First/Oldest Ferrari Dealership

Chinetti
NYC

 

Approximate year? Location? Right in NYC?

How established was the brand in Europe before coming to NA? Is this the first dealer outside of Europe? How was the first actual dealer in Europe?

I know, questions, questions. I think this is an interesting part of Ferrari's history and would love to hear more about the early distributors and how they helped grow the brand.

 

Right in the City.

 

Tonkin is either the oldest continuously operating dealership, or the oldest continuously operating dealership still owned by the original owner (who is a FerrariChat member, incidentally).

 

Per Wikipedia so I don't know how accurate it is:

"Luigi Chinetti made a deal with Enzo Ferrari to be a Ferrari factory agent in the United States. He opened the first—and for a while the only—Ferrari dealership in the country. Later his territory became all areas east of the Mississippi River, amounting to half of the country. The tradition associated with Chinetti continued to draw clients from all areas throughout his career. The showroom of his business-which still is open-is located in Greenwich, Connecticut, it currently is owned by Miller Motorcars, a Ferrari-Maserati dealership."

 

I think it was on 11th Ave, in not a great part of town. I can remember as a kid, dragging my Mom down there and leaving many a nose print on the window.

There was a guy that produced a print of that building, and I have it in a prominent spot in my library!

Tonkin says they are the oldest, but Chinetti had the original deal, and in the west the distributor was in Reno. For the life of me I can't remember his name, but he was a casino owner and a huge Ferrari enthusiast.

 

Steve Wynn?

 

I think it was William Harrah. I don't remember the name of his dealership, might have been Foreign Motors? Reno, Nevada, was the location.

Sorry to confuse the question, if I'm wrong.

Ciao...Paolo

 

It was Harah! I remember Road & Track tested a Daytona back in '69 or '70, and Harah's car was the cover car with NV license plate '1'

 

The "Harrah Hot Rod" is for sale at Steve Harris Imports...
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The name of Bill. Harrah,s dealership was modern classic motors.

 

Tonkin became a Ferrari dealer in 1966.

 

Any idea who the oldest Ferrari Parts manager is???????

 

Tonkin could only start advertising being the 'oldest in-biz' Ferrari dealer after Hollywood Sports Cars closed/sold out/changed hands several years ago. If memory serves, they were one of the earlier West Coast dealers(after Harrah, I think?), but before Tonkin.

 

the first would have been Gui Menoni at Chinetti - my dad bought clutch plates from him in 1963. 11th Ave and 57th?

For west coast dealers, what about Hollywood Motorcars in LA? Vandergriff? Nethercutt? I think these guys pre-dated Harrah for west-of-the Mississippi. If you had money out west, I think you could bypass Chinetti - like Von Neumann, John Edgar, Parravano, etc. There was the Charlie Rezagghi dealership in San Francisco in the late 50s/early 60s, but I don't think he had new Ferraris - but moved lots of used Italian exotics; Ferrari, Maserati, Osca, Lancia . . .

 

Anybody could bypass Chinetti and buy from Ferrari Direct. I did.

 

1) Chinetti on the westside of Manhattan.

 

..and Mr. Chinetti WAS the NART team.....

Ron Tonkin is the oldest surviving dealership, as posted above there were others out west.....

There's an address in my 1977 Books that represents Houston for Ferrari Warranty Service, I believe that was Sid Simpson, who sold to Mr. Risi and then worked at FoH until retirement age.

Not a full dealership AFAIK......

 

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/20/obituaries/luigi-chinetti-sr-93-automobile-importer-and-champion-racer.html

 

Mr. Tonkin told me he got the dealership because he answered a classified ad in the back of Automotive Week (or some other trade publication)!

 

Thanks for that, Jim.

He was quite important in the overall scheme of things......in today's world would have been considered a Principal of the firm...IMO.

He handled sales, marketing, and drove 23 of the 24 hours if that's what it took....LOL!

 

Cool article. My Uncle Temple Buell Jr. and Grandfather had the Ferrari dealership here in Denver back then. Wish he would have kept a few of the junk Ferraris he had LOL!

 

In the West, John von Neuman had Ferrari Representatives of California before Harrah's MCM was appointed western distributor. In the divorce, Johnny's wife Eleanor got the dealership, as I recall. Richie Ginther was parts guy and service manager of Ferrari Reps, and was responsible for all the engine swaps in Johnny's "hot-rod" 0672MD TR. I think even before that Otto Zipper (Zipper Motors in B.H.) was a dealer, but not sure if he was an official new car dealer or not.