What year do you call your Dino? I believe this has been discussed before but I could not find a definitive answer. I bring it up again because the 2 Dinos on BaT at the moment are both listed as 1973s as well as the Mancini reports listing them as 1973s. The door panels on both state “Manufactured by Ferrari on September 1972”. And the factory completion date (year built) is listed as January 1973 according to the Dino Compendium Chap.17. (Nowhere, that I could find, is a written list for the date manufactured). So what are they, 1972s or 1973s. I would call them 1972s. Hear me out. If you were to by a 2023 model year car in late 2022, would you tell anybody, “Hey, I just bought a brand new 2022”? I doubt it. Or for some reason, if a 2022 came off the production line late and wasn’t completed until 2023, would you tell your friends you had bought a 2023 model? I don’t think so. I would call it whatever model year it was supposed to be manufactured, not when it was completed. If that reasoning doesn’t make sense, how about this. My Dino falls into the same category as the two BaTs, manufactured late 1972 door panel, not completed until 1973. Mine was already registered as a 1973 when I purchased it in 1981. Over the years, the more I looked at that 1972 door panel the more I began to wonder, what do I call it …. a 1972 or a 1973? I decided to call it a ‘72. In May 2002 I received my Heritage Certificate which used the words “Date of Manufacture”, (not the words “Date Completed”) in 1973. So In June 2002 I emailed [email protected] and asked why the difference between “Date of Manufacture” on the Heritage Certificate and “Date of Manufacture” on the door panel and what should I call my Dino, a ‘72 or a ‘73, as I had been calling it a ‘72? I received the following answer: “We kindly inform that the difference you encountered between the date indicated on the Heritage Certificate and that indicated on the door panel of your car is due to a purely bureaucratic fact. When producing the first US version cars, we was in fact asked to inform in advance the US authorities about the chassis numbers of the cars produced for that model year and about the date of manufacture which had to be indicated on the door panel. Then, because of practical reasons some cars were produced in a different date (your car is an example of the situation).” I thanked them for the answer but wrote back and specifically asked, “To be perfectly clear, what do I call my car, a ‘72 or a ‘73?” Answer from Ferrari: “We kindly suggest you to keep calling your Dino a ‘72”. So, I have kept calling my Dino a ‘72 and I would think the current BaTs should be called ‘72s. It would have been nice if on my Heritage Certificate it says, “Date Completed”, instead of “Date of Manufacture”. I probably still would have written Ferrari, but it might have added some initial clarity to the situation. For those of you who have indulged me to this point, I thank you, hope I didn’t bore you …… too much, and would like to hear your opinions.
You just explained why they (rightly) went to "model year" to specifically define the physical configuration of a car rather than any date related to starting or ending its production.
I believe that was discussed on BAT, commenting that one was sold in '72 and the other remained unsold until '73. For that reason it appears that the car titles reflect different years. Do you advertise a car by year manufactured or by what's on the title? The BAT listing provides both...
Thank you for the reply, but I believe the model year was quoted as 1973. I would think the physical configuration would be defined by the door panel. Again, my opinion and Ferrari’s opinion, if the door panel says 1972 then it is a 1972, regardless of when the car was “completed” or titled. And thank you. Both cars were “completed” in 1973 and the GT has a 1974 title. I am not questioning the title nor am I questioning BaT. I understand what BaT is saying. If I was going to sell my Dino I might use BaT ….. except that I might decide to be buried in mine. I am just questioning what year should one call their car. If I was going to sell my car I would advertise it as a (model year) 1972 and might add, not “completed” or titled until 1973.
No, your car does not have what is the modern, standardized, VIN "model year" (which was first required in 1981 and is only required in just some countries to this day). Anything before that is more of a "year" number just made up by the manufacturer that has no standardized definition, and gov't paperwork can sometimes have anything (random) listed as "model year" on their forms. If you want to call your Dino a "1972 model year" (and especially since F said you could) -- feel free to do so . Was just trying to point out that before 1981 (and in countries that don't require a legal "model year"), "model year" can be sort of a meaningless/variable thing versus after 1981 in countries that do have an exact legal definition of model year so the confusion in your case is not unusual (and was the motivation in some countries for the gov't to require that manufacturers have a legal definition of "model year" and assign it to the car VIN).
Even prior to the 17 digit VIN manufacturers were required to identify model year for purposes of safety and emission equipment requirements in the USA. That was a moving target as the start and end of Ferraris model year varied greatly from year to year. If we could read the emission plaque on the bottom of the hood it would tell us what model year Ferrari declared it as and that legally is what it is. The emission label cannot be read in the photo but both cars have the book "Additional instructions for the USA version " with them that is the 1972 edition. I would strongly suspect the plaque agrees on both cars. In the US for US version cars built in the era of emission and safety equipment there is no ambiguity in model year. I have attached an emission label for a 79 308 as an example. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login Steve and Brian: Thanks for the follow-up. Very informative. I will continue to call mine a 1972. And Brian, as many times as I have looked at my Vehicle Emission Control Information plate, I don’t recall seeing the model year. So I took another look and sure enough, “ ….. APPLICABLE TO 1972 MODEL YEAR …..”. That settles it even further. I will definitely call mine a 1972. I do not mean to be too nitpicky, I just thought it might be good to have everyone on the same wave length as to what model year they may want to call their Dino and why.
