Keith Richards' Ferrari Dino Was No Rolling Stone, He Shipped It Home From America

It was 1975, and everyone knew The Rolling Stones as the "Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World." This is how they were introduced back then. Furthermore, bassist Brian Jones had died under mysterious circumstances at 27 after quitting the band. Drug use had made him unable to go on the road with Mick Jagger and the rest of the team. Even though he was not playing with them at the time of his death, the unfortunate event dragged the band into the spotlight once more.

It was the 1970s, and they were rock stars. They were always on the road or on the plane, traveling by day, playing "Angie" and "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" by night. Their albums were topping the charts. They were in the papers, on black and white television, on the cover of magazines. They were everywhere.

Guitarist Keith Richards was little over 30 and the leader of the band after Jones' departure, sharing production and songwriting tasks with vocalist Mick Jagger. It was that period when he decided he wanted a car to match his stardom. He laid eyes on a Ferrari Dino 246 GT with spectacular Scaglietti bodywork. It was, after all, one of the greatest sports cars of the time. He would not go for any less than that.

Despite being known as a wild driver, Richards never crashed the Ferrari like he did with his Bentley Continental Flying Spur, which needed visits at the body repair shop time after time.

Chassis number 03354, this car was manufactured by Ferrari in February 1972. The Ferrari Dino 246 GT was the most technologically advanced version of the E-Series. It is powered by a 2.4-liter V6, mounted transversally, unlike in the Dino 206S race car from 1966. Paired with a five-speed manual gearbox, the power unit delivers 192 horsepower (195 PS) and 166 pound-feet (255 Nm) of torque.

Weighing just 2,380 lbs (1,080 kilograms), less than a compact car would today, it was easy for the Dino to hit 148 mph (238 kph), and it needed 7.4 seconds to make the run from 0 to 62 mph (0-100 kph).

The Italians built 2,2956 GT Coupes and 1,274 GTS spiders, with the latter showing up after the facelift, in 1972, and staying in production until 1974. A total of 3,569 cars rolled off the production line.

And that was it. He first took delivery of the car in California, in June 1972, purchasing it from Bill Harrah's Modern Classic Motors. He shipped it from the United States to England in 1975 and registered it on the plates "GYL157N." It is, therefore, a US-spec E-Series car with a Veglia Borletti instrumentation in miles. He started using it for his personal transportation during European tours, putting mile after mile on the odometer. 25,000 of them.

As part of the documentation, this car is accompanied by a copy of a letter from Rollin Stones' touring manager, Alan Dunn, dated April 25, 1986. It confirms the mileage at the time (25,122 miles) as well as the purchase and the fact that it belonged to Richards before being sold to a private collector in Japan.

"On these European tours of the 1970s – Alan Dunn told – the band would fly to each gig, and Keith, who avoided flying whenever he could, would choose to drive the Dino, frequently arriving at the band's hotel in the middle of the night."

The Ferrari Dino returned to Europe in 2014 to get into the hands of another musician. This time, it was Liam Howlett, co-found of British band The Prodigy. And it was he who sent it to specialist Joe Macari Performance Cars in London for a complete rebuild of the V6 engine in 2015. He paid nearly 60,000 pounds (approximately $87,000) for it.

The Dino had two other owners in the following years. They pampered it rightfully and today, the car is no different from the one that Keith Richards used to drive in the 1970s. It proudly wears its factory-correct Argento Metallizzato (Silver metallic) body paint over a Nero Connolly (black) interior in leather and rides on Cromadora alloys shod in Michelin XQX tires. A spare wheel resides under the hood.

Today, the odometer shows 30,037 miles, and are all believed to be original. It is the mileage it goes under the hammer with, at the Monterey auction in California next month, August 17. The organizers are expecting to fetch between $400,000 and half a million dollars. Last time it was sold, via Bonhams Goodwood Revival auction, in September 2018, it went for 442,750 pounds (nearly $570,000).