- 31 Aug 08, 09:59#62308
Gilles Villeneuve: If someone said to me that you can have three wishes, my first would have been to get into racing, my second to be in Formula 1, my third to drive for Ferrari.
Ferrari 206 S Dino Berlinetta Competizione
http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/3713/Ferrari-206-S-Dino-Berlinetta-Competizione.html
What to do with an obsolete sports racing car? In the old days they were sold to customers for road use, either with a full account of the car's history or refurbished and restamped as a brand new car. In the mid 1960s the racing cars had become so advanced that they no longer formed a suitable basis for a practical road car. This left the likes of Ferrari with few options, although fortunately by then the first collectors had taken an interest in the often very successful competition cars. A few examples were also handed to Maranello's preferred design house Pininfarina to be rebodied with a fresh new design. The Ferrari shown above has gone through this exact route and served both as a factory racing car at Le Mans and in a second coming as a Pininfarina show car at Frankfurt.
The history of the 'Yellow Dino' starts at Ferrari's annual pre-season press conference early in 1966. There the wraps were taken off the company's new racing cars, which included the V6 engined 206 S Dino. Based on a prototype racer campaigned with considerably success in 1965, this compact racing car was intended for use in the two litre sports car class, which required a production run of at least 50 examples for homologation. The new car was shown alongside the Ferrari 330 P3, which was designed to take outright victories. For all intents and purposes the 206 S Dino was a 330 P3 cut in half, sharing its basic engine design with six instead of twelve cylinders. While production got under way, the factory extensively campaigned the cars, but the Dino struggled in the prototype class. Numerous strikes slowed production down and by early 1967 it was obvious that by the time enough examples were produced, the car would long be obsolete. Ferrari abandoned the program and instead focused on reclaiming Le Mans from Ford after the shattering defeat a year earlier.
By the time the project was abandoned just over a dozen cars were completed and these were gradually sold off to privateer racers and collectors. The 17th (034) and 18th (036) chassis were presumably never fitted with the very elegant body crafted by Piero Drogo's Carrozzeria Sports Cars. Chassis 034 was equipped with an engine used at Le Mans in 1966 (the scruteneering stamp is still visible today) and shipped to Pininfarina with a regular production Ferrari production car serial number (10523). Even though Turin based coachbuilder was in the process of putting the final touches on a Dino production road car, they decided to create a completely different design for what would become their third Dino show car. Appointment to pen the design was a very young Paolo Martin, who previously worked for Michelotti and Bertone despite being only 23 years old at the time. No doubt inspired by Ferrari's sports racers, he drew a very elegant shape including large oval shaped headlights and gull-wing doors. Reflecting a new trend in racing, large adjustable wings were added to the nose and tail of the car. Even though Martin did not like them much, they made the '206 S Dino Berlinetta Competizione' instantly recognisable.
Transformed from a sketch on a sheet of paper to a fully functioning show car, the Dino Competizione was unveiled in the fall of 1967 at the bi-annual Frankfurt motor show. Needless to say it was one of the stars of the show and has remained as one of the great designs of the 1960s. Shortly after the 'Yellow Dino' made the headlines, the elegant round shapes were abandoned in favour of sharper lines eventually culminating in the 'wedge' craze of the 70s. In the following decades the Dino Competizione was one of the highlights of Pininfarina's massive collection and only shown at very few occasions. At those rare outings the company's representatives must have been asked for the price many times by the wealthiest of enthusiasts. The answer was always simple; the car is not for sale. American collector Jim Glickenhaus was among those enquiring about the Yellow Dino and his desire must have grown each time he was at the Pininfarina factory to oversee the birth of his Ferrari P4/5. Finally after five years, the Italians decided that Jim would be a great caretaker for the one-off show car.
Before Jim could take delivery of the latest additions, the car was completely stripped and cleaned at Pininfarina, carefully preserving the machine's absolutely original condition. The process was overseen by Jim's mechanic Salvatore Barrone, giving him an in-depth understanding of the car for future maintenance. Various safety devices were included to make sure the car could be registered for road use. New wheels, shock absorbers and seats were created to make the driving a little more comfortable. All new additions were designed in such a way that they could be fitted and taken out without damaging the car. In the final days before being handed over to Jim, the 206 S Dino Berlinetta Competizione was test both on the track and in the Pininfarina wind tunnel. The car performed great on the track, while in the tunnel it showed similarities with a ''truck'' to quote Jim. The wings were found to function, a little too good actually and were trimmed a little to create less downforce.
The Yellow Dino was shown to the public for the first in Jim's ownership during the 2008 Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este. Like 30 years earlier, it was one of the absolute stars and received many admiring looks. Designer Paolo Martin was reunited with the car he still considers his favourite. Apart from the obvious reasons for acquiring the Dino Competizione show car, Jim explained to us that he believes that if a ''car stays in a museum, it does not exist.'' In the coming months the car will take part in the Targa Florio retrospective and shown during the Quail, a Motorsports gathering in August.
Gilles Villeneuve: If someone said to me that you can have three wishes, my first would have been to get into racing, my second to be in Formula 1, my third to drive for Ferrari.
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