Dino (automobile) - Dino 206 GT

The production Dino 206 GT had the soft edges and curving lines typical of earlier Italian cars, unlike its successor, the Bertone designed 308 GT4, which has the straighter lines and crisp edges seen most boldly in Bertone's later Fiat X1/9. While designed by Pininfarina, construction was undertaken by Scaglietti.

The 206 GT used a transverse-mounted 2.0 L all-aluminum, 160 hp (119 kW) at the 8,000 rpm redline, 65-degree V6 engine with dual overhead camshafts and a 9.7:1 compression ratio. Torque was 138 pounds*foot at 6,500 rpm. The crankshaft featured four main bearings. Induction was via three Weber 40 DCN/4 2-barrel carburetors. The 206 GT was the first car sold by Ferrari which used an electronic ignition, a Dinoplex C capacitive discharge ignition system that was developed by Magneti Marelli for the high revving Dino V6 engine (hence the name Dinoplex). It was also the first Ferrari product to have a direct rack-and-pinion steering.

The 206 GT frame featured a light-weight, 1980 pound, aluminum body, full independent suspension, and all round disc brakes. The 206 GT had a 90.0-inch (2,290 mm) wheelbase. The 206 had a top speed of 146 mph (235 km/h).

152 were built in total during 1968 and 1969, in left hand drive only.

The same 2.0L engine was used in the Fiat Dino Coupe and Spider, produced during the same period. The conversion of the Dino 196 racing engine for road-going use in the Dino (and the two Fiat models) was entrusted by Fiat to Aurelio Lampredi, to whom Ferrari owed so many great engines. Lampredi, interviewed in the early 1980s (he died in 1989 at the age of 72), noted that, "Things didn't work out exactly as Ferrari had foreseen." Ferrari had counted building the engines at Maranello, but Fiat's management insisted on taking control of production, to avoid any breaks in the engine supply.

Fiat quoted 160 hp DIN for the Fiat Dino and Coupé, and in 1967 Ferrari – presenting the first prototype of the Dino 206 GT – claimed 180 hp. This, however, was not the case. Both engines were made by Fiat workers in Turin on the same production line, without any discrimination as to their destination, and all were exactly the same. 150 units were simply taken from the first production batch at the beginning of 1968 to power the Dino 206 GTs. Jean-Pierre Gabriel, writing in "Les Ferraris de Turin", notes that, "La declaration de Ferrari ne reposait sur aucun fondament technique" – Ferrari's statement had no technical basis! However, as always, it was certainly a savvy piece of marketing by the Commendatore.

Later Fiat Dinos also used the 2.4L engine, although significantly fewer were produced with this motor.