Giuseppe Montorsi - former Ferrari and Bugatti test driver - this morning, showing the picture with him testing 288 GTO with VIN 57322 on December 11, 1985 Picture Copyright: me (and Jean Francois Marchet for the 288 GTO 57322 picture) ciao P.S. I apologize for the delay, but I had to wait for this morning scheduled meeting. Image Unavailable, Please Login
You may want to double check that chassis number..........(no even # for a 288 GTO, please!). Marcel Massini
Image Unavailable, Please Login You are right: 57233, sorry. This is correct, as Antonio Tomaini wrote it ciao PS Picture Copyright: me
57233 was sold the first time in Italy, to MTA group CEO and owner Umberto Falchetti. The fun thing is that until some years ago he had a procution plant aside my home. I think he sold the car years ago. I'm sure Marcel will write soon how many times it has been sold, who owns it and so on. I'm just a mr. Montorsi friend, not a 288 GTO broker ciao
You may want to check your files again. Falchetti was only the 4th (fourth) owner of 57233. Not the first or original one. The Certificate of Origin for 57233 was issued 27 May 1985. Sold and delivered new 30 May 1985 to C. in Perugia, Italy. Later resold to Mr. E. in Padova, later to B. near Padova, and thereafter to Falchetti in Codogno (near Milan), in May 1989. Marcel Massini
Thank you very much Marcel. It looks you spent a lot of money buying files from Italian Motorizzazione Civile. I think such a file costs 40 euro each and everyone can buy it. Maybe they are very useful for your work. In any case thank you very much for sharing. Ciao.
Sure. A friend of mine just had his Ferrari (no GTO) at Classiche to redo the plate with the stamping. But i think, they want to do more than just that. My friend is restoring the complete car, so Classiche had enough „motivation“.
Respectfully disagree. The fact all 17 digits of the VIN stamping on the frame each have an 'X' overstamp is but a mere relic/remnant of what happened to many non-Japanese cars which were sold new in Japan during those times. In fact, it's still very easy to see/discern all 17 of the original VIN digits under each 'X.' Just for the record, both the chassis plate in the engine compartment, and the plastic steering column pad still retain all 17 of their respective original VIN characters in unmolested fashion. The third photo below is of the Serial No. assigned by the Japanese government after the car arrived to Japan back in the day.
All wonderful, thank you for perfect documenting this but I would NOT want a car with such alterations. But that's just me, of course. Such modifications mean that one will ALWAYS have to explain, which is something I don't like. My 0.2 cents only. Marcel Massini
The Department of Motor Vehicles in the country I live in (Switzerland) would categorically refuse to register such a car (with xxxxxxx overstamping). No license plates = no drive. Even the importation of such a car into Switzerland would already be a major issue or impossible. Marcel Massini
Japanese authorities simply don't/didn't accept international foreign (17-digit) VIN's and wanted their own identification/numbering system. That's why they began stamping their own numbers into foreign cars once they were imported into Japan. Thereby ruining the history of many Ferraris and other valuable vehicles. Lots of Testarossas from Europe in Japan, with xxx-ed out chassis numbers. Marcel Massini