A Reddit user posted some pictures from his vacation. But at a first glance, they don't seem like the kind of pictures you'd show off with in front of your friends, especially if they don't love cars. But for classic car enthusiasts, they might be something of interest. "What car is this? Found at my relatives farm in Italy," writes the person on social media.
If for some people what you see in the pictures may be just a pile of rusty iron, others will recognize a Fiat Dino 2000 Coupe (model year 1968) that has had an unjust fate.
The car is named after Enzo Ferrari's son, Alfredo "Dino" Ferrari. Fiat introduced the Dino to help Scuderia Ferrari homologate a V6 engine for the Formula 2 racing cars.
Based on the name of Enzo Ferrari's son and the urgency imposed by racing, an agreement was reached between Ferrari and Fiat to produce a spider and a coupe that were designed and assembled by two great coachbuilders in Turin.
In the mid-1960s, Ferrari urgently needed to homologate an engine for its Formula 2 single-seaters. Ferrari, therefore, entered into an industrial agreement with Fiat to supply V-shaped 6-cylinder 'Dino' engines, named after Enzo Ferrari's son, who had helped with the design before his premature death in 1956, at only 24.
Around the new refined two-liter V6 engine, Fiat decided to produce two sports cars. In 1966, Pininfarina was commissioned to create the Spider, while the following year, Bertone presented the Coupé. The latter had a longer wheelbase than the Spider and became a four-seater. It was therefore longer, heavier and obviously, not as fast, but it immediately appealed to the market more than the Spider.
In the conventional configuration, the front engine, mounted in a longitudinal position, is linked to a five-speed gearbox. The rear-wheel drive uses a sporty self-locking differential. The front suspension is independent on coil springs, while the rear axle is rigid on single-leaf springs. Four disc brakes equip both the Spider and Coupé.
What we see in the photos that were uploaded on Reddit appears to be the Dino 2000 Coupé. It had a 2-liter V6 engine developing 165 hp (167 ps) and a 5-speed manual transmission.
The success of the coupé, more so than the spider, grew steadily. So much so that in 1969, the second series was launched with the new 2.4-liter engine. Performance increased with the new engine: the V6 had a displacement of 2,418 cc and delivered 180 hp (183 ps). The Dino 2400 Coupé reached a top speed of 205 kph (127 mph). In addition to the new engine, the second series Dino also benefited from a new rear axle with independent suspension derived from that of the Fiat 130, which considerably improved cornering behavior.
From 1967 to 1972, a total of 7577 examples of the Fiat Dino Coupé were produced with the two engines.
Marius grew up in a family of truck drivers, so the love for cars and anything with an engine came naturally. After getting his journalism degree and an M.D. in Multimedia and Audio/Video Production he went right into covering the automotive industry for a news agency and a print magazine. Full profile
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