[alfa] Contribution to the Ferrari digest

[C M Smith <cmsmith@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The original Dino road car had the 2.0 liter V6 built by Ferrari and named 
the 206. The "real" Dino was the 246 which was equipped with the 2.4 liter 
engine built by FIAT arose from a deal between Ferrari and FIAT to somehow 
homologate enough V6 engines to allow Ferrari to use them in their racing 
cars. The original Ferrari engine was all aluminum, the FIAT block was 
iron. The larger engined cars were more successful, though the smaller 
engined cars would have the sweeter engine feel.

Both Ferrari and FIAT used both engines, the former in the 206/246 Spider 
and Berlinetta, the latter in their Spider and Coup pair sold as FIAT 
Dinos. The FIATs used live axle rear suspension and were conventional front 
engine designs. For the movie buffs among us I believe I am correct that a 
FIAT Dino Coupe figures prominently in the bad guy's automotive stable (in 
Black) in the original Italian Job, which is noteworthy perhaps as much for 
the interesting cockpit view of the bright orange Lamborghini Muira that 
opens the movie as for the more famous Mini driving scenes (done with NO 
special effects BTW, real drivers in real cars).

Why Ferrari would try to market the 308 as a Dino is a puzzle. Alfredino 
was involved with the original Formula 2 project that saw the introduction 
of the V6 racing program with, I think, 60, 120 and eventually 65 degree V6 
engines. 'Dino died before any V8 road or racing machines came out of 
Ferrari. BTW, it is completely false to suggest that real Ferraris have 
only V12 engines. Ferrari wanted to build very fast cars and didn't much 
care how that was done. The Monza had an enormous in line four long before 
Porsche tried it in their 944 series. The V8 Ferraris have all been very 
successful with the 288 GTO being perhaps the nicest, and the F40 the most 
interesting ( ya just gotta love the third exhaust tip devoted to 
exhausting from the turbo wastegates!).

Finally on the topics raise by these Ferrari posts, it should come as no 
surprise to find that the 308 cars are very disappointing by modern 
standards, they were carbureted at a time when emissions rules were 
virtually destroying engine performance from all manufacturers. Remember 
those vaunted BMW sixes with cracking cylinder heads and exhaust manifolds 
yielding pathetic power outputs. The later 328 with injection was a much 
better version of this car and costs accordingly. None of these older 
"small" Ferraris are going to compare favourably with modern cars but they 
compare very well to their contemporaries.

Which brings me to the British cars. England produces the very best racing 
cars in the world. It is simply untrue that this industry is unconnected 
with production cars. It is well known that the regular British car 
industry was destroyed by unionized labour, who eventually got what they 
deserved: unemployment. Automotive engineering in Britain did not suffer 
this fate. For example for those that find the Rover 2000 TC excessively 
complicated they need to be reminded that upon its introduction it was 
possibly the most advanced car in the world for its intended customer: the 
family sedan owner (saloon if you prefer). The 3500 version was pretty 
impressive even though equipped with that antique Buick derived V8 (which 
was a very advanced engine for its time actually). The chassis was 
independent front with a rocker arm actuated spring to reduce unsprung 
weight and a sliding joint De Dion rear to alleviate the need for plunge in 
the driveshafts. Other examples of British automotive engineering abound. 
It is  a shame we cannot buy modern British cars, the new Lotus being a 
notable exception and of course the Jaguar thankfully always available in 
this market.

Cheers


Michael Smith
White 1991 164L
Original owner
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