Unveiled at the Turin Salon in 1967, the 206 GT represented a step-change for the marque, which spent the decade specializing in front-engine V-12s built for crossing continents and dazzle the glitterati. In the Dino 206 GT, Ferrari manifested a true driver’s car, combining sublime handling and dynamics with a fizzing powerplant and timeless styling. And while the attention of collectors has historically been drawn to the later 246 GT, it’s the earlier iteration that holds the greatest cache among true cognoscenti, being both lighter and rarer than its successor.
Beneath that compact, taut bodywork, the 206 GT was a technological tour de force, sporting a two-litre, all-alloy version of the famed Dino V-6, mounted transversely amidships and mated to a five-speed manual transaxle. Fully independent suspension graced each corner, as did ventilated discs all-round, while the model became the first Ferrari to incorporate direct rack-and-pinion steering—features that would help cement the 206 GT as one of the best-handling cars of the period and herald the Prancing Horse’s expansion from luxurious gran turismos to world-leading roadgoing sports cars.
Story by RM Sotheby’s
