Many people consider the mid-engined v8 Ferraris to be a spiritual continuation of the Dino line, as started by the 206. It is not intended as an insult or to suggest that they aren't "real" Ferraris. Rather it is meant as a nod to Ferrari heritage, and in fact a nice validation of the Dino brand. As for number of cylinders, Ferrari has made 4 cylinder racers, so only someone with an inadequate understanding of Ferrari history would allege that anything less than 12 isn't a real Fer... blah blah blah.
Ken are we miscommunicating here on what we call the the door plate(tag). This is not meant as an attack, but are you saying the vin plate on the door jam was put on after it left the factory? I just don't see how it would be possible, who would determine the build date and chassis #? I do understand that the dino was never badged with the words ferrari
According to Anthony Curtis book and others on the Dino, Fiat Supplied the raw castings and some engine components to Ferrari for machining and assembly in the Maranello factory, in exactly the same way that Ferrari bought in castings and components for the V12 engines, the only difference between a V12 and V6 Ferrari engine in 1968/69 is one had FIAT cast in at the foundry the others didnt but they were both machined and built up at the same factory by the same people One thing is clear without the Dino and Fiats investment into Maranello's manufacturing facilities there wouldnt be a Ferrari as we know it today
Anyone who thinks Dinos are not Ferraris has obviously never driven one. Yes, the Ferrari inside driver door plaques were attached at Maranello, where the cars were built alongside the 365 GTB/GTS/GTC series. They were not built at Fiat. Fiat shipped the castings to Maranello. If only 12 cylinder cars deserve to be called Ferraris then we can delete about 3/4 of the entire past 50 years' production. What were the TR, 750 Monza, 288 GTO and F-40? (all built under Enzo's supervision). Dinos may not carry the exterior badging of other Ferraris, but they capture the essence of a Ferrari in looks, style, sound, charisma and pure driving fun. Who cares about the badge or # of cylinders?
If you have never owned a Dino it is 100% pure Ferrari in blood and soul. So it doesn't have a "badge" on it, it doesn't need one, get over it! It's still one of the best looking and most enjoyable Ferraris ever made. Oh yes, I do own one. Long live the DINO.
Just a note: There was never a "Dino" company so the Dino 2000 (Fiat) and Dino 2400 (Fiat) carry "Fiat" build plates, chassis numbers and engine numbers assigned from FIAT and attached at the Fiat Factory at the time of manufacture: and the 206GT and the 246GT carry "Ferrari" build plates, chassis numbers and engine numbers assigned from Ferrari and attached at the Ferrari Factory at the time of manufacture. Best wishes
Interestingly, this is true for the 2.4 Fiat Dino coupe and spider as well - assembled at Maranello alongside the 246. The 2.0 cars had been assembled in a Fiat plant though.
dino's are dino's and ferrari's are ferrrari's. yet one has to be willing to concede that what "enzo said" back when, and what is true after are two differnt things. my favorite enzo quote goes back to the olden days. he stated that "the fact that the british use disc barakes and the german use fuel injection is reason enough for me not to use them". good bless anyone that would allow another to spend the money to explore a new technology and then steal it and make it better. the dino's are great cars, but they were simply a way for ferrari to save money and compete in a less expensive market. today, you will pay ferrari prices for maintenance and parts, but can enjoy a "unique" car. it's the heritage that makes them special to me. thedino was the first car i ever fell in love with, and regardless or whether on agrees, no car has since matched it's simplicity and beauty.
Please tell me you don't remember the "Sharknose" Ferrari Dino 512 F1 ... you'll break the hearts of all the Boxer and Testarossa owners if they know that the progenator of their vehicle's engine was once refered to as a "lowly" DINO! Parkerfe says, refering to Dinos "They're all Fiats just as Chevrolets are all GM's" ... I think he owns a Boxer (knee to the groin) ... just kidding. Secondly, when the attributed statement was allegedly made it was supposedly directed to customer road cars and the only 12 cylinder engine made by Ferrari at the time of the alleged statement was the 60 degree V12 so one might come to the conclusion that if the vehicle does not have a 60 degree V12, then it should not be called a Ferrari. I think that the vehicle that "Napolis" refers to is the so-called Ferrari Dino 512 F1 which began life as a 120 degree V6, evolved into a V8 then into a "Flat" 12. All, I believe, used the "Sharknose" design. At one time, all engines that were not 60 degree V12's or thereabouts began to be called Dinos. This seems to have come about by another alleged statement attributed to Enzo or somebody else at Ferrari something to the effect that all engines other than the V12 were Dino. The factory has since cleared the air on the whole deal by declaring that the only V6's that should be called DINO are the 65 degree engines. But, then again there are problems with some of that ... right about 1961(?) came an experimental V8 engine interestingly enough identified by the factory as the 248 GT and clearly showing "Dino" on the camcovers ... and then there was the 186 GT, a V6 (I believe that this engine was a 60 degree V6 but I can't remember for sure) which also was called a Dino ... hell, over the years, there have probably been or so 40 engines refered to as Dinos either by the Factory or the press ... stuff gets confusing with Ferrari. Kinda like the numering system for Ferrari engines ... Think about it for a moment: when one considers that the Dino road cars came about because Enzo needed an engine for F2 which had to be derived from the block of an engine that had production numbers of at least 500 and could not be greater than 1600 cc what's he do? Takes the 196 Dino engine and makes a "roadable" engine out of it so he can have FIAT build the numbers of the engine to qualify for F2 ... what's he gonna call it? Can't use the regular code for 1600 cc 6 cylinder engine that'd be Dino 166 which would confuse it with the old 166 V12 ... But then again, that's exactly what Ferrari did: Ferrari Dino 166! Best wishes
Guys, these are Italian cars. Labels in English were for the export market. As there was no "Dino" company to be an importer, they would have had to been imported as Ferraris (or as Fiats) -- and the import labels would reflect that. Yes? Or are we having too much fun debating what constitutes a "real" Ferrari? Let's see, if the assembler didn't have at least a half liter of wine at lunch, .... (Want to talk about the Camry plant in Atlanta? The GM plant in South America?) Heck, the new Alfas are going to be built on a GM "Epsilon" chassis. (Gak!) Welcome to the global market.
This is a picture of Ferrari's assembly line (actually Scaglietti assembly line, which was already part of Ferrari, and located in Modena, not Maranello)during the early 1970's, from the current issue of Rosso (FNA). Dino's are being built on the left, 365's on the right. All FIAT Dinos were built at FIAT, not at Ferrari/Scaglietti. Any more questions as to who built them and where they were built? Image Unavailable, Please Login
I will have to hunt it down but I have a book somewhere on the history of the Dino's that says the FIAT 2.4 (420 of them) were assembled by Ferrari because of build quality problems at FIAT. Makes no sense to me why Ferrari would care what FIAT build quality was like but that is what this and other publictions I have seen says. Wherever they were built, they are still FIATs and you will not find a prancing horse or Ferrari name plates on mine but you will see mine on the road almost everyday and it is the best sounding FIAT on the road Thank you Dino.
I have similar pictures showing Fiat 2400 Dinos and the 246s being assembled side by side in the new Modena building that Fiat had built for Ferrari after the buyout (or whatever we should call it). I don't know if that is the same building you reference in your post and photo. The Mike Morris book on the Fiat Dinos and the Doug Nye book on the racing Ferrari Dinos states this as well. Yes, but Fiat did care about the build quality and so had them assembled by Ferrari, which they owed at that point of course. One assumes that the Ferrari staff were use to caring a bit more about build quality than the average Fiat assembly line worker.
