An article in “Classic Motorsports” my friend Lee passed on to me triggered some memories about my years of close involvement with things Ferrari. It was about a green 308GT4 Dino which won a “Best of Show” award at Concours Italiano during the “Monterey Car Week.”
One of the first things I noticed in the article was a photo caption showing the interior of this “Ferrari.” Of course, it is not, and never was, and I applaud the owner's decision to remove the Ferrari badges which were on the car when he bought it and replace them with the correct ones, which are the signature of Enzo's only legitimate child, Dino. My memory has lost his legal name, “Dino” being, in typical Italian fashion, an affectionate nickname such as given to many, if not all, children born in that country. I also have forgotten what disease caused his premature death at a young age, in his 20s or 30s.
Dino was deeply involved in his father's company, as Enzo's illegitmate son Piero was not until long after the Commedatore's death. In fact, Piero's very existence was well concealed for decades..likely a good story for someone willing to do the digging and write about it. And calling a Dino a “Ferrari” is akin to calling a Cadillac a Corvette.
Dino was also, as Enzo was not, a believer in the value and strengths of the V6 engine configuration. In fact, Enzo was once asked if a car with that type of motor in it that Dino had a big hand in was a “Ferrari” (perhaps the lovely 206/246 Dino GT series) . Enzo replied, in his imperial fashion, that a Ferrari was a 12 cylinder car...an engine type that almost totally dominated his thinking from the earliest type 125 produced after he left Alfa Romeo, right up to the last car he had a direct hand in, the 365GTB/4 “Daytona.”
The company did produce cars, for racing only, with other engine configurations than the V12, including an inline 6...in my opinion an unlovely and ultimately unsuccessful rare variant. But the 12s were THE Ferrari motor from 1940 all the way to the founder's death and beyond, and are still part of the company's offerings.
Dino's work was much more successful with the V configuration, including the achingly lovely 206S and SP versions which stood up well in events such as the Targa Florio. My friend Bill Schworer had the SP which won that event...I have sat in the car and it fit me perfectly, though Bill was frustrated that Steve Earle placed it in with all other FIA championship cars at Monterey, where it could not compete effectively against the bigger machines in that group. See “206SP”, May, 2018 for info and photos. But as you can see, it was simply the best of the line of gorgeous race cars in that era (Scaglietti design I would guess). And yes, it was badged as a Dino.
The car featured in the “Classic Motorsports” article is a lovely shade of green called “Verde Pino Metallizzato.” There are two three quarter views of it in the piece, one from the rear, on display on Lighthouse Avenue in Pacific Grove and another, from the front, on what I presume is the grass of the Quail Lodge during the Concours. That photo is a bit alarming as the rear wheel in the photo shows a startling amount of negative camber...the top of the tire is a good four or five inches inside the wheel well while the bottom is the same distance outside. Since there is no such extreme look in the street view I wonder if it has something to do with the uneven lawn surface in the Concours shot.
GT4s are the unloved stepchildren of the Ferrari world, an outlier as it is the only large production run Bertone styled model ever done by the factory..and its 1970s wedge shape, originally penned by Guigiaro, might look dated today but is still quite handsome. The car is also billed as a 2+2 though only suitable for toddlers or someone with no legs in the cramped rear seats.
GT4s are said to actually outhandle the more popular GTB and GTS 308 versions...and I believe the earliest of those, at least the GTB “plastic” cars, were also badged as Dinos.
Last I checked a good condition GT4 was selling for a bit over half what the more popular GTS cars were going for. Those too are lovely looking and plentiful..I'm partial to the “Fly studio Giallo” (yellow) paint schemes, but there are many other colors and the cars look good in all of them.
And a GT4 would be as much fun to own and drive as any 3x8. It shares a history with the 206/246 as well as the 206S and SP racers, and though a V8 and I am not sure how much he actually had to do with it, it is a fitting tribute to Dino, a rising star who was lost too soon.
As long as it is not red, that is.
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