Ferrari 250LM sold for €38m at Retromobile

[LotusOmega375D]

Outright winner of 1965 Le Mans. I wonder who bought it?

https://rmsothebys.com/auctions/pa25/lots/r0008-19...

[Venisonpie]

LotusOmega375D said:

Outright winner of 1965 Le Mans. I wonder who bought it?

https://rmsothebys.com/auctions/pa25/lots/r0008-19...

My dream car, fabulous.

[OverSteery]

Not me, the rear wheel didn’t sit in the middle of the wheelarch, so I gave it a miss.

Amazing show, well worth a visit.

[nicanary]

OverSteery said:

Not me, the rear wheel didn’t sit in the middle of the wheelarch, so I gave it a miss.

Amazing show, well worth a visit.

I've never noticed that before. It does look a bit odd.

The engine and geartrain were thrashed almost to destruction by Rindt and Gregory during the race, because they wanted an early exit in order to go home. I hope it's all been rebuilt.

[thegreenhell]

nicanary said:

I've never noticed that before. It does look a bit odd.

The engine and geartrain were thrashed almost to destruction by Rindt and Gregory during the race, because they wanted an early exit in order to go home. I hope it's all been rebuilt.

I'm sure it's been rebuilt more than once. After its LM win in '65 it competed in the race two more times, and three times at the Daytona 24, suffering a couple of race-ending crashes along the way.

The car's new home is in Switzerland, according to a reliable source.

[coppice]

Things have changed since the days I used to push a 250LM to the start line at Harewood hillclimb. The car having been driven there down the A1 from Newcastle. Back then it was a lovely old racing car , not a plaything for billionaires to show off to their mates . I don't know about you, but I preferred the time before every classic car mag started wittering on about bloody 'icons', and cars like this could be used , not pampered ..

[CanAm]

At least the car in question does have some provenance. But there's another 49 out there somewhere. There must be, because the GT rules at the time required 50 cars to be built over 12 consecutive months, and after some initial reluctance it was homologated. Ferrari would obviously never have told porkies about the numbers built

[WPA]

CanAm said:

At least the car in question does have some provenance. But there's another 49 out there somewhere. There must be, because the GT rules at the time required 50 cars to be built over 12 consecutive months, and after some initial reluctance it was homologated. Ferrari would obviously never have told porkies about the numbers built

It is well know and documented that Ferrari only made 32 cars in total.

[Bobo W]

Is this day and age that seems like a steal in comparison to say a GTO considering it’s racing results pedigree and that it’s still road car.

[aeropilot]

They've almost hit the desired $100m fund raising of this and the W196R Merc just with these two sales, and let alone the other 9 cars they are selling including the XP-64 Corvette and the Mk.2 GT40 P/1032, both of which are likely to go for a combined sale price of $15-20m probably.

The others could easily net another $20-25m combined, given one is an ex-Schumacher Benetton F1 race car as well.

The 250LM was estimated at $25m, so far exceeded what was expected.

[Venisonpie]

Bobo W said:

Is this day and age that seems like a steal in comparison to say a GTO considering it’s racing results pedigree and that it’s still road car.

Very much so, I prefer it to a GTO but that's personal (dreaming) taste.

[CanAm]

WPA said:

CanAm said:

At least the car in question does have some provenance. But there's another 49 out there somewhere. There must be, because the GT rules at the time required 50 cars to be built over 12 consecutive months, and after some initial reluctance it was homologated. Ferrari would obviously never have told porkies about the numbers built

It is well know and documented that Ferrari only made 32 cars in total.

You know that and I know that, so why didn't the FIA? Did they never notice that Ferrari chassis numbers were alternative and not consecutive?

[Bo_apex]

CanAm said:

WPA said:

CanAm said:

At least the car in question does have some provenance. But there's another 49 out there somewhere. There must be, because the GT rules at the time required 50 cars to be built over 12 consecutive months, and after some initial reluctance it was homologated. Ferrari would obviously never have told porkies about the numbers built

It is well know and documented that Ferrari only made 32 cars in total.

You know that and I know that, so why didn't the FIA? Did they never notice that Ferrari chassis numbers were alternative and not consecutive?

We can only love the FIA

[thegreenhell]

Except the FIA didn't fall for it with the LM like they had with the GTO. The GTO was allowed to run as a GT as a derivative of the standard 250 chassis. The LM was forced to run as a prototype.

[CanAm]

thegreenhell said:

Except the FIA didn't fall for it with the LM like they had with the GTO. The GTO was allowed to run as a GT as a derivative of the standard 250 chassis. The LM was forced to run as a prototype.

They rejected it as a GT at first (so the 65 Le Mans winner ran as a prototype) but it was homologated under the new Group IV (Sports)category for 1966, which still required 50 cars. It was 100 under the old GT Category in 1965.