Dino was a marque Ferrari introduced in 1968, it was their attempt to offer more affordable and light weight cars, with smaller mid-engine configurations, capable of taking on cars like the popular Porsche 911. They continued to build cars under the Dino marque until 1976, when "Dino" was retired in favor of full Ferrari branding. The Dino models used Ferrari's racing name scheme of displacement and cylinder count, with two digits for the size of the engine and the third digit to represent the number of cylinders.

The name "Dino" was chosen to honor Ferrari's founder late son, Alfredo "Dino" Ferrari. Dino had designed the V6 engine, that ultimately was used in the car, after persuading his father to built a line of racings cars with V6 and V8 engines in the 1950s.

Although a mid-engine layout was common in the world of car racing at the time, adapting it to a production car was quite daring. Such a design placed more of the car's weight over the driven wheels, and allowed for a streamlined nose, but led to a cramped passenger compartment and more challenging handling. Lamborghini created a stir in 1966 with its mid-engined Miura, but Enzo Ferrari felt a mid-engine Ferrari would be unsafe in the hands of his customers. Eventually he partially relented, and allowed designer Sergio Pininfarina to build a mid-engined concept car for the 1965 Paris Motor Show under the Dino badge alone. The 206S, shown at Turin in 1966, bore an even closer resemblance to the production version. Response to the radically styled car was positive, so Ferrari allowed it to go into production, rationalizing the lower power of the V6 engine would result in a more manageable car.

The first road-going Dino was the 1968 Dino 206 GT, designed by Leonardo Fioravanti at Pininfarina. The 206 GT used a transverse-mounted 2.0 L all-aluminium 65-degree V6 engine, with 178 hp, the same engine used in the Fiat Dino. The 206 GT frame featured an aluminium body, full independent suspension, and all round disc brakes.

In 1969 the 206 GT was superseded by the more powerful Dino 246 GT. The 246 GT was powered by an enlarged 2418 cc V6 engine, producing 192 hp. Initially available as a GT coupé, a targa version, dubbed GTS, was also offered after 1971.

The car shown here is a very early example, build in January of 1970 and delivered new in Italy. It features its original colour combination of a Rosso Chiaro exterior, with Nero Skai interior and Rosso carpets.

66.000 km