FF Model Years & Chassis Numbers

I am potentially looking at buying a 2013 FF that has come up for sale.

The car is UK registered end of July 2013. It's a car with a Panoramic Roof which i know wasnt available early cars.

I'm trying to establish the actual model year of the car, as i'd rather buy a 2013 Model Year than a 2012 Model Year as i believe they have had minor improvements over the earlier cars and later cars have generally better reliability.

I have asked the dealer the actual Model Year but he cant seem to shed any light on it.

Is there any way to check model year from chassis number like other brands (Porsche etc)

The Chassis number starts ZFF73SKC000196###

I have not shown the last three numbers for security reasons.

If anyone can help i'd be grateful as its a car i'm looking at tomorrow.

Thanks in advance.

 

Model years is a US conceit which is why they add a number to the VIN - having said that a car UK registered July 2013 would most likely have been built alongside so-called 2013 model year US vehicles that spring

Panoramic roof only began deliveries summer/autumn 2012 from a quick scan of this site which would equate to US MY 2013

 

As far as I can tell, there is no indication of model year within the chassis no. The dealer must surely have this information!? They should also be able to provide you with the build sheet / options quotation for the car which would confirm the details.

 

I believe that's US delivery. A handful of the panoramic roof cars were built and delivered in the Europe market more than 6 months prior.

Other than the roof, I can't say I could tell a difference between our 2012 MY and 2013 MY FF. Most changes have been ongoing changes, not model year-specific, and most have been things that could be readily updated on an older car (typically software updates, but a few small things like fixes to the seatbelt handoff device which has had both software and mechanical fixes).

If the car meets your spec desires, I would worry not at all about specific model year and more about service history and warranty going forward. If S/N & mfg date is that important to you, give the fchat S/N guru a PM (you know, the guy whose handle is some odd string of numbers, once called NZO, once called Des). He usually pops up in a thread where the words Serial Number are uttered...

 

July reg would clearly suggest model year 13 unless it has sat unsold in a showroom for 9 months as model year 13 would have started at Oct delivery 2012.
Easy to check as build sheet would show sign off date plus dealer receipt would show dealer invoice date where vat is applied.

 

The production month and date is on a sticker on the inside of the drivers door jam

 

Not on UK cars

 

Thanks for the info guys. Turns out the car was delivered to the dealer July 2013 from Italy. I still cant tell the model year but i guess as its a Pan roof car its a fairly late 2013 build.

Anyway, its a nice car but needs to be prepared properly by the dealer and a deal thrashed out before i'll commit.

 

Thanks, but where's the serial number guy when you need him!?

 

Did a little digging and found him. Carbon McCoy is his name, and his user name is 134282: very enthusiastic and informed guy who has been really helpful to many in the past, and has been on Fchat since nearly its inception. PM him and maybe he can shed some light.

 

As correctly stated above, the model year is a uniquely US thing which dates back to when the US car makers used to bring out new versions of their cars every year. It has never had much meaning as far as Ferraris are concerned and doesn't relate much to the calendar year either. FWIW US model year 2013 FFs begin about chassis number 189000 and 2014 model year begins somewhere in the 196*** range.

If you are really interested in whether a particular car has one set of parts or another then I think you need to ask the dealer that specific question.

I assume the car you refer to is the black one at Dick Lovett's?

Jonathan

 

Indeed, model years are unique to VERY few countries - the US being one of them. I appreciate that you've cut off the last three digits of the VIN, but I could really use those last three digits to more closely determine exactly when your car was built.

So let's start at 196000 and see if we can work it out...

The closest confirmed serial number I have to 196000 is 196016, a 2013 US-spec 458 Italia, that was built between April and May of 2013.

The closest confirmed serial numbers I have to 196999 are 196996 and 197002 - both of these are 2014 US-spec F12berlinettas, built between May and June of 2013. Thus, your car, irrespective of its RHD nature, was most likely built between April and June. But I think we both know that it was more likely finished in May or June.

 

Thanks for the reply but it was 2 years ago when I started the thread!

The FF has come and gone and what a great car it was. Chassis ZFF73SKC000196936

Here she is (or was)
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Hi, Justin; I know, we spoke via PM a couple of years ago, I just still didn't feel it was okay to post your car's serial number. Thank you for the picture - saved to my database. Can you tell me exactly when you sold it, and, if at all possible, to whom? And by whom, I don't mean a private seller - I think it'd be over the line for me to ask that kind of information on a public forum. But if you traded it into a dealer, I'd love to know which one. Also, if you replaced it with another Ferrari, I'd love to know that car's VIN as well.

 

US should do it like the rest of the world where a model year starts on Jan 1st and ends 365 days later. Instead, it's something else and confusing here.

Lovely! Was it nero, or nero daytona?

 

It was Nero Daytona as can be seen here close up.
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Just as a point of information, I looked at a 2012 FF at Ferrari of Newport Beach last winter that had the pano roof. Dealer thought it was either ordered by a special Ferrari customer or was a factory owned car.

 

Nice metallic color.

Since changes are mostly ongoing rather than limited to specific model years, it's a possibility for the 2012 to be a really late one and thus the pano.