Story by Pete Vack
Photography by Ken Visser
The Chassis
Fiat’s Dino Spider has been a classic since it was introduced at the Turin Auto Show in 1966. Like most true classics, the passage of time only increases its appeal.
It was the first Fiat with an engine with four overhead camshafts. The engine was produced by Fiat and “inspired in its general architecture by the Ferrari engine of the same name”, according to Quattroruote’s massive 1970 work, All the Fiats. It was also the same engine used in the Ferrari-made (but never labeled as such) Dino 206 and 246. And for Fiat, variants of the V6 were used in the Fiat Dino Coupe and finally, the Lancia Stratos. It was a remarkable engine, however many fathers claimed it.
The hereditary link with Ferrari, by way of Vittorio Jano, Franco Rochi and “productionized” by Aurelio Lampredi for Fiat has been well detailed elsewhere (Graham Robson‘s Fiat Sports Cars, and Doug Nye’s Dino, the little Ferrari).
