1/17/00 Searching the Provenance

Back in August, I tried to find out some information on the history of my car. Len Miller of the 250 GTE registry was able to tell me that my car was originally purchased through Luigi Chinetti’s shop in NY. I traced the copy of the title that came with my car to an individual by the name of Arthur Bastyr in Illinois, but the internet showed a record of his death in the early eighties. He was only 36. I tried contacting other Bastyrs in that area of Il., but turned up nothing. Considering he was 19 when this car was new, I doubt he was the original owner. Hitting a dead end (no pun intended) I put the search on hold for a while.

Last week, I was contacted by a gentleman by the name of Michael Sheehan, he introduced himself as someone who keeps records of old Ferraris, and was interested in what I knew about my car. I gave him the information I had already collected, but told him that more information may be available from Chinetti’s old records. As luck would have it, Mr. Sheehan is friends with the keeper of these records, and would ask about my car when he got a chance. Within a few days, I was informed that the original purchaser of my car was a person by the name of  A.A. Garthwaite Jr. and then was sold to an Ellen W. Cohen, of Scarsdale, NY. This was a great lead, and another page I could add to my records. I did a quick internet search to see if Ellen Cohen was listed, but found no records. Mr. Sheehan was able of provide an address in Scarsdale for Ms. Cohen, and I’ve been contemplating writing to the address to see if the Cohens still live there.

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