ACI PRA Documentation
As most of you know I also run the 330 GT Registry. I always think that it is ironic that I know a lot more of the history of other people's 330 GTs than my own. Until recently, I only knew the name of the person I bought the car from.
Marcel Massini (marcel@massini.cc), a noted Ferrari researcher, asked me if I knew the Italian registration (license) number as he could probably get the Automobile Club d'Italia del Pubblico Registro Automobilistico (ACI PRA) documentation on my car. The number could come from a registration plate, sticker or old documentation left in the car. In my case, I had none of those. However, I did ask the Ferrari Owner's Web Site if they knew the registration number. It turns out that my car had been returned to the factory at some point for service. Just like here in the US, they wrote down the registration number on the work order and that piece of paper was still in the archives.
So I now had the original Italian registration number, PG 102822. Marcel had described the registration process in Italy. Each province and city maintains its own series of registration numbers starting with letters that designate that place. The PG in mine is for the province of Perugia. The list of these numbers (at least for old ones) is kept in the province's capital city in big heavy books. As the books are ordered only by registration number, it is essential to find the documentation. Each registration number has one or more pages that show a variety of information, including the owners' name, address, place and date of birth, date of purchase, price and the final disposition of that registration number.
If the car is sold and then registered in another province or city, the new registration number is also shown. So one can go to the new place to find the records for more history.
These records are only available for 'official' requests. Of course, Marcel has the right contacts to make 'official' requests. However, these requests have to be in person, requiring travel and time, so there are costs involved. Marcel once had a Ferrari which had 17 different owners in 17 different Italian cities and with 17 different plates! He got all of these documents and now has the extremely detailed ownership history for that car. Marcel currently has about 4000 of the ACI PRA documents on file. He does say that getting this information for provinces and cities south of Rome is difficult due to corruption and organized crime.
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Marcel's translation is as follows:
7 July 1966 Certificate of origin issued.
14 July 1966 sold new by Sefac SpA through garage La Rotonda of Renato Nocentini
in Florence to first owner, Ferruccio Righi, born at Gualdo Bodino, 25 June
1921, resident at Viale Mancini 19 in Gualdo Bodino, Italy, price paid Italian
Lire 6'500'000 [$10,400].
23 July 1966 First registered for road use on Italian license plates of Perugia
"PG 102822" (No previous registration, hence original owner and original
registration).
10 July 1968 sold by Righi to second owner Giovanni Battista Argentari, born in
Lissiano Unicone, 16 March 1935, resident at Via delle Tarrovia 24 in Perugia,
price paid Italian Lire 1'500'000 [$2,400].
17 April 1970 sold by Argentari to third owner, De Bari Edicolauto (probably a
driver's school company), De Bari born at Sesto San Giovanni, 20 June 1941,
resident at Via II Travessa Campione 19 in Bari Italy, price paid Italian Lire
1'500'000 [$2,400].
21 September 1970 cancelled because of "demolizione" (demolition).
It was often the case that when a used Ferrari left Italy the license plates were declared cancelled because of demolition. This does NOT mean that the was actually demolished!! The previous Italian owner simply declared to the authorities that his car was demolished and no longer in use so that the plate was officially cancelled.
This means that your car was exported from Italy sometime in September 1970 and I assume you know the rest of its history in the USA.
My best regards
Marcel Massini
I do wish that I knew the full history from 1970 on, but I still have a gap from 1970 to 1977. But I did get the first four years of ownership history. Somewhere, someone knows about S/N 8755 during the early '70s. I just hope that I find them before either they or I die!