Some months ago, I posted a thread asking about the authenticity of a VIN tag that was for sale on E-Bay. The concensus was that the tag was a bad repro because the tag had the word "IN" written between the words "MADE" and "ITALY". Most vintage tags say "MADE ITALY" and not "MADE IN ITALY". But look at these photos of the Alabama barn find Ferrari that Judge4re just posted in the barn find thread: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?p=135193890#post135193890 I made a photoshop comparison between the VIN tag of the Alabama barn find Ferrari and the VIN tag that I bought off of E-Bay. They look the same to me. What do you guys think? Have I solved a mystery? Do SOME VIN tags contain the words "Made IN Italy" while others merely say "Made Italy"? Image Unavailable, Please Login
For the vintage cars, there is a third possibility: VIN tag without "MADE ITALY" and also without "MADE IN ITALY", so who tell us which the genuine VIN flag is.
I note that the tag is held on by screws and not rivets? I don't know about the nature of hand made Ferraris, but on most American cars of the 1950s and newer, all VIN tags were riveted on. Corvette tags were attached with screws from 1953 thru mid 1960. (But of course they had fiberglass bodies that would have probably cracked from the pressure of a riveter.)
Obviously this barnfind Ferrari is a very clever fake. It looks like Tom S. may be taking a bath on a very well done Vintage Barnfind Replica. This could be just the beginning of a very serious scam. Thanks and hats off to you Arlie.
The entire barn was probably made in China as well, complete with weathered wood patina to fool the uninformed. As for screws versus rivets, I have seen several cars that had screws on an obviously replaced VIN tag. Those riveted tags don't just fall off, they require a lot of work to remove. I once saw a complete '73 Mustang convertible in a salvage yard that really caught my eye, but the VIN tag was bent in the middle and held on by screws. Just a few weeks ago, I looked at a '55 Chevy drag car that had been in a barn for probably over 30 years. It was a classic in it's own right. It had no VIN tag at all. I'm always wary of tags that are tampered with. I know a guy who restored a 55 Chevy and then sold it for serious money to another guy. The car had no title for many years. When the new owner applied for a title, the car was discovered to have been stolen over 25 years earlier by the son of the farmer whose barn the car had been sitting behind. You always have to be careful. And relating back to Ferrari, I remember reading somewhere that many Dinos were stolen in Europe and sold over here in the states.
One of the main reasons Dick Merritt has the job he does @ DOT (and not just Dinos). Gray and black market cars
I agree with you. Here are placchettas with rivets, 2561 GT & 2701 GT. Note: 2701 GT: completely rebuilt after the 1961 Le Mans practice crash. Germain Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
My '67 330 GT 2+2 (No. 9129) VIN tag says "Made (cavallino) Italy" (no "IN"). It has a genuine-looking patina, so I must believe it's authentic. It is held in place with pop rivets. I think that somewhere between 1949 and 1967, pop rivets came into common use. Ferrari, not being an aviation-related firm, would not likely use set rivets, so screws would probably be authentic from when Ferrari started in business until, say, 1960 (my guess), when pop rivets were commonly available. Tom
Most if not All Pininfarina cars into the early 60's were screwed in. I even save the original screws for show cars. Please stop posturlating. If you don't know DON'T FABRICATE AN ANSWER!!!
Postulating (or "posturlating") is fine, although fabricating is not. Indeed, the experiences of many can often be combined to form an accurate assessment of the situation. To the ongoing data for the group I'll add that I have seen 3 variations, all of which I'm virtually certain are original to the cars on which I've seen them (spanning the 250 GTEs and the 330 GTs): (1) Made / Cavallino / Italy; (2) blank / Cavallino / Made in Italy; and (3) Made In / Cavallino / Italy. Thanks, of course, to Tom for enlightening us on the status of the early '60s Pininfarina cars, which precede these.
i switched through my photo collection. some of the "important cars" show different styles. 250 GTO an 250 TR show both - screwed and riveted an with "made italy" and without. same for some SWB.
"MOST" if not all? The word "MOST" certainly doesn't establish a FACT, does it? As we've seen since my first VIN tag posting, MOST of the tags had the words "MADE ITALY". But now we know that not ALL of them were printed that way. As we've seen, some indeed do have the words made "IN" Italy. So much for "FACTS"! And what defines the ambiguous term "early 60s"? 1961? 1962? Stop postu(R?)lating!
here's the telaio plate for 0556(0446)MD - first week of May 1955. Rivet heads are flattened from the rivet setting, these are not pop rivets. Image Unavailable, Please Login
en ce qui concerne ma photo, 2015GT. 250 GT California de Sally Mason Styron, il n'y a aucun doute, c'est une plaque d'origine.
as far as my photo is concerned, 2015GT. 250 GT California by Sally Mason Styron, there can be no doubt, it is an original plate.
In looking through a bunch of the S/N plates on 330GTs, I found 4 different types used over the 4 years of production. See Plates (330gt.com) for some pictures.
Matches my observations. In 1961 state of California started requiring a separate tag added to imports and different kinds of requirements started being made in many countries. Late in 1962 "Made in Italy" started appearing on-and-off on type plates as a machined addition. Have not had time to check if these were being sent to certain markets. The third version with "Made" and "Italy" appeared in the beginning of 1965. Have never seen another example of the last of your versions. Looks real, so could have been a sample from another manufacturer. The most interesting change appeared in 1968. Someone picked up wrong horse!
2015 GT (a comp 250 GT SWB California Aluminium Spider) has never been with Sally Mason-Styrron. Marcel Massini
je disais que Sally était avec Jennifer Pappalardo, aux Princesses 2005, avec 2015GT i' said thad Sally, was whit Jennifer Pappalardo at Princesses 2005, whit 2015GT
