Anson Dino Ferrari 246GT
Some years ago, I remember, the Ernest and Julio Gallo wine company introduced a new line of premium wines. Sure, they weren't Chateau Laffite Rothschild or anything, but they did surprise a lot of wine critics. In case anybody doesn't already know, Gallo is generally equated with "jug wines," wines of poor to middling quality. Wines a real conossieur would never touch.
So the introduction of Gallo's premium line (I forget the name; I'm not a wine drinker) and its surprising quality resulted in a number of what I call slap-in-the-face-compliments. For example, one critic simply said: "This wine is too good to be a Gallo."
Sure, it compliments the wine. But it insults the vintner, pointing out previous low status.
Which brings me to my Anson Dino 246: This car is too good to be an Anson.
I may be biased here, because I think the Dino 206/246 body is one of the best shapes ever to flow from Pininfarina's pen. The integrated curves of the fenders, headlights, trunklid, windshield, and roofline are pure classic beauty; perfect proportions. So, like Maisto's imperfect model of the Porsche Boxster, I automatically like Anson's Dino.
No, it's not perfect, either. But what delights me is how much better it is than most other Ansons I've seen.
First, a little background: The Dino was named after Enzo Ferrari's only son, "Alfredino," commonly called "Dino," Ferrari. He was trained as a mechanical engineer, and of course worked in his father's company all his professional life. He was largely responsible for the design of some smaller engines, engines that didn't have the requisite 12 cylinders of a Ferrari. But he never inherited the house his father built. Instead, he died of multiple sclerosis at a young age. Naturally his father (and mother, who rarely gets mentioned at all) were heartbroken.
On to another segment of the story: In Germany, Porsche had replaced their aging 356 series with the soon-to-be-immortal 911s. The 911 hit a very important market niche in the sports car world -- below the 12-cylinder Ferraris, but with a lot of cash to spend. Enzo Ferrari watched the 911's sales figures climb, carrying Porsche's fortunes upward, and decided the ex-Panzer engineer needed some competition. He comissioned Pininfarina to draw him a small car, one built around an engine of six cylinders.
But was the world ready for a six-cylinder Ferrari? Enzo didn't think so. "A Ferrari is a twelve-cylinder car," he said. So this small beauty wouldn't be a Ferrari. Instead, he named the car after his late son, Dino.
This is an important trivia point, which might someday be worth real money if you ever compete on "Jeopardy." Dinos were NEVER called Ferraris by the factory. The Ferrari name is not to be found anywhere on the car, nor in the manual, nor in the papers. It was simply a Dino.
The name had been used before, on some racing cars, but the first Dino for the street was the 206 -- 2 liters, six cylinders, foreshadowing the numbering scheme used by Ferrari until the 1996 introduction of the 550. The DOHC V-6 had a fair amount of Ferrari breeding in evidence -- it made 180 hp, and screamed to a still-impressive 8000 rpm.
It was light, quick, and handled like a razor.
One hundred and fifty 206GTs were made between 1967 and 1969, when they were replaced by the 246GT. The purists often say the 206 was a better car than the 246. The new model made a little more power -- 195 hp -- and better torque, due to its larger engine. But it was heavier, the bigger tires increased the steering effort, and cars of the early Seventies in general declined in comparison to their immediate ancestors.
The 246GTs were made from 1969 to 1973. In 1972 the last new 6-cylinder model was introduced: the 246GTS, which stayed in production until 1974, outlasting the GT by a year. Mechanically identical to the 246GT, the main difference was that they offered a removable targa-style top, and the rear quarter windows in the sail panels had been filled in to create a substantial rollbar.
Some people have said that the Dinos died due to smog regulations in America. This is nonsense -- in 1973 the first successor was introduced, one of the few Ferraris not to come from Pininfarina: the Bertone-designed 308 GT4. Some of the early 308s even wore the Dino name, but subsequently it was decided that they could be Ferraris. I guess Enzo dropped the 12-cylinder requirement.
So, while they begat a long and successful line of Ferraris, the sublime body style of the Dino did cease production, until a few kit cars -- notably the Kelmark and, more accurately, Karma -- copied its lines.
And now we come back to the delightful models on my desk. Three of Anson's Dinos have come to live with me, in three colors shown here. One is the famous "Rosso Corsa," the most popular Ferrari color. The second is "Fly Yellow," which, in my opinion, is the best color for this body shape. The last, but the first Dino I acquired, is a metallic maroon that the person selling me the model called "cranberry." That's a good enough name for the hue, as it's perfectly descriptive. (Ferrari calls it "Prugna Metallica," "Metallic Plum," but then, it's not really a Ferrari.)
When I said it was too good to be an Anson, this is what I meant:
With most of the Ansons I own the rear wheels share a common axle. The Dino has independent rear wheels. (Oddly, my Kyosho 512BB has a common rear axle!)
On most Ansons, the paint quality is only fair to poor. On all three of these Dinos, it's quite good.
On most Ansons some parts are poorly fitted. On my Dinos, the fit is generally excellent.
In addition to the above, the Dino does some things better than most of my models: for instance, the keyhole bezel in the door is a tiny separate chrome piece. Even on my Kyosho 512, it's a lump highlighted with paint! This Dino has separate chrome doorhandles and window cranks on the doors' interior panels, as well as chromed frames for the vent windows. The seats are black, but the seating surfaces are painted tan. The vents in the (front) trunklid are cut through, and careful observation underneath shows a pair of triangular chambers on either side of the removable spare tire. There is a radiator behind the front grille, and ahead of it, where you might never look, is a pair of three-bladed fans. The fans blow air through the radiator, and it exits from the chambers through the vents -- excellent attention to a detail easily missed. (For what it's worth, much of the trunk area is painted as well.)
The vents in the (mid-engine) hood are also cut through, rather than just depressions. The side marker lights have tiny amber lenses, where most models use orange paint or decals. The exhaust pipes and wipers are well done, as are the headlights and front turn signal lenses. The engine, in Anson's usual practice, is painted in different shades rather than just molded in colors. And looking at the inside edges of the doors, we can see a beautifully formed lip, fully painted until it reaches the door liner panel. Far better than most Bburagos or Maistos in my collection.
Sure, there are a few points I'd change: the vents behind the doors, for instance, are simply black paint at the end of the gouge. I'd really like to see the rear trunklid open, the one behind the engine. The doors should have full chrome window frames. And it's been said that the tires are too big for scale -- but it's easy to forget that low-profile tires only became widely used in the late Eighties. Studying photos in my collection, it seems to me that they are too big, but just barely.
Questions of size aside, the tires could be better shaped. The wheels are accurate to my photos, though the hub (it's a separate piece) on one is mounted off-center.
Another thing that would make me happy would be a set of clear headlight canopies. They were illegal in America for unfathomable reasons, but the turn signals and side marker lights identify this model as a European example, and many of the European cars had them. Like the headlight canopies for the Datsun 240-280Zs or the E-type Jaguars, they complete the lines.
Examining the models continues to reveal further points, some pleasant surprises, some disappointments:
Turning the "Prugna Metallica" model in the light, from a few angles it's possible to notice a slight paint mismatch between the engine lid and the surrounding bodywork. It's there, but it's hard to see unless you look for it. Notably, the other two colors don't seem to suffer the same problem.
Rather than full-width bumpers, the Dino had chromed bumperettes, one at each corner. They look lovely on this model.
The jewellike taillights seem to lack texture, but that's the way the real ones were.
The quad tailpipes are black under the car, but have chromed tips. They'd be a little more convincing if the pairs of tips weren't held together by being cast onto the same plate.
Oh, and one other thing should be changed: on the rear trunk lid, just before the trailing edge, there is a decal that shouldn't be there. Like many ambitious Dino owners, Anson stuck the Ferrari logo on their model. But it's not really a Ferrari.
What it is is a Dino, and a beautiful shape. That's good enough.
To sum it up:
Strengths: Beautiful shape, excellent paint and attention to detail.
Weaknesses: Black paint representing intakes; tires may be large.
Overall: A lovely model of a lovely car. I'll buy more.
Note: Since the above review was written, I have acquired two more of Anson's Dinos, as I said I would. One is yellow, one red. Both continue to uphold the excellent quality impression I got from the first. This is really one of my favorite models in my collection.
PS: Mattel has announced that they will be manufacturing a model of the "1970 246GTS Dino." This is a clear mistake, since the GTS wasn't introduced until 1972. I've seen photos of the upcoming model, and it'll be the GTS, which will complement the Anson GT rather nicely. I'm waiting to see how the quality turns out...
PPS: It was a great joy to me to see how much Dino influence there is in Ferrari's newest V8, the 360 Modena. Look at it after studying a 246, and you'll see exactly what I mean.
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