Six Degrees of Ferrari Separation

A neat aspect of Ferraris is the amount of dedicated enthusiasts tracking the history of these cars. Several private databases exist that track many cars through past owners, often all the way back to the original owner. As you can see, I began researching my car early on, and even obtained the original shipping papers from Italy!

Through my research, I found besides the serial number, a Pininfarina factory number that is stamped on many body parts that can help correlate serial numbers. While not completely accurate, this number can still be useful in discerning whether a part is an original, or a replacement to when the car was originally manufactured. All PF numbers should match on an original car.

My PF number is "682," but I also had a spare glove box door with a stamping "674." This body number was stamped only 8 GTE/America bodies prior to mine at the Pininfarina factory, so it must have been another 330 America. With the help of  Kare Pietilä and his database, we found the glove box probably belonged to SN #5033, an America that was known to have been destroyed in a roll-over. Why does SN#5033 sound familiar? Dave Booth's car, the one in the previous story about the guy who killed himself, has the engine to #5033.

Dave has the engine in CA., I have the glovebox door in NY, and who knows where the rest of the parts went? So if you happen upon "674," stamped on one of your parts, you're somewhat connected to a long lost Ferrari.

Recent update! (7/14/01)

Dave Booth read about my recent aquisition of my badge, and said that details sounded vaguely familier. Chuck Wray at Grand Touring arranged the deal on my badge with the owner from Maryland. Dave felt that there was too much coincidence for it not to be from the same car, SN 5033, that Dave bought his engine from. I checked with Chuck, and he confirmed the source of my badge. That makes another piece of the long lost 330 America 5033!

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