly even. The downside is that originally the wrinkle is a little more scattered like the spray can gives. I prefer PC because it is incredibly tough while the spray paint can be much more fragile. I have had good results with http://www.byersbush.com/ . They are in Mississauga and ask for Maria. She has been there forever and gives good pricing and service Good luck with it.
This looks like a great project Rob. Best of luck with it! I look forward to following your progress.
Lots of more updates including new features: - Product spotlights - Restoration Tips http://dino246blog.blogspot.com/
Great Blog Rob! Like the format, original 246GT graphics, dog pics, etc. Looking forward to your progress. Nice ....! Tom
very nice Rob...good luck to you and Paul with your project. that's one lucky Dino to be in such meticulous and dedicated hands. brett
Thanks for the compliments guys. As work progresses and assemblies start really being restored we expect the photos to really start flowing. Brett I'm sure you will appreciate a future post where some of the many sins of past 'experts' are made public. I have kept a photo log and it is both scary as well as entertaining.
The updates will be almost daily for a while as we are taking advantage of the holiday season to keep moving forwards: http://dino246blog.blogspot.com/
More posts and more progress to the blog. The actual website portion will be done in the next couple of months. Also I have opened up the comments section of the blog if anyone has something to say. http://dino246blog.blogspot.com/
Great stuff Rob and Paul, I love your no nonsense approach. Keep it up! Congratulations! Best, Alberto
