Car of the Week: This 1968 Dino 206 GT Is a Purple Jewel That Could Fetch Nearly a Million at Auction

Monterey Car Week opens with great fanfare as the Broad Arrow Jet Center Auction returns to Northern California’s Monterey Peninsula on August 17 and 18. The sale will be held in conjunction with Hagerty’s Motorlux event. One car that stands out, for both its color and its quality, is a rare “don’t-call-it-a-Ferrari” Dino 206 GT. The Dino was its own marque within the Ferrari family, named in honor of founder Enzo Ferrari’s son, who passed away at the age of 24 in 1956.

Built in the first year of the model’s production, this diminutive coupe is one of only about 152 Dino 206 GTs made from 1968 through 1969, and it may be the most striking example we’ve ever seen. Of course, any Dino 206 GT is striking, with as sinuous and seductive a shape as ever to come from the house of Pininfarina. Designers Aldo Brovarone and Leonardo Fioravanti conceived the curvaceous aluminum coupe with styling cues from racing cars and prototypes like the three-seat 365 P Berlinetta Speciale.

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The bodies, built by Scaglietti, were smaller than those of any front-engine Ferrari powered by a V-12, and instead placed a compact V-6 engine transversely behind the occupants and ahead of the rear axle. A 2.0-liter unit with about 180 hp, the mill was derived from a twin-cam race engine, developed for road use by Aurelio Lampredi, and built by Fiat for its own Dino Coupe and Spider, as well as Ferrari’s Dino 206 GT.

Weighing less than 2,000 pounds dry, the Dino is quick, nimble, and one of the most rewarding cars of its era to drive. It was also Ferrari’s first mid-engined road car (remember, the 250 LM was a racer), the first with rack-and-pinion steering, and the first Ferrari produced on an assembly line. Its successor was the 246 GT and GTS, heavier, steel-bodied cars with a 2.1-inch longer wheelbase and produced in huge numbers by comparison, with nearly 3,600 made. Powered by a 2.4-liter V-6 engine, the 246 was envisioned as a competitor to the Porsche 911S and the unsuccessful Lamborghini Urraco.

This 206 GT, chassis No. 00268, is an Italian-delivery car. Ferrari Classiche–certified and with matching-numbers engine, transmission, and body panels, this example is well-documented with known ownership history from new. And it underwent a bare-metal restoration completed by the consignor, a world-renowned Ferrari specialist and concours judge.

Originally Blu Notte Metallizzato (Night Blue Metallic), the car was resprayed the rare factory shade of 106-A-71 Viola Metallizzato Dino during its restoration. This period-correct color is a refreshing change from the usual red, white, silver, or even yellow that one typically encounters on Dinos. In period, the Italians were known for exquisite metallic hues in brown, maroon, copper, or jewel-tone greens, blues, and, rarest of all, violet.

During restoration, the interior was retrimmed in as-delivered Nero vinyl. Most modern observers don’t realize that vinyl was more than occasionally employed in sports car interiors from the 1950s onward, so correct restorations will use this synthetic material in deference to leather when appropriate. And because the best is never inexpensive, this purple Dino carries a high-end estimate of $950,000.

Click here for more photos of the 1968 Dino 206 GT.

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