Danny Wilde's Dino Ferrari

 

In the TV series The Persuaders, the character of Danny Wilde played by Tony Curtis drives a Dino 246 GT registered in Modena, the city near which the headquarters of Ferrari are located. A look back at the story of the poor man's Ferrari...
Enzo Ferrari created the Dino brand in 1964 to pay tribute to his son died in 1956. This subsidiary was an opportunity for Ferrari to find a new clientele by offering sports cars at affordable prices. However, Enzo Ferrari, keen on the image of his brand, refused to allow the Dinos to wear the prancing horse badge because he considered the V6 engines less noble than the traditional Ferrari V12s. The Italian brand presented the 246 GT in 1969 at the Turin and Geneva Motor Shows in order to face competition from the German manufacturer Porsche with its 911 equipped with the famous Flat 6 engine. Evolution of the 206 designed by Pininfarina and produced in 153 copies in 1968 and 1969, the new car was 9.4 cm longer and its body made of steel rather than aluminum. It was equipped with a new cast-iron engine with double overhead camshafts and twin ignition, the displacement of which was increased to 2.4 litres. This new block offered more flexibility and proved to be less fragile than the 2.0-litre aluminum of the 206. It developed 195 horsepower and allowed the 246 GT to go from 0 to 100 km/h in 7 seconds and to reach 240 km/h, while retaining impressive handling for the time.