One of the more intriguing cars at the Villa d’Este Concorso d’Eleganza was the Ferrari Dino Prototipo Berlinetta Competizione created by Pininfarina and unveiled in 1967.

One of the more intriguing and individual entries at the Villa d’Este Concorso d’Eleganza was the 1967 Ferrari Dino Prototipo Berlinetta Competizione created by Pininfarina. The Dino Competizione was presented for the first time in Europe by its first owner, American collector James Glickenhaus who is famed in Ferrari circles for his impressive collection which includes the oldest Ferrari in existance - the 1947 166 Spyder Corsa # 002C - as well as a 1966 P 3/4, 1967 412 P and 2006 P 4/5 by Pininfarina. It was during the 2007 edition of Villa d'Este where the Enzo-based 612 P 4/5 gained best of show in its category from a stunned audience.

Together with the P 4/5, the Dino Compeztione was presented at the 2008 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix from 4-6 April during a display celebrating Ferrari’s sixty years as a constructor of Formula One and sports racing cars.

The Dino Prototipo Berlinetta Competizione was designed by Paolo Martin, creator of numerous stunning masterpieces at Pininfarina such as the Ferrari Modulo, the Alfa Romeo 33 Roadster Concept and the Lancia Beta Montecarlo.

Resplendent in bright yellow paint the “Yellow Dino” as it is known by collectors, was first unveiled at the 1967 Frankfurt Motor Show as a working prototype and an exclusive design study. The main theme of the Dino Competizione was the necessity of the glass window surfaces with circular cross section to slide inside the gull-wing doors which were hinged on the roof corresponding to the longitudinal axis of the car.

Only 23 years of age at the time of its creation, Paolo Martin describes the Dino Competizione as the summit of his dreams. Martin recalls, “Between 1966 and 1967 I was secretly working for Pininfarina for contractual reasons. I used to work on the 1:10 scale wooden model on my house’s small balcony, spreading wood shavings in the underneath courtyard, much to my mother’s desperation.”

The detailed 1:10 scale model was carved from a solid block of Pinus cembra wood, following a preliminary sketch of the side and two perspective drawings. The final model weighed just 50 grams and aided the development of the final drawings. These final drawings were developed from 1:10 section drawings onto a full scale plan which was plotted onto spolvero paper (similar to chalk paper). In total the development process of the Dino Competizione took only three-four months. The extravagent front and rear spoilers were not planned from the start and were only added at the last minute by Pininfarina Management.

After spending close to forty years in the Pininfarina collection, the Dino Competizione is now in the private hands of James Glickenhaus.

"Dino Competizione has stuck in my mind since I first saw a photo of her in 1967. I was really stunned and even today when I look at her I still am," Glickenhaus told Italiaspeed.

"I became a friend with Andrea (Pininfarina) during the building of P 4/5 and saw her many times in the Pininfarina Museum. I really believed that she needed to get out into the world so more people could see just how wonderful she is. I worked on Andrea for several years and finally he agreed that she deserved to get out into the world and I was the one to be trusted with her."

The Dino Competizione was built on a 206S race chassis using the traditional technique of aluminium over a steel spaceframe. Many unique details were rediscovered by Glickenhaus during his first cleaning session after purchasing the car from Pininfarina.

"We carefully took her completely apart treating her like a work of art and began gently cleaning her. We were amazed to find an original body scribing tool walled up in one of her panels.

“When Ferrari sent the chassis over to Pininfarina to be built up into the 67 Show Car they painted the water and oil bearing chassis tubes red so Pininfarina would know not to drill into them. There are many details that we're discovering and documenting. Another is that on her engine block is a 1966 ACO stamp from Le Mans. In 66 three Ferrari Dino's (008/012/014) ran at Le Mans all DNF. This engine must have originally been in one of those cars. The other interesting thing is that while many thought her chassis # was 034 she is stamped 10523 both on her chassis plate and on a plate affixed to the chassis tubes. We're not sure if 034 is/was stamped below that plate. Another interesting thing is that there are two cars with the chassis number 10523; Dino Competizione and the 1967 Ferrari Dino 206 GT prototype.”

After spending such a long time in the Pininfarina Museum, Glickenhaus set out preparing the car, "We had two ideas in mind. The first was to keep her completely original including her original tires and the second was to make additional parts that would enable her to take to the roads a bit more safely on newly cast wheels and new tires for example. Every new thing we installed, the fire system for example was mounted in a way that it can easily be removed without leaving a trace."

The aluminium 1987 cc Tipo 231/B V6 engine was carefully fired up and tested. “We kept her revs low 6.5K as she's 40 years old and not really broken in yet. We tuned her for torque as on the street that's really what you want. We have a nice flat torque curve that starts low which is what we hoped for. At 6.5K we're making about 165 ft/lbs and 175 HP which is right where we want to be. Keep in mind this is a 2 litre motor that in its day allegedly made 210 HP at 8K.”

Typical of Pininfarina's traditions of heritage and leading technology, the Dino Competizione was monitered for her aerodynamics using the latest fluid dynamic equipment in the famous Pininfarina Wind Tunnel. Glickenhaus reveals, "Before Villa d'Este we took her into the Pininfarina Wind Tunnel which was very interesting. She has the same CX as a light truck about .4 vs P 4/5's CX of about .3. Her wings do work, especially in the rear but the front one can not exert enough force so with a lot of rear wing the nose becomes prone to lift. After gathering a lot of data we reset her wings to their original aesthetic position. At some point we'll put 0846/0854/and J6 into the wind tunnel and publish all of the Data."

After the Villa d’Este concours, Glickenhaus will enter the car in the 1000 kilometres of the Historic Giro di Sicilia, tracing the ancient roads of the Targa Florio. The XX Giro di Sicilia runs from 3-9 June 2008.

"After the Giro di Sicilia she'll head back to the States to drive the roads of New York and later in the summer head out to Monterey to attend the Jet Center Party and Quail with P 4/5," says Glickenhaus.

By James Granger