Just pics - but keeps the saliva flowing
 

https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3734/3...c8694299_b.jpg
246 Dino

https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2443/3...a62e4c95_b.jpg
246 Dino rear

Enjoy (nice colour I thought)

Dave

Thanks Dave - it's been a bit quiet on here lately. That car is stunning. Is that in Blu Sera Metallizzato? I always fancied Blue Celeste Metalizzatto for the very sad reason that the colour reminds me of my first car - a 1984 Austin Maestro. Hard to come up with any other link between the two!

Hi Simmo,

I'm not sure what colour it actually was sorry. Bloody nice though.

I had a Morris 1800 once - no idea what colour but the fact it had four wheels is it's only similarity to a good car.

Thanks for the positive feedback

Davo

True story
 

Would you believe I crashed the Maestro whilst speeding?!?! You couldn't make it up. I was late for work and failed to notice a 90 degree left hand bend over the crest of a hill. I rolled it into a field and climbed out through the windscreen. I recovered most of the value of the car by draining 4 litres of petrol from the tank. First car, so I didn't realise it was crap until I got a replacement (Peugeot 306). I assume I am the only person on the planet who has a Maestro story that involves excessive speed. When I got out of the car I staggered to a nearby farmhouse to call my dad for help. The old farmer opened the door and when I explained what happened he stated "Aye, 'appens about once a week ont' road!" Cumbrian dialect in case you were confused.

Beautiful 246 pictures! But this is a genuine car right? Not a replica?

My first car was an Austin 1100 - the epitome of engineering excellence. Actually I loved it, as well as mum and dad's new Maxi that I learned to drive in. This was followed by a 60s Datsun Bluebird rear wheel drive - with the sweetest gearbox ever, and incredible reliability. Dodgy on the limit though and its life ended when a driver rear ended me at 120km/h as I turned into my driveway, rolled and bent in every conceivable way.

Hi Ross,

This is a genuine Car yes. I went to a Classic Car show last week and this is a collection belonging to a performance car dealer in central London.

My first car was a Mk1 Escort 1100. It started so badly on the starter that I parked it on steep hills so I could jump start it.

Dave

Hi Dave,

I just noticed that the 246 has a Ferrari badge on the boot lid. I thought that the Dino never had any Ferrari badges? I might be wrong (it happens a lot!).

Hi Simmo, I think that Ferrari tried to establish the Dino as a separate marque and did not put the "Ferrari" badge or shield decal on Dino road cars (Dino racing cars are another matter) - BUT the dealers often put them on cars that they sold new.
And of course countless owners have put all sorts of badges on since. The same is true of the cars made by the other partner in the Dino project. It is hard to find a FIAT Dino with FIAT badges not removed and replaced with the yellow Dino script (which they never had).

Thanks Ross. If the badges were fitted by dealers, I wonder if the practice was accepted by Ferrari? If so it would effectively mean that Ferrari badges on the Dino were ok.

I personally like the Dino badges. Car fans know the history, but you might just avoid that Ferrari hatred/envy from those who wouldn't recognise the badges.

The car is a beaut. Whatever the badge :)

Yes it is beautiful - those curves, that stance! I think there are a few replica moulds around that have drooped a bit and that might mean replicas with good curves but not quite right stance - something that droops a bit like a banana in side view.

I agree Ross - I was looking at side views of both replicas and originals. One thing that really affects the stance is that on the originals the front and rear bumpers are quite a bit higher than the wheel centres. On most replicas the bumpers are level with, or lower than the wheel centres. The front bumper being lower on the replicas adds visual weight to the nose above the bumper and really affects the "balance" of the look. Small details but it really changes the look.

I wonder why JH and DeHavilland don't correct this to get closer to the original? It can't be too much work.

chassis
 

Hi
I agree with you. I've spoke to a few on here about the droopy nose on the JHC/DEON cars (and other replica's). Teo on here had access to a real dino and to be fair the replica's nose is only some 15mm lower than the real thing!! I think what compounds the issue is the swage line is too low around the front of the car meaning the bumpers are fitted lower than they should be. And if the bumpers aren't fitted correctly this makes it look worse.
Another factor is the whole rear deck/buttresses is low and this is more than !5mm. I believe it to be nearer 25/30mm by the time it gets to the rear of the boot. So side on the car looks to be drooping at both ends. If you take the rear to be right it only serves to make the front look worse still.:icon_cry:

Ian

It would be interesting to see a good side on photo of a replica and compare it to a Ferrari blueprint. Probably good to measure height from the ground at several places, e.g. mid nose, mid rear, side rear, swage line at both ends of door, bumpers front and rear, lower glass height at front and rear of door, bottom of body at front wheel arch, rear wheel arch, both ends of sill top of wheel arches, top of door frame at both ends of window glass, height of engine lid, centre in middle of car and rear of engine bay.....

Unfortunately photos are just too distorted to give realistic dimensions.

that way it will be possible to get a good idea of shape. Even real Dinos are varied. I was reading a post on Ferrarichat about someone wanting his Dino rear window to be measured because he had noticed a lot of variation.

Cheers
Ross in NZ

Good point Ross - I'd love to see a good replica measured against the real thing/blueprint. From looking at DeHavilland's website they seem to really try to get everything perfect with regards to parts, but continue to use a body that clearly needs work.

I'm at the point now where I've got the money for a good car and it will most likely be a Dino, but I'm not sure whether the drooping front/rear of current replicas would grate on me - I suspect it would.

Droopy nose and tail.
 

Attachment 4353

Attachment 4354

Attachment 4355I agree that the front of Deons, JH CLassics and Classic replcas all droop. I noticed it long before I bought one. As I understand it, the original moulds for these cars were taken from a 206, which most examples seem to droop some compared with 246's in profile. If you look at photos of 206 cars, the boot lid always droops down from the back of the engine lid, where as the 246 panels line up level with each other. I suspect that a change was made when they elongated the wheelbase. 246's all have a higher rear. I think some of the kit bodies seem to be drooping a little bit more than others, but in general, they look about right in the back compared to the dino 206 cars. I cut a tapered slice from the top of my front wheelhouses that tapered to zero at the wheel opening and the bonnet opening, raised the front 1 1/2 " and re-glassed everything. The front of the car now looks about like it should. I was surprised, that the front lid now aligns better than it did before and the drop angle of the fiberglass coming down to the headlight opening also looks better. Obviously, I had to rework the beltline to make it level. /Jon

It's pretty ballsy to chop the whole front end! If you can do it in your garage you would think that manufacturers could fix it up in a pro workshop.

Dino droop
 

Hi, your solution of cutting at the top of the arch is something I have thought of too but I was worried that it would reduce the curve. I think the initial problem is that mouldings (or the mould itself) were taken out too green and allowed to fully cure without support. Somehow that seems to have made its way into the moulds and hence the sag or droop. I have a genuine front 'clip' of the nose from a 246 but it's not on a chassis to take heights etc from.

Here is a comparison of a few Dinos to assess the differences - just remember that photos of this type do foreshorten and distort.
cheers
Ross
Attachment 4356

Simmo,
I think CASCU (on this forum) makes his body from a genuine 246 while virtually every other manufacturer used the mould in one form or another taken from a 206 which had its rear wheel arch shifted to fit a Lotus Europa wheelbase. CASCU's body looks very straight. He doesn't make a kit though - only replica 246 chassis which require 246/308/Mondial suspension. Maybe you could use a CASCU body and make your own chassis? Or adapt a DeHavilland chassis to a CASCU body?
cheers
Ross

the Pininfarina Blueprint - low res
 

Ross, if I had 1/10th of the talent of you and others on here I might just do that. I'm handy with spanners and sockets but have no fabrication skills whatsoever.

I'll keep dreaming for now and see what happens. Thanks for the comparison pics - interesting to see the "family tree".

You use to be able to,but he was messed about by someone who ordered a 246 shell then went and got one from dehavilland!! He will now only supply full body /chassis units.
ian

Body work
 

It seems pretty quiet, so I thought I would post some pictures. The nose of the car has been cut off and glassed on higher up to compensate for the droop that Deon/Classic Replicas always seem to have. I have been body working all summer, trying to get the bodyline down the side and wheel arch lines sharp. The car is now almost ready for paint. I would love to see pictures of some of your cars and what you've been doing. Cheers/ JonAttachment 5537

Attachment 5538

Attachment 5539

Attachment 5540

Attachment 5541

Body Work
 

Attachment 5542

Attachment 5543

Attachment 5544More pictures.

Nice

droop
 

Hi

Looks good. How much did you cut of? and do you have any photo's of the work? Have you left the rear of the car alone? as the deon is much lower at the back as well. keep us posted

ian

Nice work on those arches Ian - looking crisp and metallic rather than soft curve fibreglass.

The front and the rear from the Deon always drop because it is moulded from the early Dino 206 GT which had this shape, with the 246 GT Pininfarina has corrected this...

nose and tail droop
 

Attachment 5552

Attachment 5553The rear is left alone. For some reason, the back of my car doesn't droop as much as some other cars I have seen. As for the front, There is an illustration for what I did, on the first page of this thread. The only pictures I have of this, are photos with a large glassed area on the top of the front wings.

Sorry, I should read the whole thread before saying something you already know... :dizzy:

droop
 

Hi all

Going back over this post I was looking at the photo's of side on dino's. The first JHClassic car (the blue one) looks almost correct at the front to a 206 from which it was ( allegedly ) moulded from.I know the original 206 was lower at the front and back than the later 246. Also I know the rear wheel arch was move to accommodate the lotus chassis. This also seems to have carried over into the replica dino body shells.
But then later bodies seem to have drooped more at the front. If you look carefully at the photo's of the more serious droop you'll notice it has also affected the shape of the wheel arch in no longer being round more of an ellipse shape.And the body swage line instead of being almost level points down towards the ground resulting in the bumpers looking wrong.
I seem to have been lucky with my shell has the nose is only about 8mm lower than it should be,but it still required about 8mm adding in length to the bonnet!!