Double Dipping!

A few "mistakes" here, a few "mistakes" there - more money while still maintaining low production numbers. I could cut off my thumb and still count on one hand the number of people in the world who have as many Ferrari serial numbers in their databases as me. And I'm holding steady at around 51% of total factory production since the company's inception - so there are still nearly 100,000 Ferraris that are unidentified. And who knows how many more that share identical serial numbers!

Your dry humor is throwing me off.

LOL, no - it was me and me alone who discovered the duplicity, and I struggled to get a picture of the F12 VIN before saying anything to anyone about why I wanted the photograph. I didn't make the connection until the California's VIN was e-mailed to me, also yesterday, by someone completely different, in a different country than the person who sent me the F12 VIN. No one had any idea why I was asking about anything; I made certain to secure all of the required photographs as irrefutable proof before I said anything to anyone.

 

****.

 

Bret, I think Ferrari is the source of sinister forces in the automotive industry. They've been pulling all sorts of sneaky tricks since the company's inception. Whether or not this is commonplace with other manufacturers is, in my opinion, irrelevant. Comparatively, Ferrari is a limited production automotive manufacturer, and each serial number accounts for a single car as part of their annual production numbers. To use the same serial number more than once is deceitful to say the least.

Honestly, there is incredulity on my part concerning some of the responses in this thread. I've been saying, for years, that Ferrari has been fudging production numbers, lying about limited edition models' production numbers, building more cars than they claim, etc. At every instance, I have been urged to provide any kind of proof to back up the claims that my data supports. Well here is irrefutable proof in my first post! And few people see the forest for the trees, whilst everyone else wants to continue believing the myth, that their favorite car manufacturer would never lie to them, and is still way more exclusive than any other manufacturer.

 

Yeah, I'm starting to consider that possibility. No one gives a **** about serial numbers until they contact me about the history of their car and they find out it has an identical serial number twin somewhere else.

I just received the assembly number and MODIS printout of 186616 (the California) yesterday.

 

But the serial numbers are still exactly the same. How is this not registering?!? You cannot have two Ferraris with the exact same serial number, irrespective of the model and/or VIN difference! If it's not such a big deal at all, show me another example where this has occurred, and/or the owners are fine with it?!?

I can't speak for others, but my database doesn't have just serial numbers - I have full VINs for as many Ferraris as possible. Maybe other database managers aren't as vigilant and thorough as me - not my problem - and no one is obsessive about documenting as much information about each car, while ensuring it's all complete and correct, as me. Before you click 'Submit Reply' on your next post, my database will have grown larger than it is now.

No one fed me any bad information. No one knew about this double dip until I discovered it and I posted it. No one alerted me or tipped me off, the discovery is mine and mine alone.

 

These are issues of taste and preference and opinion. What I have presented is an issue of blatant and deliberate deception and dishonesty.

 

By the way, Mark, in between replying to e-mails, I have added two new Ferraris to my database since my last post (not your last post, my last post). Full VINs, too!

 

The only silliness here is your inability to comprehend what I feel I have clearly and thoroughly presented. The fact that you don't understand makes me second-guess whether or not I could've been clearer and more thorough about the purpose, importance, uniqueness, and function of Ferrari serial numbers, as well as how they were incorporated into full VINs beginning in 1980.

Most of you who are refuting my presentation don't even know that your cars have assembly numbers, let alone where to find them if I asked to see them. So if your comprehension of the Ferrari VIN is so limited, how can you justify these refudiations?

Ron, Ferrari gave only-odd numbers to road cars from the company's inception all the way through the Fall of 1987 (with very few and rare "accidental" exceptions). In/around October, 1987, Ferrari stamped a white Testarossa with serial number 75000 - it was the first Ferrari road car to receive an even-numbered serial number.

In the interest of full disclosure, there was a completely separate serial number line for Dinos, and those numbers were all even numbers (except one). This line of even-numbered serial numbers was completely separate from the line of even-numbered serial numbers given to Ferrari racecars - which, of course, had nothing to do with the other completely separate line of serial numbers given to F1 cars, nor the other completely separate line of serial numbers given to 333 SPs, nor the other completely separate line of serial numbers given to GTC and GT2 and GT3 cars (i.e., 360 N-GT, 575 GTC, F430 GT2, 430 GTC, 458 GT3, etc.).

Just added another - last two were from Switzerland, this latest one is from Munich (with another full VIN). Oh, and I forgot to mention the one from Dubai when I woke up this morning.

 

The VINs are unique because of the serial numbers! The serial numbers are only one of a set of internal numbers, but they are also the only external number as they are an extension of the full VIN. For example, ZFFCW56A430134282 is a 2003 US-spec Enzo, and this car's serial number is 134282 - notice it's the last six digits of the VIN! With that serial number, the VIN would merely be ZFFCW56A430 - and that's an incomplete VIN that could never be registered at any DMV in the country, let alone in a majority of the rest of the world.

There are few things I haven't done to get a car's serial number - some of the statutes of limitations haven't expired on some my shenanigans. As hard as it's been to get many of the VINs (or, merely, serial numbers) that are in my database, it is even harder to get assembly numbers. The assembly numbering system that Ferrari uses is important, and it's relevant in its own right - but it is not relevant here. I will not be making a list of assembly numbers, nor will I be posting said list, because I'm not freely giving away information that's taken me a decade to collect, but also because it's completely irrelevant to the topic posted here.

Jes, check the right side of your dash for a small, rectangular matricola plate. Engraved into the bottom will be the serial number of your car. Then look at the plaque on the steering column behind the steering wheel and you'll see the full VIN - notice that the last six digits of that VIN exactly matches the six numbers engraved into the matricola plate on the right side of your dash. The serial number of your car is its unique identifier, and separates it from other cars of the same model that are exactly specced. But since serial numbers are unique identifiers throughout all Ferrari models - no two models, even if they're different, even if they're made for different countries - no two Ferraris of any kind can have identical serial numbers.

Ferrari is too savvy for that - it'd be too easy to get caught. Giving two cars of the same model the same serial number is too much of a risk. So giving two different models, from two different countries, the same serial number, it's nearly impossible to get caught ...but they didn't take into account my unrelenting diligence.

I've yet to come across another car that has the exact same serial number as your car.

Just made lunch and came back to my computer to find another one, this time from Illinois - full VIN.

 

I've admitted nothing, and no one can prove anything. Maybe I was just stretching the truth in my last statement for effect. I welcome lawsuits and restraining orders - restraining orders from what, for what reason(s)? Ferrari has no leg to stand on approaching me in this issue, nor my pursuit of recording and documenting every Ferrari ever made.