Fiat Dino 2400 Spider
The Fiat Dino is one of the most fascinating cars ever produced — a Fiat-badged sports car powered by a Ferrari-designed V6 engine. The story begins with Enzo Ferrari, who needed to produce at least 500 road car engines per year to homologate his Dino V6 for Formula 2 racing. Ferrari's limited production capacity couldn't meet this target, so a deal was struck with Fiat: Fiat would produce the engine in sufficient quantities, using it in a Fiat road car, while Ferrari also used it in their own Dino 206/246 GT. The Fiat Dino Spider, bodied by the legendary Pininfarina, was a stunningly beautiful roadster that offered Ferrari V6 performance at a fraction of the Ferrari price. The 2400 series (1969-1973) featured an enlarged 2.4-liter engine with an iron block replacing the original aluminum 2.0-liter, producing 180 horsepower with even better torque. The three Weber carburetors fed the gorgeous-sounding V6 through a ZF five-speed manual, and the independent rear suspension (replacing the earlier live axle) transformed the handling. The Fiat Dino represents possibly the greatest bargain in Italian sports car history — a car with the soul of a Ferrari, the body of a Pininfarina masterpiece, and the accessibility of a Fiat.
The Ferrari-derived V6 is expensive to maintain and rebuild — find a Dino specialist. The 2400 iron-block engine is more durable than the 2.0 aluminum version. Rust is a serious concern — check sills, inner wings, and floors. The Pininfarina Spider body is more valuable than the Bertone Coupe. Verify engine numbers match — the V6 is desirable enough to have been pilfered.
7,651 Dinos were produced across Spider (Pininfarina) and Coupe (Bertone) variants. The car existed primarily to homologate Ferrari's Dino V6 for racing. The 2400 series replaced the aluminum 2.0 V6 with an iron 2.4 V6.