This model was the first Corgi with the so-called "red-dot wheels." It was originally meant to have Golden Jacks "Take off wheels" and the baseplate casting was already prepared for the jacks, but Corgi was under increasing pressure from competitors (mainly Hot Wheels) to keep up with the latest trend of fast running wheels, and Corgi's first response were the red-dot Whizzwheels (a name refering to small red discs at the wheel centres.)
The slots for the baseplate jacks were filled in, and the new wheels fitted. The already printed boxes had stickers placed over the "Golden Jacks"-text, instead announcing the new wheeltype.
The red-dot version of the Ferrari came out in september 1969. Meanwhile Corgi worked on improving the running of the wheels and soon came up with the final concept: 1-piece hard plastic wheels with chrome hubs - the 'classic' Whizzwheels as most people think of them today.
During 1970 almost all models in the Corgi range were updated with these new wheels, including this Dino. The version shown here is the updated one as it remained until withdrawn in 1972.
Sales figures are somewhat uncertain, since all 1969 sales records were lost in a fire, but a guesstimate would be somewhere in the region of 260000 for both versions combined.
Corgi refers to the car as "Ferrari 206 Dino Sport" - in reality it wasn't even officially named a Ferrari, but rather a "Dino"... but that's a long story more fit for the records of the real car. If we accept the Ferrari name, the proper designation would be something like "Ferrari Dino 206 S"
Built for endurance racing and hillclimbing, the 206 S failed to make an impression in the latter category so it was soon decided to concentrate on endurance racing only. It logged 13 class wins during its tenure. Various problems meant that only a total of 15 cars were ever made, but these 15 were used extensively up to 1973, participating in almost all major races including Le Mans, Sebring, Targa Florio and various Can-Am races but it did not excel in any of them.
The car carried the #30 at the Nurburging 1000KM in 1968 and 1969. But those cars lacked the front and rear wings on this model and the livery was somewhat different.