Bought my Lotus Elan DHC in 1984, for about £4k, which was iirc around half what a 246 GT was on sale for at the same dealer. I still have the Elan nearly 40 years later…and it also has the original stainless steel wiper arms and blades 😀
Beautiful work... Simply perfect. I wish today's Ferrari cars had the beauty of the cars from about the 1965 through to the 288, and BB Boxer period...Toss in the F-40, and include the P-4 and 330P series of race cars. Todays computer Ferraris are no more interesting than a hot rodded Toyota ( to me)
If ever a section highlights why everyone respects and loves Iain so much it’s ‘wipergate’. We need to protect Iain and other ‘national treasures’ at all costs.
A very happy New Year to you Iain Tyrrell. I do hope King Charles gives you a Knighthood in the New Year’s Honours List. Your contribution to the World of Automobiles is beyond my ability to describe. Every video of yours on RU-vid is so solidly informative and couched with that lovely polite, understated sense of humour and wealth of expression, they are an absolute JOY to watch and learn from! Thank you ever so much for that! Long may you continue to teach us all.
What a way to end the year!!! This makes my TOP 5 of TCWS 2023. Can't wait for 2024 ..... Thank you very much to Iain, Pete, Craig, James and the other brilliant team members at the Workshop. Happy new year to all
Watching and hearing you explain the restoration is probably as good as driving it. Thanks for the passion, lovely work and care you put into cars. Always a gift to watch these videos.
@@alejandroramirezmartinez3676 Especially considering there were at least THREE different length wiper sets depending on which Dino version and model you had. 4 NOT easy at all!
I work as a development engineer/ toolmaker and forty years ago i had it drummed into my head by all of the old boys that taught me, about attention to detail. That advice has stood me in very good stead every day of my working life. I look forward to these films every week, its part of my sunday evening ritual to relax before the Monday to Friday stress fest.
A great year end video. Thanks for all the super content in 2023, Iain. Your attention to detail and the skill of your team is really something to behold and to see youngsters coming through to learn the skills to look after these gorgeous machines is fantastic. Your customers are very lucky people. Happy New Year.
Brilliant as always Iain. What a restoration! Just perfect. Another tribute to you and your team. Happy New Year to you all, thank you for all the wondeful videos this year, please keep them coming.
I remember seeing one in a garage in Harrogate around 1972. It was £7,000, I had just spent £2850 on my first house! Thank you Iain and a happy NewYear from Wisconsin, USA, I get immense enjoyment from your channel.
Could you imagine the indignity of someone noticing your plastic trash wiper blades..... 😂 usually people stop talking to me when I mention stuff like this
I had one about twenty years ago - beautiful- needed constant fettling - but totally worth - the down changes and a blip I will never forget - especially going through Painswick - sorry Painswick that was me - although the TVR Cerbera which replaced it was a lot louder - so I spared you that
I remember a local garage selling a very presentable Dino circa 1980 for £10K - My boss had just bought a new Vauxhall Royale also for £10K - I guess some modern equivalent to the Vauxhall would cost about £40K - however a good Dino would cost you north of £350K now - your example probably much much more - thanks Iain
Well Iain - your love for details is just adorable and your respect for old parts to stay with the maximum authenticity and rescue whatever is possible to rescue too! From me the best wishes for 2024 to you, your family, all the wonderful persons from your staff and there families and your company!
Watching from Denmark. I love this/your channel. Ians attention to detail, knowledge, passion, insight and of course the excellent job done to these very beautyfull cars. But actually even more.... the audio. Years ago I was on a guided bus tour from London to Bath/Stonehenge.The guides spoken english and voice was music to my ears. This gives me the same pleasent feeling. Having had my share of horrrible bosses, it warms my heart to watch Ians interaction with and praise of his staff. This IS the way to be and do it.
Should be intersting to hear you telling the story of the Fiat Dino and the collaboration between Ferrari and Fiat regarding the V6 engine and the use of the name "Dino#
I remember a period during the '80s when the Dino was commonly considered to be the unwanted stepchild of the Ferrari family whereby it was consequently available on the used car market for a relative pittance.
This might be World Best Dino now. The decison is very hard to begin to use it, especially in an environment like northern Europe. Congratulations, a gigantic success.A small question mark is for me the sound of those stainless exhausts, that NEVER sound like the originals.I wonder why nobody redoes them in the original metal, coated to perfection .
I was thinking the same thing... not so much the sound, but the look. Mufflers weren't 'jewelry' back then. You'd have to open it up and replace the internals, but given the wiper blade story, that doesn't seem excessive.
Regrettably the fitted exhaust is NOTHING like the original Ansa unit that would have been fitted. The shape is totally different and so too is the exhaust path making the use of stainless as a construction material a secondary worry. While I hold a lot of respect for Iain and his team, there is a LOT wrong with this Dino and it is far from being able to score well at a Concours. I am a little surprised to the sheer number of things I see wrong with this car and disappointed that they were not caught. I can assure you this car is miles from the 'World's Best Dino'.
Happy Holidays and Best Wishes to you, your family and crew 🎄🎁🎅 This Dino is coming together stunningly brilliantly with all intricate attention to the deepest of details. Just mind boggling. Any car restoration project indeed never ever is a matter of putting some Lego kit together to begin with. You're not alone in noticing modern wiper blades on a classic. They should be as per original. Especially if the original casings were chrome or nickel to match the trim around the windscreen and-or were just a sign of the times, black ones just obviously distractingly comes across as a faux pas. Thank you so much for taking us along on this Dino project.
I admire your attention to detail, also the knowledge you have, that allows you to know what is and is not correct. The car is absolutely stunning, the only thing missing, was hearing the engine running.
Amazing he buys parts from Superformance which offers the correct CAVIS cross carburettor fuel hoses yet Ian chooses to use black rubber hose here. A bit of an odd choice?
IMHO, The Dino is one of the most pleasing shapes for a car ever conceived. It’s so wonderful there are still experts around that know how to properly care for, and love these beautiful machines. Congratulations to the entire team that has worked of this project. Absolutely amazing work by brilliant craftsmen.
Couldn’t agree more. My fave is the 275GTB then this. Worked at a Shell Station next to Newport Imports in the early 70’s. These were about $8k. I was making like $2 an hour.
Well back in 1972 i drove my Series 2 etype drophead 1970 powder blue into a petrol station in Leeds. A man approached me & commented on the condition of the car. He then offered me a deal to swap for his LHD Silver 246gt. Cannot remember the mileage. Mine was circa 34,000. I declined the offer after sitting in his car , which was lovely but not for me. This brought back memories of that time. Thanks for sharing. Steve.
Thank you, Iain. All the best for 2024 to you and your team, aways wonderful to watch at work, always a pleasure to witness the care and attention to detail and originality.
I was born in a small town in western Kansas and, amazingly, one of the local people had one of these Dinos. He'd even participate in the usual Friday/Saturday night cruises up and down our main street, right past my house.
This is amazing concours level restoration, Iain. You and your team did a stellar job. Is the owner planning on showing it? Can't imagine he/she will be taking it on cross continent trip, or even local Cars and Coffee. Many times nicer than when it left the factory floor.
@Tyrell's: As usual, excellent video and so much fun to watch. But... @ 8:38 your video-editor chose to show a 308 GT4, not a fibreglass 308. Maybe change that?
@HubNut you have competition growing. Maybe you should do a callab with @Tyrrell'ClassicWorkshop on wiper blades 🤔🤣 And yes one of the reasons why i bought Saab 9-3 were headlights wipers 🤣
Love the wiper story! And the number plate insight. My mate's dad in St Helen's had a 246 in the 1970's (an 'L' plate...as did our family dentist - a 'K' plate! (Two red beauties in the same Lancashire town). I drooled over them as a boy. And very much looked forward (!) to going to the dentist.
Iain Tyrrell, the windscreen wiper expert/nerd/aficionado/tragic. Who else would point out the wrong type of windscreen wipers on the Citröen DS in Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy. I wonder if he's ever watched Bridget Jones' Diary & noticed that the old Mercedes-Benz 280SE convertible being driven by Hugh Grant's character, with Bridget Jones as passenger was in park, as it had a column shift lever. Iain seems to be such a stickler for originality, so I'm a bit surprised that he didn't point out the possibly non-original steering wheel. I always thought that it had polished aluminium instead of black anodising, unless it was optional.
I adore the 246, what a huge move for Ferrari, mid engine, etc, Also the front end looks so nice as a shape without the front bumper. This was the first v6 and 296 was the second, just look at what they've done w the v6, winning lemans, using the 296 gt3 at the 24hrs of Nurburgring, imagine owning a 246 and a 296, what a pair, both beautiful 50 years apart, Forza Ferrari!, Also the 246 is a Ferrar,i, duh, almost more special w the Dino badge
I could look at that car 'til my eyes dropped out. Even if I could afford one,, I couldn't fit in it. Back in the late-80's I had a Fiat 246 Dino Coupe,,, a bit of a rustbox,,, but what a glorious noise when it was running,,, which was rarely.
Iian 👍... your boys (obviously their work is exemplary) but they are also looking v. comfortable infront of camera (yep I know in many ways who cares) but .....👊👊
Hi Iain, this Dino brings back a memory from around 1972-73, when around at a friends house the 3 of us decided to go to a Blackpool FC home match. Only problem was the car we could go in was a Ferrari 246 GT, there lies the problem 3 into 2 won't go, so I offered to lie down on the shelf behind the seats, obviously still a skinny teenager and supple enough to fit [squash] there. My only experience of riding in a Ferrari to date and not a memorable one at that. I wonder if the Dino is still around Reg OEM 1 L ???
Interesting to hear about the radio and that England uses DAB. In Australia we still use AM for long distances everywhere and some FM. We are behind in a lot of ways, and at the bottom of the world. P.S. My 1978 Mercedes still has it's original Becker radio.
See here in Thailand that would never happen.. you always, ALWAYS get old parts back. :D Even when it's completely silly, like an old oil filter. Or when you get the window rubbers replaced, you get all the old nasty ones back. Or the worn speedometer / odometer cable.. got that too. Doesn't matter if it's a fancy car or an old truck: you get to see all the stuff they took out and replaced and you are now responsible for throwing it out. (Or keep it, when you're a hoarder. :) )
I was a 21-year-old visiting Italy in late 1972 and had my heart on renting a Dino from Hertz (yes, Hertz rented Dino's in Rome back then). Cost for a day would have been about a hundred dollars which was a bargain, in my mind, for being given the chance to drive what i thought was the most beautiful car in the world. Miuras and 275GTBs aside. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be as I was informed at the rental counter that the minimum age for the Dino rental 25. Fifty one years later, I still love this car.
Many years ago i restored a Dino body and paint for the manager of the Fox and Coney pub in South Cave Yorkshire . When i was working at JCT 600 as the painter the works manager who hated me grabbed me and said "I am going to show you a proper paint job" .I followed him to the showroom and there was the Dino and Steve the owner lol . I said "Hi Steve the Dino is still looking superb ,can't believe your selling it" . I walked away and gave the works manager the middle finger lol .John the general manager was bent over laughing .Steve the owner rang me later and i explained what had happened .
Funny nowadays how a car that Ferrari were seemingly desperate to differentiate from what they believed to be their more prestigious cars, command exceedingly high values today, often comfortably over £300,000
Lovely! Found myself running alongside one of those, one evening about 20 years ago on a deserted Auckland southern motorway. I had my carmine red Mk2 2.5pi so I didn't feel like a complete heathen in his company. PI still has its stainless steel "Aeramic" wiper blades, but the dysfunctional AM-only radio and its single paper speaker had to go. If you like music, you need good sound gear in an older car with a lot of ambient noise!
One of these in yellow has undergone a painstaking 12 year restoration and sold for £315,000 on ' Car's & classics' They're a total peach of a car and one of my particular favourites.
Interesting and informative video as usual. I sort of chuckled when you mentioned the wiper blades. I have three older Mercedes and I'm a stickler for originality. And what so many people do if they need a wiper blade they just go to the nearest auto parts store and of course they don't have blades that will fit into the Mercedes holder so they get some third-party holder And then of course they're stuck with the blades from the third-party as long as they have the holder Decades ago the Mercedes wiper blade required a bit of - trickery? To install The blade was just a strip of rubber and it was held by two long metal strips on each side that you had to carefully thread into the holder If you were like me you cursed and figured you were going to spend about 45 minutes trying to feed this thing in carefully And if you were an experienced Mercedes-Benz mechanic you just zipped it right in And my other pet peeve is people that put newer radios - usually Japanese - into a classic Mercedes I imagine the same look would be if someone stuck a similar radio into that old Dino Originality is always my prime directive Was it here that I learned it? Most probably as your videos are full of wonderful detail One of the most interesting ones was your history of the 73 Porsche Carrera and how they need to expand the engine with no more chassis room led to a manufacturing process on aluminum blocks that is universal today But anyway it was probably you that said this car was really half of an agreement with Fiat using the identical V6 Fiat had their Fiat Dino and Ferrari made the 246 Probably why Ferrari had some hesitancy in badging this as a Ferrari Plus it didn't have the prerequisite 12 cylinders But I think that is one of the most beautiful cars ever made - that "humble" 246 Finally I'm surprised at that distributor didn't get some static from Ferrari for re-badging his cars I suppose if he sold one or two a year he would hear from them but I guess with enough sales you can do just about anything Every 246 I see today seems to have either the prancing horse or "Ferrari" on the back or both as this car Thanks again for the nice video
I love original period radios and can never understand why anyone would want to upgrade them. They are part of the "soul" of the car. My 1973 Mercedes has its original Becker radio cassette. It all works and suits music of the era.
What’s your personal opinion on the Ferrari badges being put on the dino? Would you personally have it like original or like the restored one on this video? To me it’s kind of like people putting M badge or RS/S badge on a car. Great video as usual 👍
"Details matters, and so does knowledge". That might be why You, Sir, maintain, repair and restore these beautiful cars while others like that unnamed dealer just flip some rough resemblance of these cars, which then will land sooner or later at Your place anyway to get freshened up back into "beautiful and rare car from the sixties and seventies" ... (given the owners do their due research about where to bring 'em once their cars do not run/drive as they think they should.) Thanks for sharing!
30 years ago Quentin Wilson presented BBC Top Gear Classic Cars, in that video he featured an E type and a Dino, afterwards he asked the question, if you had £25,000 to spend on a Classic sportscar would you choose an E type or a Dino, that has to be one of the hardest questions to answer, how values have risen in 30 years
Outstanding work as usual. It is truly a criminal shame what Ferrari’s Classiche certification has done to outside restorers as it’s a tough pill for a lot of owners to swallow that even your spotless restoration cannot be Classiche certified. It’s an utterly absurd designation to begin with but some individuals now seem to prefer it. Something everyone needs to know about Ferrari Classiche. Ferrari does not know these cars anywhere near as well as guys like Iain and other concours level restorers around the world. Ferrari does not do their own work, at least most of it anyway. All work is subcontracted to local shops and Ferrari just tacks on a considerable Ferrari tax for that work. Ferrari Classiche certification was engineered to take business from fabulous restorers so owners could wrap themselves in the warm blanket of Classiche official certification, which at the end of the day means absolutely nothing, but for many unknowing owners and buyers it now has some value, which IMO is patently absurd.
Love the item about the wiper blades. I do agree there should be no substitute, but if a classic is a driven car I do feel modern blades are more practical day to day as they can be replaced regularly, as all wiper blades should be. Clear forward vision is vital. What's probably as important is a new windscreen on a 50 year old classic. Old, scratched screens are not helpful, no matter what wiper blades are fitted, on a dark, wet night. On show cars and TV cars it is, of course, sacrilege to fit modern blades.
It's really maddening when ignorant mechanics change some feature of a vehicle (which may well be a deliberate modification) without instruction or permission.
Iain, if you wish to compete in concourse, lack of original wiper blades is a points deduction. I have seen competitors take off the plastic blades and fit (with reverence) the originals. It may sound over the top, but the concourse cars are at a level most of us do not understand. The correct transfers, stickers and oil change stickers have to be original. This is really the only way the judges can pick a winner. And yes, they are "trailer queens". That is a beautiful car so well restored. You have every reason to be proud.
Thann be la for sharing this video update Iain. Regarding the factory stereo, I would want the original as well, at all costs. Totally agree with the owner.🙏🏻🏁
When I see the nice clean underside of these restorations, I can't help but think, if that were' mine, I'd never want to get it wet or muddy underneath. I'd just want to keep it gleaming permanently. Then again, these cars are there to be driven - right !! :)
In my opinion the Ferrari badges are out of place The Dino does not need that misleading advertising, it's current market value is self explanatory Great video though
Some years ago I finally got to enjoy a drive (at full song 😁) in a red Ferrari Dino 246 Gt. I will always remember this as the Dino is and remains my dream car. I know I will never be able to afford one but at least I can say I have had a drive in one. Truely special. This Dino’s restoration is simply stunning. it’s such a jewel of a car. Well done to you and your team Iain. 👍
'Don't sweat the small stuff' - I disagree with that. It's the details. The attention to detail. The small things really do matter. Always. It shows that you're bothered and you care. Regardless of whether it's a car or anything else.
Not just you with the period details in movie vehicles Iain - if you listen to the Smith and Sniff podcast, Richard Porter regularly gets irate at sloppy vehicle selection when the wrong trim year is shown for the year the movie is set in year - he is very clear about what painful retribution should be inflicted on those who get such details wrong - I am sure the DS supplier will be another one to add to his list of enemies of the people!
In my eyes, this is the most beautiful car ever made, bar none (maybe it has something to do with the equally beautiful Tony Curtis and the Persuaders 😊 ) ❤
