About 60 members and guests attended our monthly dinner meeting at the Golf Club this month where we had Mike Whitford’s Fiat Dino on display and a presentation on artistic photographic techniques that can be used to show your car in a totally different way.
The Fiat Dino models were built between 1966 and 1973 and came in both coupe (Bertone designed) and spider (Pinninfarina) versions. It was a collaboration between Fiat and Ferrari, the latter of whom required 500 vehicles made using their quad-cam V6 so that the engine could be homologated into Formula 2 racing. There were about 6500 made in both 2 litre and 2.4 litre forms. Mikes is one of about 8 Dino coupes in Australia and is a 1972 model running the 2.4 litre engine with triple downdraft Webers. The engine produces about 180 bhp and is the same as that used in the Ferrari Dino and Lancia Stratos, but in those variants it was located across the car behind the seats in a mid-engine format.
Mike picked the car up in Melbourne about 6 months ago after studying the market and finally taking taking it for a test drive. It was originally purchased in Italy where it knocked up about 60,000km until being exported to Australia in 2000. The Australian owner didn’t use it very much, but had to remedy a few issues before a roadworthy was issued as part of Mike’s purchase arrangement. Since Mike’s had the car, it’s had a new fuel tank made and fitted to remedy problems with rust in the fuel system; new rear end bearings and seals and some fiddling with the carburetors. The next job is to refurbish the front end, but in the mean time Mike and Di intend to enjoy driving it.
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