The best-preserved Ferrari Dino 246 in existence?

Examples of Ferrari’s much-loved 246 Dino are not difficult to find – with more than 3500 built, there are plenty in circulation. All the same, we challenge anyone to find one that’s more genuine and original or with such low mileage and impeccable provenance as this Giallo Fly (yellow) example which has come to the market for the first time in 50 years.

Back in 1974, owner Terry West was spending his weekdays working as a garage mechanic, his weekends racing a quick and competitive Mark I Ford Escort in stage rallies around the country – and the time in between preparing for the next event.

“After doing rallying on a shoestring budget for three or four years, I decided enough was enough,” recalls West. “I had two kids by that point and a mortgage, and putting all that effort into rallying just seemed a bit too much.”

West sold the Escort for £3000 – at almost exactly the same time as he heard that the Dino was up for grabs for just £250 more and with a mere 12,000 miles on the clock. Having bought it, West used the car throughout the next 12 months for a daily, 40-mile round-trip commute, soon after which he became a partner in a garage business and bought a dilapidated farmhouse nearby in which to raise his family.

“Once we bought the garage and had the farmhouse to restore I was flat out 24-7,” he recalls. “There was just no real chance to drive the Dino, so it spent most of the time sitting in storage under a dustsheet – and that continued until we sold the business in the early 2000s.”

The ‘business’ in question was called Windsor Garage and, during West’s 25 years as co-owner, it established a stellar reputation for maintaining and repairing exotica – Ferraris and Porsches in particular.

That would certainly explain his Ferrari’s sweet-sounding engine and pristine condition. But what makes it really special is that it has covered little more distance in the last half century than it did in the first four years of its life – today the odometer reads a mere 26,840 miles.

What’s more, the car has never been restored and retains all its factory-fitted components, including its original interior. In fact, about the only parts on the car that were not there when it left the Maranello factory are the brake pads, the tyres and the oil in the engine (which West has, of course, been meticulous about changing).

“It did have a bare metal respray around eight years ago, not because of corrosion but because the paintwork had lost its original lustre,” says West who, now in his seventies, has decided to sell as part of a mission to “downsize”.

Ask the dealers, and they may tell you that the Dinos to have are the ones finished in unusual factory colours.

We, however, think it’s a better bet to buy one with low mileage, guaranteed originality, unimpeachable provenance and faultless paint and mechanicals.

After all, Giallo Fly isn’t exactly a boring hue, is it?

1971 Ferrari Dino 246 GT On sale with Terry West, Plymouth. Asking: £350,000. 07976 503448; [email protected]

‘Alfa Papa’ Coogan offloads his Guilia 

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• In a move that would exasperate Mr Partridge, after almost 70 years Alfa Romeo is having to ditch its off-centre reg plates because the tradition clashes with new EU safety rules. It’s said that side-mounted plates are more of a danger to pedestrians than central. The skewwhiff positioning dates back to the 1955 Giulietta Spider.
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• Only a sole Lister works car raced by Archie Scott Brown remains in existence – this 1956 Lister-Maserati, left, which gave motor sport’s first disabled hero victories at Snetterton and Brands Hatch in ’56. It’s on sale with Pendine Motors at Bicester Heritage, £POA.
  
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