288 GTO 56779 , help please

Owned by Stanley Cohen of Hartford, Connecticut from 1986 until 2014. Federalized back in the day by Doug Pirrone's Berlinetta Motorcars.

 

Original owner J. D. T.

Marcel Massini

 

Mr Massini.

At the risk of being called a brownnose (not for the first time!), it is great to see you posting on here again. I have missed your wit and wisdom and I am pleased that you are back. I hope all is well. I also hope that you will be posting lots and keeping everyone in order!

Robert.

 

Hi, Doom...

Is 56779 your car? Here it is, spotted 25 October 2016, in the Joe Macari showroom.

In February, 2015, it was sold to someone in the Middle East for some crazy seven-figure number that I can't corroborate.

Joe Sackey used to have pictures of this car on his website, but it was erroneously labeled 56799 (which is a 1985 anthracite/cream Mondial QV Cabriolet, last seen in NYC in 2004); it has since been corrected on his site, but now I can't find any pictures of it other than a thumbnail of the mirror.

Anyway, I hope these pictures help - sorry I don't have more. When Stanley Cohen owned it, he took it to a lot of shows, so I bet there a lot of pictures of it out there.
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ZFPA16B000056779 was fitted with engine F114B00217, factory AC, power windows, and red seat inserts.

Insurance for the car was applied for on June the 10th 1985 as the Carta di Circulation per veicolo di Excursionist Estero shows.

Accordingly, 56779 was fitted with Italy export plates EE.096.AK on the 11th of June 1985 (expiry tags dated @ June 1986), and was then sold to James D. Taliaferro of Glen Cove NY, USA, as the car's Dati di Immatricolazione on file shows.

56779 arrived in America on June the 24th 1985 under US Customs entry # 85 999387 6.

Compliance testing for 56779 was not completed by A. R. & T Laboratory Inc. of Bellmore New York and approved until the 18th of April 1986, with just 1,629 kms showing on the odometer.

The US DOT issued James Taliaferro with an approval certificate on the 16th of May 1986, and the US EPA also followed suit with an approval on the 23rd of June 1986.

Taliaferro then USA titled the car in New Jersey on the 1st of December 1986.

Taliaferro then enjoyed GTO 56779 till February the 12th 1987, when he sold it to my client, Connecticut resident Stanley Cohen, with just 2,400 kms on the odometer.

A Bill of Sale issued on February the 14th 1987 sealed the deal.

Cohen drove the car on Connecticut USA dealer plates DA.1157 and later DC.77.

Stanley kept and enjoyed this car for no less than 28 years, until 2015, when he decided to retain the services of Joe Sackey Classics LLC to sell the car.

We sold the car to a London-based gentleman for within the price-range that GTOs were bringing in 2015, obviously 7-figures, but nothing outlandish. We also arranged storage & servicing for the car, for the gentleman's convenience.

A year later we sold the car to Joe Macari as per instructions, and, 2 years later the gentleman has been reunited with 56779.

WT Doom can elaborate upon the reunion if he chooses to, as far as I am concerned, 56779 is a great example which I am happy to have sold to from the long-term owner after he kept to 28 years, and am delighted that the gentleman we sold it to is now reunited with it again! A great story.

I have @ 100 images of the car in my archives from it's past life and our inspection, meanwhile, here is 56779 still with EE plates still affixed soon after we sold the car

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Here is 56779 being used in the New York launch of the 599 GTO under the auspices of Ferrari North America, as lent to them by our client Stanley Cohen

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Stan the Man himself behind the wheel years ago

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Of note is the fact the the very first images in the main 11-year-old multi-million view GTO thread are of 56779!

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An image from the earlier days of Stanley's ownership

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56779:
You may also want to add that the car was also driven using Connecticut dealer plates "RA 120".

Marcel Massini

 

Cohen drove the car on Connecticut USA dealer plates DA.1157, DC.77 and RA.120.

I'll also add that the USA Port of Entry listed in the June the 24th 1985 documentation with Port Code 4701 was John F. Kennedy International Airport.