Is the Serial Number correct here? | FerrariChat

Is the Serial Number correct here?

Discussion in 'Vintage (thru 365 GTC4)' started by bannishg, Aug 14, 2013.

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  1. bannishg

    bannishg Formula Junior

    Oct 6, 2008
    480
    Springfield area, MA
    Full Name:
    Greg
    #1 bannishg, Aug 14, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Here we have a rather dubious offering in the LA Times in 1973. The price and description seem appropriate for a 275GTB needing cosmetics (in 1973 nice 2 cams were 6.5-7k, long nose 8k, alloy 8.5k, 4-cam 10k), but the serial number provided belongs to a significantly more valuable competition car. #6167 is a Long-nose LM that had a nasty crash in the UK 5 years before this ad was published.

    Granted the car was in very rough shape, so perhaps it's not out of the question that this is indeed the LM. One in really nice shape would be priced in the upper teens, or possibly 20k, so $5k seems reasonable for a basket case. Wasn't the car still located across the pond at the time? Was the advertiser offering it on behalf of its owner in the UK? Anything is possible, the car has very little documentation after 1968.

    In my on-going research on historical market trends, I find myself yet again in 1973, a particularly difficult year to get price data for. This is not the year to have insufficient price data for, either. I think this is when vintage Ferraris began appearing at Le Mans Classics . In other words, this is about when Vintage Ferraris were half-way through their transition from clapped-out novelties to Pebble Beach icons. The transition was effectively over by mid 1974, when cars like the GTO and the MM's were going for triple their 1971 prices. 1973 values are much more nebulous. Prices were, maybe 50% or 75% higher than in 71 (a 250TR or GTO under $20k was still possible at least through Summer that year). In late May, Luigi Chinetti began promoting his services for vintage Ferrari restoration in the NY Times. You would have been wise to have gotten your ratty Mondial or 2 liter TR restored then. Had it been 1972, you still may have been advised to fit it with a Vette engine and drive it around the neighborhood for kicks.

    1973 was also the last year of the real cheap buys, like Ed's sale of 0708MDTR for $3800 in January, or 250 SWB Alloy SEFAC/Comp #2689 purchased at $4500 in September. If anybody knows of similar transactions that year, please PM me, as I'm lacking a lot of data for this year!
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  2. tazandjan

    tazandjan Three Time F1 World Champ
    Lifetime Rossa Owner

    Jul 19, 2008
    39,191
    Clarksville, Tennessee
    Full Name:
    Terry H Phillips
    Greg- Apparently there are two cars out there with the same serial number. Matthias Urban's book notes they were variously long nose, short nose and had a rebuilt body. Proceed with caution.
     
  3. miurasv

    miurasv F1 World Champ

    Nov 19, 2008
    10,763
    Cardiff, UK
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    Steven Robertson
    #3 miurasv, Aug 14, 2013
    Last edited: Aug 14, 2013
    My guess it's just a typo with the digits in the wrong order and should have read 06617 which is a 275 GTB? The LMs don't have a zero in front and are 4 digits. I can't see anyone calling a LM a GTB. Besides a 250 LM doesn't have much of an "interior" and no mention of RHD or the impressive race history by the famous drivers if it was 250 LM 6167. The advert is so "not 250 LM."
     
  4. bannishg

    bannishg Formula Junior

    Oct 6, 2008
    480
    Springfield area, MA
    Full Name:
    Greg
    Thanks kindly for the info.

    Had no idea there are two cars stamped #6167. I kind of knew it was a longshot this would be the LM, but was still optimistic that I may have unearthed some unknown provenance, which is very impoverished.

    Yeah there likely would have been more hints of a racing history if the car being advertised were an LM. Ads in the LA Times, especially then, were kept very terse, and in 73 however, they wouldn't have advertised as flamboyantly as they would a few years later for such a car.
     
  5. El Wayne

    El Wayne F1 World Champ
    Staff Member Lifetime Rossa Owner

    Aug 1, 2002
    18,069
    San Marino, CA
    Full Name:
    L. Wayne Ausbrooks
    I agree that this is most likely the case. Could have been 06617, 06671, 07617, or who-knows-what.
     

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