Ferrari GT Design from the 1960s onwards Part III

The latter half of the 1960s was characterized by two Ferrari models that would once again confirm the company’s position as an innovative manufacturer with the knack for producing sports cars to stun the world. One of these cars, the Dino 206 GT, was a reluctant starter and represented a very courageous, if not outright risky, step into the unknown for Ferrari with its mid-engine layout. The other new model, the front-engined Ferrari 365 GTB/4 (Ferrari GT Design 1960s Part 2 final 21apr26), or the Daytona as it would become known, was Ferrari’s flagship Grand Tourer.

1967: Dino 206 GT

In 1965, a Dino 206 P powered by a 1,986cc V6 appeared at Germany’s Freiburg-Schaunisland hill climb course and won the race, beating a number of Porsche 904s, Abarths, and Lotuses. This little racer became the Dino 206 S and was designed in both open- and closed-body forms. The 166/206 served as the basis for Pininfarina’s one-off 166 Dino Speciale show car at the 1965 Paris Motor Show. Using the race car’s mechanics, the Speciale was so well-received that Pininfarina continued to develop it, eventually turning it into the 1967 Dino 206 GT, the first road-going mid-engined car to come from Maranello.