Love at first sight

Relaxing at home in the Cotswolds, England, Charles Trevelyan holds a photographic transparency to the light – a blur of yellow that, on closer inspection, sharpens into the yellow Dino 206 Charles spotted at Le Mans 1968. “It was parked in the ‘parc fermé’ area and when I poked my camera through some wire netting to photograph it I just fell in love with the shape,” recalls Charles. “To me it was the most beautiful, well-proportioned, wonderfully designed car. I vowed one day I would own one.”

Three years later, aged just 26, Charles achieved his goal. When he returned from Germany, on leave from serving in the British Army, his new Dino was parked in his parents’ garage – they’d collected it in his absence. Today he opens those same garage doors to reveal that very same Dino 246 GT, resplendent in its Azzurro Blue paint. Provenance rarely comes more perfectly wrapped than this.

Watch Charles recount over 50 years of Dino ownership – and return to Prescott Speed Hill Climb

Launched in 1967, the Dino was both Maranello’s first road-going V6, and its first mid-engined road car. Sleek Pininfarina bodywork wrapped around a tubular steel frame, the flowing panels shaped in aluminium for the Dino 206 models produced from 1967, then steel from 1969 when the wheelbase stretched 60 millimetres and Dino 246 production began. As the name hinted, engine capacity grew by 400 cc to 2.4 litres and – equipped with twin overhead camshafts and three twin-choke Weber carbs – the 246 GT was good for some 195 cv. The official claim was for 235km/h flat out – though Charles recalls seeing 245km/h somewhere near Liege!

Charles purchased his Dino through UK-based Maranello Concessionaires (today Maranello Sales). Founded in 1967 in Egham, Surrey, the dealership is famed for its Grade II-listed art-deco showroom, successful Ferrari racing exploits of the 1960s and, above all, charismatic original owner Colonel Ronnie Hoare. The purchase price was quite a stretch for the young Charles.

“I was stationed in Germany, flying helicopters, and my Army pay merely allowed me to exist,” the 80-year-old outlines. “But I did a three-year flying tour that paid £1,000-a-year, tax free. By scraping together my meagre savings, and selling an Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV, I was able to find enough money to buy the Dino.”

The pristine Dino will pass to son Piers, complete with period factory correspondence, and even Charles' own recording of the V6

Choosing non-metallic Azzurro Blue paint, tan leather upholstery and electric windows, the total asking price was £4,435.20 in November 1972 (including a £250 discount and tax breaks for Army personnel) – only for pricing to increase by £150. Charles takes up the story: “The car was almost ‘in-build’, so I got on the train to cancel the order, but Colonel Ronnie Hoare was a really ‘good egg’. When I told him that £4,435 was all I could afford, he put his arm around me and said, ‘Well, I’m very anxious for you to have this car, so you better have it for that then.’”

“I just loved driving the Dino – still do. With those lovely, bulging wings ahead of me, I felt like Mike Parkes flying down the Mulsanne Straight in the Ferrari 330 P3,” he enthuses. “You sit so low, even 50mph (80km/h) feels like 80mph (129km/h)!’

Half a century ago, Charles opened these garage doors to reveal his new Dino for the first time

At Charles’ military base near Düsseldorf, the Dino was stored under a parachute in a hangar with six Bell 47G Sioux helicopters. Helpfully, the hangar also stored five-gallon drums of grease for helicopter maintenance – they’re partly why the Dino is preserved so perfectly. Charles even refused to use the car in bad weather, once turning back to Düsseldorf rather than drive to England in the snow, and purchased an Alfasud to save the Dino any such exposure.

Fifty-three years on, the Dino shows just 17,000 miles, and is almost entirely original. It has never broken down, the original user manual has never been removed from its plastic packaging, with the only changes a re-paint in the original colour and new aluminium inner wings fabricated by Royal Air Force technicians.

Now ownership is passing to son Piers – a highly accomplished vintage car specialist. “He re-built the carburettors the other day and the car runs beautifully,” smiles Charles. “It’s good to know Piers will look after it for the next 50 years.” A total of just 2,487 Dino 246 GT were produced – but few have the provenance of that “most beautiful car” which so enraptured Charles Trevelyan back in 1968.