My really stupid Dino 246 story -

ME - 2

They were really slow sellers at the time since the Porsche was the faster car and the Dino was more and I think it was sold with Enzo's quote ( I might be wrong here -- don't kill me I love the cars) "almost a Ferrari"
about the same time as you I was looking at a Vette, XKE and Dino...Vette was a POS, I loved the DIno but experts told me it was built like a POS, not a Ferrari but a Fiat ( sorta like the Porche 914) and produced in way to high a volume to be ever worth anything..I bought the Jag XKE roadster...it was great and I had it for almost 30 years and recently sold it and did very well but still miss that Dino every day and at these prices the car really doesn't make sense except as a passionate fancy ( I would get one in a minute but when I see that I could get a 456 or a 355...I just stop and wonder...and yes people say I am crazier now to want one than they did before ...but they were wrong then and I thnik they just might be wrong now..but I love the classics and still looking)

 

Maybe with a couple more details we can figure it out.

do you remember the dealer's name?

It was a '72, US car for sale at a Ferrari Dealer?

Dark red, almost Maroon, or the Rossa?

I can dig through the registry, maybe find something.

dm

 

In 1973 I was going to BYU. I got a new 911T for $10,000. My roomate got a 1973 246gt metallic blue with tan interior. It cost about $13,000. That $3,000 was all the difference in the world at that time. But it did start my passion for Dino's

 

Big Red Imports used to be an authorized Ferrari dealer I believe, but I don't know how long ago. Just a thought.

 

You bought a $10,000 car while you were in *college* in 1973? I couldn't afford a $10,000 car while I was in college in 1988!

Were you the campus drug dealer?

Birdman

 

BM,

He's from Santa Barbara, everyone is either a movie star or just plain affluent there.

Like you I had to also wait until after school, finishing two degrees at the University, working a year before I could afford a beater '67 Dodge Dart for $500 while paying Student Loans. I think this was probably the big motivation for my car hobby now...




I think the drug dealer statement was a bit bold even for my tastes...

 

it was interesting to read your story because my dad was in a similar situation in the early 70s, but instead of missing out on a dino he missed out on an early 911. the porsche dealer offered him $6000 for his VW bug, and the 911 was $9000. dad got cold feet and didn't do it. oh it would have been nice to have an early 911. i guess at the time one just doesn't realize the future value of a new car. imagine what cars we could be missing out on now!

john

 

Well, in 1974 there was a car lot in Duluth Mn, selling a Plymouth Superbird missing the big snout nose, having more like a Roadrunner front. Thinking it a fake I passed on its $1100 asking price. Now decades later I learn the dealers couldnt sell them, and many had different grilles and noses put on to make the car look more normal. I have more coulda shoulda woulda cars I past on than I care to mention. But some notables were a 55 Belair with a tunnel and two 4BBLs on wrinkle walls for $500, A 1970 Hemi Charger for $1800, a 1963 Ferrari 250GT California for $10K that needed a starter motor, and a few more I would rather forget. Well, maybe not, because its those cars that make you think twice when another "deal" presents itself. Just hope you have the jing in your pocket when it rolls around again. And they do roll around again.

 

Yeah, tons of drugs at Brigham Young University

 

I was only goofing on you about the drug dealer comment. No offense was intended. I've been following your Dino restoration thread and enjoying every post!


Best,
Birdman

 

I was amused by the $10K car in college in 1973, too. I brought my $500 '67 Fiat 850 Coupe to Stanford in my sophomore year in 1972 and thought I was pretty lucky to have a car at all. (You don't need one there.)

However, I was glad some kids had rich parents, as I had taken up photography the previous year and there were enough Lotus, Jags, Alfas, and Masers to give me plenty of practice shooting quarter views of them, trying to get bumper to bumper sharp focus.

Somewhere I still have a shot of a silver 275GTB (4?) I took at the Stanford Bookstore with the memorable license plate of BALL U.

 

Just keep in mind 13,000 in '73 is about 60,000 today. Half that would have gotten you a used 275, any flavor you wanted.