This spectacular Ferrari 246 GTS came to us as one of most ambitious projects we have ever encountered. The vehicle had been barrel rolled and the previously beautiful bodyshell was barely recognisable as one of Pininfarina’s finest creations.
The car arrived with us already stripped down to component form and was in effect no more than a pile of damaged and worn parts. This restoration was clearly going to be one of the most trying we had ever encountered.
The first stage of the project was to piece the chassis back together and repair not only the accident damage, but all of the rotten metal that is so inherent of cars of this period. This involved an awful lot of measuring and jig work; a rotisserie jig was designed and fabricated so the chassis could be rotated through 360 degrees in order to access every area easily. This jig will come in handy later on in the restoration when we arrive at the paintwork stage.
Once the chassis was repaired, we moved onto the outer shell. This was reasonably rot free (relatively speaking for an Italian car) but still kept us very busy due to it being incredibly badly damaged. We had to re-manufacture most panels, wings, door skins, bonnet, boot and engine cover. This allowed us to get all the panel gaps set to perfection, in fact to a a standard much improved on Scaglietti’s original workmanship, it could be argued! Once the panels were ready and had been trial fitted, these were then removed and the chassis was painted and the fibre-glass inner panels fitted. The inside of each of the outer panels were comprehensively prepared and primed, then fitted to the chassis ready for the paint-shop.
In the meantime, all mechanics and running gear were restored. A full engine, gearbox and carburettor overhaul were carried out along with the restoration of the suspension and braking system.
Once the Dino returned from the paint-shop the process of re-assembly began with the fitting of a new wiring loom, followed by all pipework and then suspension and trim. The process was meticulous and gradually the car came back together, with the final result shown below. This reconstruction of this lovely Dino was one of the most challenging restorations we’ve had the privilege to be involved with, but certainly amongst the most rewarding.
