CLA-2-97:OT:RR:NC:N4:433
Sara Rider
Attorney-in-fact for Cavallino Investments LLC
Martin E. Button, Inc.
55 New Montgomery Street, Suite 400
San Francisco, CA 94105
RE: The tariff classification of a 1957 Ferrari, 315S (Sport) converted to 335S from Italy.
Dear Ms. Rider:
In your letter dated February 23, 2016, on behalf of Cavallino Investments LLC, you requested a tariff classification ruling. Illustrative literature was provided.
The merchandise concerned is the 1957 Ferrari 315S/335S Scaglietti Spider, Chassis 0674. Ferrari Chassis 0674 is one of four produced 315S racecars. In appearance of production the four racecars are Chassis 0656 [315S], Chassis 0674 [315S], Chassis 0676 [315S] and Chassis 0684 [315S].
This racecar “Originally completed as a 315 S, chassis 0674 debuted in the 1957 Sebring 12 Hours. Works drivers Peter Collins and Maurice Trintignant finished sixth overall. Wolfgang von Trips then drove the car to second in the Mille Miglia behind the victorious sister car. The car was then uprated to 335 S specification and raced by the factory team with little luck at Le Mans and in the Swedish Grand Prix. Returned to the factory, it was fitted with pontoon fenders to improve braking before dispatched to Venezuela. Mike Hawthorn and Luigi Musso then used it to place 2nd overall in the Caracas 1000 km. At the end of the year, chassis 0674 was sold to American distributor Luigi Chinetti. He fielded the car for Stirling Moss in the 1958 Cuban Grand Prix where he duly won the shortened race. It was then raced by Gaston Andrey, who, together with Lance Reventlow of Scarab fame, won the Road America 500 outright. After the 1958 season, the car disappeared from sight for a decade and then in 1969 it joined Pierre Bardinon’s fantastic Mas du Clos collection. The car has now been consigned by his estate to Artcurial’s 2016 Retromobile Sale where it is estimated to sell for Euro 28-32 million.” This profile was provided by the website of www.ulimatecarpage.com.
Chassis 0674 entered twelve races from 1957 through 1958, two races as the Ferrari 315 Sport and ten races as the Ferrari 335 Sport. Taking both the Ferrari 315 Sport and the 335 Sport into account, the most notable achievements include 2 first place wins, 3 second place finishes and one third place finish. The following are those twelve races with their associated drivers, and their results as listed by two sources www.racingsportscars.com and www.barchetta.cc:
(1) March 23, 1957, Ferrari 315S: 12h Sebring, drivers Peter Collins and Maurice Trintignant, result 6th place.
(2) May, 12, 1957 Ferrari 315S: Mille Miglia, driver Wolfgang von Trips, result second in class.
(3) June 23, 1957 Ferrari 335S: 24h Le Mans, drivers Mike Hawthorn and Luigi Musso, result did not finish.
(4) August 11, 1957 Ferrari 335S: GP Sweden, drivers Mike Hawthorn and Luigi Musso, result fourth place finish.
(5) November 3, 1957 Ferrari 335S:1000km Caracas (GP Venezuela), drivers Mike Hawthorn and Luigi Musso, result second overall.
(6) February 24, 1958: Ferrari 335S: GP Cuba, driver Stirling Moss, result 1st place red flagged in lap 6.
(7) June 8, 1958 Ferrari 335S: SCCA New England Championship Thompson, Race 5, driver Gaston Andrey, result second overall and second in class.
(8) September 7, 1958 Ferrari 335S: Road America 500, drivers Gaston Andrey and Lance Reventlow, result first place overall.
(9) September 18/20, 1958 Ferrari 335S: SCCA Watkins Glen GP, driver Gaston Andrey, result third overall and third in class.
(10) December 5, 1958 Ferrari 335S: Governor’s Trophy, Nassau, driver Gaston Andrey, result fifth overall.
(11) December 5, 1958 Ferrari 335S: Governor’s Trophy, Nassau, driver Gaston Andrey, result did not finish.
(12) December 7, 1958 Ferrari 335S: Nassau Trophy, driver Gaston Andrey, result did not start or did not finish.
Our first observation indicates that the racecar itself, the 1957 Ferrari 315S/335S Scaglietti Spider, Chassis 0674, has historical significance in that it has won twice, placed second three times and place third once in major racing circuits of international acclaim.
Our second observation indicates that the racecar drivers behind the 1957 Ferrari 315S/335S Scaglietti Spider, Chassis 0674, were recognized by their authorizing bodies and peers for their contributions to motorsports, and further achieved public notoriety and fame via their profession.
Peter John Collins (6 November 1931 – 3 August 1958) was a British racing driver from England. Debuting on 18 May 1952, he participated in 35 World Championship Grands Prix, winning three races with nine podiums, and scored a total of 47 championship points.
Maurice Bienvenu Jean Paul Trintignant (30 October 1917, in Sainte-Cécile-les-Vignes, Vaucluse – 13 February 2005, in Nîmes) was a motor racing driver and vintner from France. He competed in the Formula One World Championship for fourteen years, between 1950 and 1964, one of the longest careers in the early years of Formula One. During this time he also competed in sports car racing, including winning the 1954 24 Hours of Le Mans race.
Wolfgang von Trips participated in 29 Formula One World Championship Grand Prix races, debuting on 2 September 1956. He won two races, secured one pole position, achieved six podiums, and scored a total of 56 championship points.
John Michael Hawthorn (10 April 1929 – 22 January 1959) was a British racing driver. He became the United Kingdom's first Formula One World Champion driver in 1958, whereupon he announced his retirement, having been profoundly affected by the death of his team-mate and friend Peter Collins two months earlier in the 1958 German Grand Prix. Hawthorn also won the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans, but was haunted by his involvement in the disastrous crash that marred the race.
Luigi Musso (28 July 1924 – 6 July 1958) was an Italian racing driver. Musso began his racing career driving sports cars before making his début on the Formula One circuit on 17 January 1954, driving a Maserati. In 1954 he won the Coppa Acerbo, a non-championship Formula One race. At Zandvoort, in the 1955 Dutch Grand Prix, Musso placed third in a Maserati. At the end of the 1955 Formula 1 season he switched to Ferrari. He shared victory in the 1956 Argentine Grand Prix with Juan Manuel Fangio, however his season was cut short after a crash in a sports car race at Nürburgring. Musso triumphed in a Ferrari 3500 in the City of Buenos Aires sports car race on 20 January 1957. Ferrari team gained eight points toward the 1957 World Championship in the event; the same year he also won the Grand Prix de la Marne.
Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss, OBE (born 17 September 1929) is a British former Formula One racing driver. An inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, he achieved success in several categories of competition and has been described as “the greatest driver never to win the World Championship.” Moss finished as championship runner-up on four occasions and third a further three times between 1955 and 1961. Moss, who raced from 1948 to 1962, won 212 of the 529 races he entered, including 16 Formula One Grands Prix. He would compete in as many as 62 races in a single year and drove 84 different makes of car over the course of his racing career, including Cooper 500, ERA, Lotus, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Vanwall single-seaters, Aston Martin, Maserati, Ferrari, Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz sports cars, and Jaguar saloons.
Gaston Andrey was born on 8 August 1926 and died on 27 October 2012. He was a Swiss racing driver who immigrated to the United States, Chestnut Hill (Massachusetts). His career in American competitions sprawled between 1954 through 1988. He won seven U.S. titles in motorsport racing including five U.S. Championships for 1955 (E production category with a Morgan Plus 4) and 1957-1959 in class E on a modified Ferrari 500, and in 1960 in category D amended Maserati Tipo. In 1958, he won the 500-mile Road America in a Ferrari 335 Sport, with Lance Reventlow on behalf of NART.
Our third observation acknowledges the legendary and famous coachbuilder for Ferrari, Carrozzeria Scaglietti, and the rarity of the 1957 Ferrari 315S/335S Scaglietti Spider, Chassis 0674, being nearly one-of-a-kind.
Accordingly, we find the 1957 Ferrari 315S/335S Scaglietti Spider, Chassis 0674 to be of historical interest classifiable in heading 9705 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), for the car itself is of historical importance in the annals of racing car history; for the racing car drivers are all famous within their professions; for the name Scaglietti is well known and famous for designing Ferrari motorsport racing cars; and for the rarity of the 0674 Chassis being only one of four produced. Further, the historical importance of this racecar as being a collector’s piece is no more self-evident in the reflective price estimated at $35,283,050.
The applicable subheading for the 1957 Ferrari 315S/335S Scaglietti Spider, Chassis 0674, will be 9705.00.0070, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), which provides for “Collections and collectors’ pieces of zoological, botanical, mineralogical, anatomical, historical, archeological, paleontological, ethnographic or numismatic interest: Archaeological, historical, or ethnographic pieces.” The rate of duty will be free.
Duty rates are provided for your convenience and are subject to change. The text of the most recent HTSUS and the accompanying duty rates are provided on World Wide Web at http://www.usitc.gov/tata/hts/.
This ruling is being issued under the provisions of Part 177 of the Customs Regulations (19 C.F.R. 177).
A copy of the ruling or the control number indicated above should be provided with the entry documents filed at the time this merchandise is imported. If you have any questions regarding the ruling, contact National Import Specialist Neil H. Levy at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Deborah C. Marinucci
Acting Director
National Commodity Specialist Division