What's your Dino story?

I now believe all guys want the car they thought were cool in high school.

I am no different. However, I have an interesting twist.

I grew up in Texas. My family has been here a long time. I am a 7th generation Texan. We have always had utilitarian vehicles, short of my grandfather having a vow bug POS, partially for fun and partially for memories of being part of the Berlin Air Lift.

That bug was the only foreign car anyone in ANY of my known family owned.

I am 38 years old, and in High School, I saw this really cool looking car, a blue "DINO".

I didn't know what it was, by I had been babysitting my dads bosses kids and told him about it. He is from the UK and said it was a Ferrari. I said, no it wasn't , it was a Dino. I now know he was trying to see if it was the Fiat or Ferrari variety' but he put me in the car and said "let's go look".

We drove a couple of miles and found it parked outside a repair shop. It was in fact a 246 gts.

I never forgot that car. I spent 13 years tracking the exact car down. Finally found it and it wasn't for sale. I proceeded to "negotiate" for over 3 years before taking a step back and conceding that if it we to come up for sale I would be he first call they would make.

3 months later, was X-mas day. Guess what was sitting in the driveway? My wife way over paid (at least at he time) and IT WAS MINE!!!!!!!!

 

I bought the car I wanted in High School -- about 6 years out of high school. I always wanted one even though I had never seen one in person.

I've told this story before but a friend who had an Italian car repair shop in Phoenix had out back a totally junked Dino on a trailer. A guy going through a divorce wanted to get rid of it. It was... the first Dino I had ever seen in person. You have to remember in Phoenix in the early 80's, Ferrari's were still very rare.

This car hadn't run in many years and was left outdoors in the Arizona sun to self destruct, which it did very well. But, I wanted it anyway. At the time a good Dino would run about $18K to $20K -- lot of money for a car. I remember new Pantera's ran about $12k at the Ford/Lincoln dealer.

My buddy who owned the shop said he would help me put it back together if I bought it. I paid $8,000 for it. Over 2 years we restored it to runnable condition. Luckily, all the parts were still there so most of it was cleaning and painting. The interior had to be remade from scratch. When I was done, I was into it for about $18,000 (1982 dollars here).

I kept that car about 15 years and passed it to the next owner to restore again.

Honestly, I do not miss that car and have no desire to have another. I don't regret selling it either although I do miss the money it would bring today.

I have no idea why Dino's fetch the prices they do today. It's a pity because a lot of them will end up museum pieces or garage queens.

Dino prices have been up and down. Maybe they will go down again, maybe not. If you get one, just do us all a favor and drive it and don't lock it up in a vault like a bar of gold.

 

I bought my Dino (blu scuro) in 1984 when I was 23 years old. I still have it and in the process of doing a total resoration. I still think they are one of the best looking cars!!!! Plus, they are fun to drive.

 

I wanted a Dino before I knew that it was an actual car. In late '65 or early '66 the MG Mitten car cover company ran an ad in Road & Track with a drawing of the Dino Berlinetta Speciale with a ski rack, of all things, on the rear deck. I thought the design had been dreamed up by the ad's illustrator. I carried in my wallet, for about seven years, a small picture of Sergio Pininfarina's Dino 206 prototype, from Motor Trend Magazine. Eventually, in 1976, at age 28, I bought my first Dino, a GT coupe. In December, 1982, I bought my second GT. They are both still with me, and I treasure them now more than when I bought them. They are kind of a "forever" car, to me anyway. Fred

 

I'm very new to Dino ownership - bought mine a couple of months ago. Before that, I owned MGs for 30 years. And that was despite having both the Alpine Stereo Countach poster and the Decisions Decisions Ferrari poster on my wall in high school. But about 20 years ago or so, I worked for a guy who owned a Dino, and that was the point at which I thought "this is the most beautiful car I've ever seen". I missed an opportunity to buy that Dino a few years back, and when 06236 showed up on my radar I wasn't going to miss a second opportunity.

 

Feb 7, 1974 I purchased a FIAT 124 Spider. Next to the brand new 124 I was buying was a used FIAT Dino Spider for $500 less and the dealer strongly suggested I buy that car instead because it has a Ferrari engine in it. I still remember telling him that no way I was buying a 5 year old car that someone already blew the engine up on and then put in the wrong motor, even if it was a Ferrari motor.

What can I say I was 17 and did not know better.

I always admired that car with the wrong motor and it ended up being sold to someone about 2 blocks from me so I saw it often, it always looked better then my 124 and always sounded better but for several years I thought I made the better deal. Later I found out what a fool I had been when younger.

I finally got my Dino 9 years ago and parked it next to my 124 in the garage, started driving the Dino more than the 124 and finally after 34 years sold the 124 because I was not driving it anymore.

That is my Dino story and I am sticking to it...

My Dino life is about to come to a end though, a 360 now shares garage space with the Dino and the 360 is my first choice to drive now, also 2 Italian mistresses is more than my wallet and wife can afford.

 

I've told it before, but I'll tell it again.

Growing up, Kirk White lived up the street from me. He was a very prominent foreign car dealer at the time, now is retired in Florida. (He's writing a book, so I'm told, which would make great reading.)

He used to tool up the street in the exotic of the day. One of those cars was a Ferrari Dino. From that day forward, I lusted for one.

fast forward 30 years. I work out in the same gym as the owner of Algar Ferrari. We're shooting the breeze, I mention my unrequited love of the Dino. He says he hasn't had one in the shop for sale in a number of years. I let it go.

Couple days later, my cell phone rings, Bob says, "Get your ass up here, I have one for you, and four guys lined up behind you if you don't buy it." I drive up, an underloved 246GT is sitting on the showroom floor. Interior is beat, motor won't start. OF course, I buy it. Price based on $60K, minus anything their PPI turns up.

PPI showed $20K worth of work. Algar was good to their word, and I bought the car for $40K, left it there for a year while we fixed everything, and took it home the day before I married Alison, to whom I have now been married 9+ years.

Car is now in the loving hands of UroTrash. I drove and fixed it for 5 years, then passed it on to him, an equally start struck Dinophile.

Ok, Uro, now you tell the story of how you got it from me.

Dave

 

Wow! I am hoping that this isn't a trade for proefessional services back and forth.

 

Nah, not a chance.

I had no problem with UT doing a PPI on my car,

Of course, a PP Inspection is something else again when it comes to his profession, and there was NO WAY that was gonna happen..

D

 

Just throwing it out there....

By the way, I get to examine that interior often....

For what it is worth

 

Shawn,

I have that same theory, but it relates to music. One identifies with music one first hears in high school. As to cars, well, I graduated from high school in 1965, so there were no Dinos yet!

Andy

 

Does your wife have any single friends? Sounds like a fantastic lady

 

Sounds familiar Bob...

I bought my Dino (blu scuro - black interior) in 1984 when I was 24 years old. I still have it and it has had a total restoration (1985-94).

I had always wanted one after seeing Tony Curtis driving it in the Persuaders. A Beautiful car with a great sound that I always look forward to going for a drive in.

Just think in 2 years time, we had had them for 30 years...........

cheers
Peter

 

Mine is a very simple story. August 2009 when a friend and I were trolling the paddock area at Laguna Seca Raceway during the Monterey Historics event, we passed a yellow Dino 246GT and could only think `wow, what a gorgeous car!'. I had never heard of Dino's before (a sheltered life I guess) and never really paid attention to Ferrari's (I have a Porsche).

July 2010 I made a trip to Santa Monica CA with a girlfriend to see her daughter. I decided to see if there were any Dino's for sale in the area just to look at and chance would have it that there was (1), a yellow GTS. So after leaving the hotel, we stopped by to check it out on the way to see her daughter. It turns out it was about to get on a truck for Tom-S, but I was given a ride in it. That's when I decided I had to have one even though I was just the passenger.

I began to look more seriously, and in August 2010 I got a lead on a yellow GT in La Jolla, CA. I flew down, got a ride to Grand Prix Classics (next door to Symbolic Motors), saw the car and fell in love with it. We struck a gentleman's agreement on price pending PPI results. The deal was sealed a couple weeks later when I hooked up with the PPI inspector and the seller back at Laguna Seca Raceway during the Monterey Historics. A month or so later, after some work was done on it, it was sitting in my garage and I couldn't be happier with my selection.

 

Curious who did the PPI?

 

Chris Dugan at Cavallo Motorsports in Carlsbad.

 

I was born in Italy, and had had quite a close affiliation with exotic cars, got taken to the factory, all of them in reality.
Malago', the Rome Ferrari dealer, was our neighbor, so always around for some great rides.
Cars were running in my blood. Got taken to races, met famous people (all dead, or close to) they were very boring, but the cars and the races were insane. All I could care for was cars, and more cars. Was flunking out of school, I was not yet 11 years old.

When in high school, there were two kids that used to own a Lamborghini 350, and a Super America (silver if I recall correctly), and absolutely loved the sounds/looks. The two of them were jerks. Never gave me a ride.
Now, one is nice as a grown up. No more S.A. in his garage.

I have always wanted a Dino. I drove a 911 once when I owned a BMW 2002, they just lent it to me at the local dealer in California, and got transfixed into another world.
When I was going to graduate from college, I was going to be awarded with a Dino, but since I graduated ONE quarter late,
no more Dino, or even a bicycle. That, burned.

Well, time went by, markets changed, priorities were different, life was different with a wife and three kids. No Dino. I thought they (kids) were expensive then, it is worse now.
For the price of a 911, you went to college for two years, now, slightly more for the school.

Fast forward to older, no Dino in mind, although was always involved in old cars and restoring them, and somehow, Dino was simply not in, or anything else Ferrari for that matter.

The rest is eBay. One day, and I still do not know why, I started looking around for trashy Dino, as an absurdity to import in any decent condition, due to the ridiculous 48% tax based on a valuation by the local tax man, which could be based on what he felt like that day.

The rest, most of you know, it has been since 2008 that #01104 came here, but work was bump started until almost two years later. I was starting to worry, as local talent, was simply not. Then one day, things happened. I only discovered f-chat until then, and knew nothing about L M or E, much less 206, all a fluke. Stuff happens.

Someday, I will drive my Dino.

Regards, Alberto

 

The second half of high school was when I got into cars. Italian exotics to be precise. Up until then there was no attraction. Plus I was a workout nut and was famous for saying "my bike can get me anywhere". While that is still true, when I saw a picture of the Dino in a World of Cars (if memory serves) book, I told myself "that is a car I'd love to have". The curves on the Dino were like nothing else. And I started looking for Ferrari pics. The P3 and P4s are my ultimate favorites.

I told myself I'd have a Ferrari by the time I was 30. Approaching that date, I started tracking the prices of Dinos. Unfortunately, they were starting to rocket out of my reach. I found one in Monterey during the Historics weekend. I test drove it and almost pulled the trigger then. If not for my sister needing financial support, I most assuredly would have.

I kept an eye on the Dino market and one day out of the blue, I skipped work and bought a ticket to fly up to the bay area to look at a car. I had no intentions of buying it on the spot. I hadn't heard of PPIs at the time. I was going to look it over based on my limited automotive knowledge. And even less still about Dinos.

The dealer wasn't going to let me off the lot easily. So I lowballed a figure thinking there's no way they would take it. He called the owner and off I went to the bank to get a cashier's check.

I drove the car back from Los Gatos to Pacific Palisdes on a beautiful Wednesday. I was promptly introduced to the fuel starvation issue when I went round an on ramp. But with the top off and the sun shining, I had a huge grin on my face and serious butterflies in my gut. I made it all the way to the north end of Malibu before traffic came to a halt. A blissful 5 hours before...

I started noticing something coming out of the back of the car. White smoke or steam. Again, I was young and automotively naive. But I knew it wasn't a good thing. Instead of pulling off and seeing what the issue was, I got off of PCH and went over the canyons. The amount of stuff coming out of the back of the car was increasing mile by mile. The car finally succumbed 10 minutes from my house. I was introduced to how cylinder head gaskets can dry when a car sits for 8 years.

That was the start to a 14 year and going relationship. I'm using the Dino daily and not a day goes by that I don't get into the car and just grin ear to ear. Familiarity has certainly not diminished the magic.

 

Ron

I recommend, you ask Matthias, to look at your numbers
See what his records show.

Body number
Chassis number
Engine number
Gearbox number