"In the very late 80s I saw my first Dino Coupé. I was working at a small garage in East Sussex. It was Spring and I was out in the yard. There was a loud deep yowl of an engine noise. I looked up from under the hood of the car I was working on and saw a wonderful, elegant, silver Coupé pull in to the yard. What is it? I asked the driver, to which he replied, Its a Fiat Dino with a 2400cc Ferrari V6 engine. He had recently imported it from Italy.
It would be a few years until I saw another. Driving home from work I would regularly pass an old workshop in the middle of the countryside. Then one day I saw a Dino Coupé outside. I stopped and talked to the man who was working on it who told me a bit more about Fiat Dinos. It turned out to be none other than Phil Stafford, long-term Dino and Ferrari specialist. Phil took an interest in the Abarth I was driving so I would drop in to see him from time to time over the years to show him the developments on the Abarth and talk about Italian cars (particularly Dinos). My interest in Dinos was now well and truly established and I started to collect information on them and follow their values.
Sometime later, at a Brooklands AutoItalia meeting, I was admiring a maroon, 2000cc Coupé (Mal Nicholsons). I was telling my friends, Neil, Tom and Lincoln (all confirmed car nuts who have owned numerous interesting old cars), how one day Id like to own a Dino Coupé. We watched Mal take the Coupé out onto the runway. He did a couple of laps but it ran flat and had a bit of a misfire, like the plugs were fouled. I looked sheepishly at my friends and said, Perhaps I dont want one if thats what theyre like. Mal lapped again and the plugs had cleared! The engine sang and the tyres squealed as he entered the apex of the corner and the Coupé fish-tailed out as the power was put down and it shot up the runway. Turning to my friends again, I said Im going to get one of those!. The following week I went to see Phil to ask his advice about purchasing a Dino Coupé. He recommended I talk to Brian Boxall of the Fiat Dino Register and Mike Elliot of Superformance. It turned out that Mike had two Coupés for sale a 2.4 and a 2000. It had to be a 2000 and Mike confirmed this by saying he too preferred the 2000cc cars.
Viewing the car at Superformance, Mike tried to talk me out of it (bear in mind that Mike intended to break the car for spares). We had found extensive rust in the shell but I was convinced I could deal with it. Mike said, Is it worth it? Why not wait for a better car to turn up. But I loved the colour (a beautiful metallic light blue/green). The 2.4 was in far better condition but it had to be a 2000cc. I scraped together the money and returned the following week with a trailer and Tom riding shotgun.
With the Dino safely home, the restoration began "
(Mark Devaney)
It would be a few years until I saw another. Driving home from work I would regularly pass an old workshop in the middle of the countryside. Then one day I saw a Dino Coupé outside. I stopped and talked to the man who was working on it who told me a bit more about Fiat Dinos. It turned out to be none other than Phil Stafford, long-term Dino and Ferrari specialist. Phil took an interest in the Abarth I was driving so I would drop in to see him from time to time over the years to show him the developments on the Abarth and talk about Italian cars (particularly Dinos). My interest in Dinos was now well and truly established and I started to collect information on them and follow their values.
Sometime later, at a Brooklands AutoItalia meeting, I was admiring a maroon, 2000cc Coupé (Mal Nicholsons). I was telling my friends, Neil, Tom and Lincoln (all confirmed car nuts who have owned numerous interesting old cars), how one day Id like to own a Dino Coupé. We watched Mal take the Coupé out onto the runway. He did a couple of laps but it ran flat and had a bit of a misfire, like the plugs were fouled. I looked sheepishly at my friends and said, Perhaps I dont want one if thats what theyre like. Mal lapped again and the plugs had cleared! The engine sang and the tyres squealed as he entered the apex of the corner and the Coupé fish-tailed out as the power was put down and it shot up the runway. Turning to my friends again, I said Im going to get one of those!. The following week I went to see Phil to ask his advice about purchasing a Dino Coupé. He recommended I talk to Brian Boxall of the Fiat Dino Register and Mike Elliot of Superformance. It turned out that Mike had two Coupés for sale a 2.4 and a 2000. It had to be a 2000 and Mike confirmed this by saying he too preferred the 2000cc cars.
Viewing the car at Superformance, Mike tried to talk me out of it (bear in mind that Mike intended to break the car for spares). We had found extensive rust in the shell but I was convinced I could deal with it. Mike said, Is it worth it? Why not wait for a better car to turn up. But I loved the colour (a beautiful metallic light blue/green). The 2.4 was in far better condition but it had to be a 2000cc. I scraped together the money and returned the following week with a trailer and Tom riding shotgun.
With the Dino safely home, the restoration began "
