RM Auctions Monaco Highlight: 1966 Ferrari Dino 206 S Spider
This gorgeous 1966 Ferrari Dino 206 S Spider, one of just eighteen built, has close to five decades of successful racing heritage under its belt, including a hugely-successful period career, and is heading to public sale for the first time in its history at RM Auctions’ Monaco Sale.
Image: Courtesy of RM Auctions
Debuting at the 1966 Paris Auto Show, and bearing the name of Enzo Ferrari’s son Dino, who had originally suggested a V6 platform for racing and sadly passed away ten years prior, Ferrari’s 206 S Dino Spider was designed for privateers to go into battle with Group 4 Porsches.
It features a two-litre V6 which revs to 9,000 RPM and can put out 285bhp. Shifting duties are handled by a five-speed manual gearbox borrowed from the Ferrari 312 Formula 1, and suspension is provided by unequal length wishbones and coil springs over telescopic shocks up front, and independent rear suspension with coils over telescopic shocks at the rear.
It’s a true Ferrari beauty, with stunning lines that echo its bigger brother, one of our favourite Ferraris of all time – the 330P.
The full package; looks and speed, Dino 206 S Spiders took the fight to Porsche with panache, taking second in the Targa Florio, second and third at the Nürburgring and sixth at Spa in 1966.
Labour problems building the cars meant that only 18 were produced, instead of the planned 50, and those 18 were raced hard, many ending their racing careers in accidents. These factors are part of what make this car so rare and significant.
Chassis 028 was purchased new from the Ferrari factory in 1966 by Ferrari racing fanatic, and close friend of Enzo Ferrari, Eduardo Lualdi Gabardi. He entered the car in hill climbs across Italy, and dominated the circuit in the second half of ’66.
And in ’67 and ’68, he kept on winning. Records from Ferrari historian Marcel Massini show that of at least 35 Italian hill climbs entered, he claimed first or second in his class in 22, and his worst finish was 6th. Gabardi entered only one race in the Dino in ’69, winning the Ascoli Piceno-Colle San Marco Hill Climb before selling his car back to the factory.
By ’72 the car had been updated with a 246 Tasman engine and the gearbox and suspension from a Ferrari 312 Formula 1, which gave it a 500cc increase in displacement and four new valves per cylinder, helping it to put out 65 more horses. It also received love on the bodywork front, with a new aerodynamic body designed by Francesco Guglielminetti.
It was then offered for sale by the factory, but it was nearly four years before Alberto Pedretti purchased it and took it to the United States. He sold it soon after to Bill Gelles who raced it in historic motorsport very briefly before selling it to its current owner in late 1977.
It then entered a new golden age, with its current owner showing and racing it continually around the United States. It has won Gold and Platinum awards in the FCA National Concours and additional Platinum awards in the Cavallino Classic and FCA Annual Meet in Indianapolis, where it won the Phil Hill Award for the Most Outstanding Competition Car as well.
Concours was not all it got up to, however, and its adventures on the race track continued in Ferrari Club of America Events and in the Ferrari Historic Challenge.
It has been restored twice thanks to its present owner – once from 1984 to 1994, and again with a mechanical rebuild in 2001. Its current bodywork is an identical reproduction body constructed for racing use in order to preserve its Guglielminetti body, which is included in its sale along with a spare part collection.
Restored and featuring a set of original and spare parts, and with a successful motorsport history to match every decade of its life, this Ferrari Dino 206 S Spider, chassis 028, is significant, fast and gorgeous.
It will be offered for sale at RM Auctions’ Monaco Sale on the 10th of May, 2014, where it is expected to fetch in the realm of €1,500,000 – €2,000,000. Head to RM Auctions’ website here for the full story and details.
Sign up for the RM Auctions email newsletter
Images: Tom Wood courtesy of RM Auctions
