Mickey, Dusty et al --
I saw this car today in Arlington, Va. I spoke with the owner for about five minutes. He called this a 1971 Fiat Dino 2400 Pininfarina Spyder. Uh ... Or something like that. I remember numbers better than I remember what he said it actually was: 2418 ccs, five-speed gearbox (the shift pattern is embroidered on the ballcap in the passenger's seat), 180 horses at the brakes -- and a top speed of 130-ish mph.
He commutes with this thing through Delaware, Maryland and Northern Virginia traffic on sunny days. He has two or three other vintage Ferraris, at least one Porsche (a Cayman) and said this was his favorite.
This model was originally a two-liter, he said, but over time and development of the racing cars, the factory upgrades happened; this one is a 2.4L (my mistake in the thread title). He said also that 400-odd of them were built in the Ferrari-Fiat partnership back then, with about 250 or so still around.
He's a car guy, despite the starched white shirt, cufflinks and tie. There was a little grease under his nails, I think. He talked about what he has to do to the collection in order to keep them driveable, and it sounded like first-hand experience.
There's no stereo. I meant to ask him about that, but I suspect it was removed for restoration -- or because the car sounds so good you wouldn't want one.
When he started the car to drive off, it didn't sound like I expected it to at all. That little six was pretty quiet. Very smooth, and very, very even. My Volkswagen makes more noise.
Just thought you F-car guys might like to see it.
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