GT4 Owners - Is your car titled Dino or Ferrari?

One thing working in your favor about it not being an issue one way or the other IMO is that when 17-digit VINs became required (even though a 1974 doesn't have a 17-digit VIN), there are official different WMIs specifically for "Italy, Ferrari, Dino" and "Italy, Ferrari, Ferrari":

http://red-headed.com/vin_make.html

With the badging being "Dino", I'd keep the Identifier as Dino -- JMO.

 

I titled mine as Ferrari. I dont want insurance companies trying to figure out what a Dino is.

 

I would think that, for the purposes of DMV, registration and title I would go by the data plate rather than "badges"

 

Mine is titled as a Ferrari, although Dino would certainly be cooler. However, I agree with what kcabpilot noted above: go with the data plate, not badges.

 

Well mine is titled as a Ferrari. It's a 1975 which here in Calif. is ok concerning emissions regulations but the problem at the DMV was that there was no DOT data plate. In Calif. I had to have one from 1970 on. It was a nightmare, finally a friend of a friend and a sizeable amount of money it got legally registered. Just be aware of the legal process in your state. In most "normal" states I don't think it would be an issue. Good luck and in the end it will be worth the effort.

 

Those are identifying the engine type and the oil, but not necessarily the manufacturer. I think what you want to look at is the plate that identifies the manufacturer, which should be in your door jamb. It will be identified as Ferrari.

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Steve,

As said many times before, only the very last batch of RIGHT HAND DRIVE 308 GT4 for the UK, perhaps a dozen cars or so, were ever stamped with a 17-digit VIN starting with "ZDF", which makes them the only cars ever to have received it; after that batch, the brand was still registered with its specific VIN available, but as everybody knows, the factory never used it again.

(For the record, the only carbed GTBs to have ever been stamped with a full 17-digit VIN were also the very last batch of Right Hand Drive GTBs for the UK, perhaps a dozen cars also)

Rgds

 

Isn't that what I wrote? That ZDF and ZFF both existed after the 17-digit VIN was adopted? That was my only point.

I wonder how/if the 1960s era 206/246 were more strongly identified as being "Dino" rather than "Ferrari" in their paperwork since Ferrari was specifically interested in having a distinction then?

 

Well, my point was just to say that only a dozen of cars ever were stamped with the "ZDF" 17-digit VIN; talk about an exclusive club...

As for your second point; I suppose it would derail the thread if I elaborate too much, but...

As for the 308GT4, the late José Rosinski, himself a talented driver, and testing cars for "Sport-Auto", at the time THE magazine of reference for Sports Cars in France, wrote "tongue-in-cheek" in the November 1973 issue for the first road test of the 308GT4: "it is the best Ferrari to date".
Somewhere in my archives I've got an official add from Pozzi, the french Ferrari importer, talking about "The Little Ferrari" (or the "Small Ferrari", as the French "petite" can be translated both ways).
Of course, you know that there never was any question here about the badges, as all were badged "Dinos" all along here.
Even the first three road-tested prototypes of the 308 GTB were also badged "Dinos", as a small numbre of pictures do attest.

As for the 246, well...the owners of the "Twelve Cylinders" qualified these as FIATs, as you must know. The factory, I'm not so sure: I think they were all fairly convinced that it indeed was nothing else than a "Ferrari".

(as for the "general public"...well: as for the "cognoscenti" (= those in the know) remember "The Persuaders"? Tony Curtiss/Danny Wilde in one episode saying: "she wants a drive in my red Ferrari" - his car was a Dino 246; as for the rest of the public, the vast majority: almost nobody knew what the car was, then; and almost nobody had seen a "Ferrari", at the beginning of the seventies: they had barely built 10.000 cars in 25 years...)

Rgds

 

Would love to find a copy of this magazine and read that article, but not 100% sure what I'm looking for. I found this, which is a November, 1973 issue of a magazine called Sport Auto, but I don't see anything about the Dino 308 GT4 in it. Am I on the wrong track?

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My bad; apologies. You are on the right track as for the magazine, but I sent you in a wrong year. I have the said issue with the road test of the 308GT4 in front of me, it is November indeed, but 1974...(issue # 154, page 74).
If you manage to get hold of it, fine. And have a look at the advertisement for the car on page 44.
Otherwise, I could scan it and translate the text from French.
Apologies again, my memory is not what it used to be.

Rgds

 

No worries at all, just wanted to make sure I was looking for the right thing. I love collecting everything I can on the 308 GT4, so I'll be looking for a copy. It would be very cool to have one of the first (or the first) road test ever written about the car.

Admittedly, I don't read/speak French, it would be amazing to get a scanned/translated copy… I enjoy reading the articles, they always provide deeper insight into the cars and the time period. I'm a sucker for that stuff.

 

FWIW, per several articles in the car mags of the late 60's, Enzo didn't want any non-12cyl road cars to be labeled "Ferrari." Heck, its only because of Fiat and their marketing folks that our 3x8's have a Ferrari label though he might have mellowed on his own in later years.

 

No problem: leave me about ten days to scan the original, translate it from french to english, and send the lot to you.

Rgds

 

As said above, there are a few known pictures of the first three road prototypes of the 308 GTB still with "Dino" badges and script...Enzo himself wouldn't have change his mind I guess: only a 12 cylinder was worth his name (I guess, because after all, who knows?)
But as the 308GT4, which was the only Ferrari imported in the States at the time, didn't met with the expected success there (although it sold very well in Europe) and as the US market was about one third of Ferrari's diffusion, something had to be done to revive the fortunes of the car, and the "Ferrari" badges were part of that; probably the marketing men...then the 308 GTB was itself also badged "Ferrari", but it should have been a "Dino" originally.

Rgds

 

My car is titled a Dino in California model 308gt4

 

Yes it's possible that if the GT4 hadn't done so poorly marketwise the Dino brand may have survived and all subsequent V8 Ferraris would have been Dinos. Part of the problem was that some people thought the GT4 was the replacement for the 246 but it wasn't. The GTB had already been designed and built but problems with the quality of the fiberglass bodies delayed it's introduction. The GT4 model, with longer wheelbase and a small back seat however ultimately proved popular enough that it continued on as the Mondial until 1993.

 

I actually found a copy of the magazine, just arrived today! Of course, I can't read French, but it's really in nice shape and that "advertisement" on page 44 is a great bonus!

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Will do the translation for you this week...hopefully.
Rgds