Looking back on the long list of Maranello greats, it’s difficult to think of a model that had a closer link to the success of Ferrari—or the personal story of Enzo—than the Dino 246 GT and its open-topped stablemate. Ferrari’s son, Alfredo, led the charge to develop the firm’s first V-6 configured engine, though he tragically lost his life before seeing the project come to fruition. The engine, along with the string of competition cars in which it was fitted, was named in his honour, as was the first ever Ferrari road car to be powered by a V-6—the Dino 206 GT—and its celebrated Dino 246 GT and GTS successors.
When the curtain finally dropped on the 206 GT at the 1967 Turin Salon, it couldn’t have represented a greater departure for Ferrari. At that point best known for its thundering front-engined V-12 grand tourers—the sort of gentleman’s express built to gallop across continents—the diminutive 206 GT boasted just half the cylinders, as well as being the first roadgoing Ferrari to have its engine mounted amidships. The new car was an undeniable success, marrying pin-sharp handling and sublime driving dynamics with a fizzing 2-litre all-alloy version of the lauded Dino V-6—an engine that simply begged to be revved.
If the Dino fell short of expectations, it was only because the jewel of an engine lacked the grunt to fully exploit a wonderful chassis, and after just 153 examples rolled out of the Maranello workshops, a more powerful replacement arrived in the form of the 246 GT. Aldo Brovarone and Leonardo Fioravanti’s striking Scaglietti-built coachwork was largely retained, though now predominantly formed from steel instead of alloy, while beneath the bodywork lay an enlarged 2.4-litre version of the Dino V-6—bringing with it a much needed bump in total power. Ferrari had finally perfected the recipe—so much so that from March 1969 until the end of production five years later, some 3,761 open and closed examples of the 246 would be built.
A total of 357 early L-series cars were built before the introduction of the M-series in the summer of 1970, which brought with it parallel windscreen wipers in place of the earlier “clapping hands” setup, and smart five-bolt Cromodora alloy wheels. From July 1971 the E-series update came on stream, featuring tweaked gearing, fuelling revisions, and—most significantly—the choice of an open-topped variant dubbed the GTS, or Gran Turismo Spider. Just 1,274 of the special cars would be made, among them chassis 07094.
The car was completed at the Maranello factory on 11 September 1973, and was first specified in Nero (20-B-50) over a contrasting Rosso Connolly hide interior and black carpets. Configured in right-hand drive and optioned with air conditioning and Cromodora alloy wheels, the Ferrari was destined for the UK and Colonel Ronnie Hoare’s Maranello Concessionaires. Official Ferrari dealer Lovett of Marlborough took delivery in November, prior to it being sold to its first owner, Andrew West. It later appeared at the Ferrari Owners' Club’s annual meeting at Brocket Hall in 1990, prior to being acquired by the consignor via Talacrest and exported to Singapore in October of that year.
While in the consignor’s care the Dino has been subject to diligent ongoing maintenance, with detailed spreadsheets of parts purchases and restoration work included in the history file. A full repaint in its factory colour scheme, an engine rebuild, and suspension overhaul are said to have been carried out in late 2022, while the consignor’s logs outline some £85,000 of total expenditure. It was never registered for the road while in his care.
Today chassis 07094 presents in its correct Nero paintwork over a smart matching interior, while it retains its matching-numbers chassis and engine. A beautiful example of its type tastefully specified and with desirable options, this rare right-hand-drive Dino 246 GTS has returned to the UK to find a fitting home and would make a fine addition to any serious collection.
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