Double Dipping!

Well when I order parts the dealer asks for the last 5 digits. Some times I call and don't even give them the model of car, just the last 5 or 8 of the vin number. Not sure if that means anything or not.

Same goes for ordering parts for any other car. BMW is the last 7. Benz is the last 8. From just those numbers they know exactly what is sitting in your service bay.

 

Who told you that?

Is it on letterhead?

 

Also FWIW, Ferrari Club of America uses the four, five, or six number serial number to identify cars registered for judging and displayed at the event. And the results are listed with the serial number, not the full VIN. I believe Cavallino is the same.

-F

 

Well I think the reality of practice is catching up with a high ideal of theory from days long gone. I'm sure Ferrari WANTED to have exclusive serial numbers on all their cars, but when it came to actually assembling them and organizing the different models something else happened. I think creative and artistic craftsmen looked back and said, "Well no one is going to confuse an F12 with an FF and we don't have those number ranges on the logbooks at this end of the plant." And gone was the specific serial number and here to stay was the practical limitation of ever newer models and limited space and resources to track production. It happens in libraries and I have seen it's effects from the 16th century all the way up to the present. Sometimes brand new books never make it to the shelves. They are probably packed along side those "golf clubs" as ballast, weighing down the rear end of that FF as it heads to the waterfront. ... in movies. You can relax now mom!

 

I've gotten through half of the reading here and have to chuckle at the people who say this would not matter as the VIN identifies the car ever since they added more information to the VIN .....

Sure the entire VIN Would separate these cars in question. However we can break this down to the simplest form.

Cars are rolling off the line at this moment with a 6 digit serial number stamped under the hood. Not an entire VIN but a placard with nothing but the 6 digit serial number. I find it hard to believe that this stand alone 6 digit number is not implied to be individual to the car it is stamped into.

While something fishy seems to be up I find it hard to think its a backdoor way to make profits via higher than advertised production numbers.

Carbon, I'd have to ask of your 51% database how many duplicates do you have? If it's less than 10% I would have to say it would not be done to raise profits while keeping exclusivity.

For example, if Ferrari is producing 7000 cars this year they could hide another 700 in the serial number conspiracy. But in all reality there would be no detriment to the market if Ferrari were to announce that they're building 7700 cars anyhow.

We'd need to hit 15%+ before the market would start to suffer and still it could be marginally.

Now if Ferrari decided to double their Aperta production or LaF production it could hurt markets. However the examples we have are on an F12 and a California. Two cars that they could have just as easily fired another one off the assembly line, counted them correctly and no one would have cared.


It's odd that these cars are matching serial nr. I just am not convinced it's a scam against the market.

For all we know they could be cooking their books somehow and building cars that "never existed". Build another 189816 or whatever number you choose and give it to a good colleague or friend for a little cash on the side. Car never existed, rolled off the line with out a few signature and just like that someone's pockets got lined. Now that's a conspiracy theory that I'd find more feasible and exciting.

 

Ferraris annual production is a published figure.

It's no secret Luca was pushed aside because they need to UTILIZE the production capacity!

That's an accountant talking, obviously!!!

 

I think Carby's main effort IS to try to uncover the pattern of the "extra" Enzos, LaFerraris, Apertas..599GTOs

The big ticket cars...

A half million $$ here and there, over time it starts to add up!

 

You're correct. But my point is that they could have advertised and sold 20 more of each of the mentioned cars and the market would have been far from flooded. That's 5% in many of the mentioned cars. That's why I said I'd be curious to know how many of these examples there are.

 

The other thing is that no one is complaining about the market price on these cars. Charge another 100.000 for each Enzo and you've got another 40million. That would cover more than 50 extra cars......

Slap another 25k on the GTO and you've got 15 million or the equivalent of some 30 cars.

They all would have been sold with no question. Ferrari puts a price tag and its paid. Why run a conspiracy to make more money when you don't need to.

Looks at the LaF. They're selling for double or more and they'll all sell. There's a waiting list for some of the cars at 2 million. Ferrari could have charged 250.000 more for that car and sold every one netting a small 100.000.000. most likely the same people that bought them in the first place would have still bought at 250k more .

Why double serial numbers when you've got a market like that?? To convince me you'll have to find me a better reason than making more money.

 

If you have half the cars in the database, how many are the same last 5 or 6 numbers. So not "proven" via photograph but was does your database say?

 

Now THAT'S a conspiracy theory!

 

I can't answer the rest of those questions, but I've seen many a misaligned VIN plate on a late model Ferrari.

 

Me too. The car could have had a windsheild change etc..

 

There are a number of Ferraris with the same vin#

10523 for example