There is
a story behind the name "Dino" and the V6 engine. Alfredino
Ferrari, the only son of Enzo Ferrari, suggested his
father to develop a V6 racing engine for F2 in the early
60s.
Although always in favour of V12 engines, Enzo approved his beloved son's project
and employed a man called Jano to design this engine.
The result was a very compact,
1600c.c., quad-cam V6 which won several F2 championship titles and proved the
vision of Alfredino was correct. Before he could see the new motor, however, Alredino had died of kidney disease.
Although it took several years for Enzo to fully recover from the death of his
son, when he put his mind back into building motor cars he decided that, in memory
of his son, he would put the V6 into a mid-engined lightweight sports car and
call it "Dino", the shortened version of his son's name.
Of course, the original racing V6 would never have been appropriate for road
use. Therefore, Lampredi (another famous engineer who also designed a series
of V12's for Ferrari) modified the engine to 2.0 liters, with an amazing 180
hp on tap.
Designated "206GT", in which 20 means 2.0 liters and 6 means six cylinders, the
engine was actually built by Fiat and shared with Fiat Dino (also called Dino
because of the engine), not because it would be cheaper, but because Ferrari
needed the additional volume to qualify for FIA's production requirement for
racing engines.
The 206GT had a magnificent chassis, with engaging feel, adjustability and beautiful
balance. It was generally regarded as the best Ferrari chassis until the arrival
of F355. Why could it be so good? Firstly, its nimble size and relatively light
weight helped improving handling, just like other small cars. Secondly, its mid-engined
layout accompanied with the compact and transversely mounted engine perfected
the weight distribution. Thirdly, it adopted independent double-wishbones suspension
to all four wheels (a first for Ferrari).
The 206GT was replaced by 246GT in 1969 after 2 years of service. As suggested
by its name, the newer car had a larger 2.4-liter engine. Power rose to 195 hp
while torque increased even more. Having a stronger engine, Ferrari abandoned
the aluminum body panels in favour of a conventional steel body, thus lowering
the production cost and providing better build quality.
The 246GT broke the production record in Maranello. Nearly 2,500 cars were made
between 1969 and 74, which was by far more than any previous models. Since then,
Ferrari started its mainstream model line-up, including the 308, 328, 348, F355
and 360M.