Weekly Motor Fix: Pebble Beach’s record-breaking 1964 Ferrari 250 LM

18 August, 2015

 

Ferrari’s 250 LM — powered by a mid-mounted, 3.3-litre V12 — was originally developed for GT racing, but was forced to compete as a sports prototype instead. Ferrari reckoned that the 250 LM was simply a ‘development’ of the existing 250-series cars, but motorsport authorities thought differently. Only 32 examples of this iconic sports racer were ever built — one of which was raced in New Zealand by Andy Buchanan during the ’60s.

Back in 1964, you could pick up a brand new 250 LM for around $32,000. But if you want to purchase one today, you’d need to have won Lotto at least a couple of times. It’s safe to say that 250 LMs don’t come up for sale very often, which made it very interesting when this ’64 example was present at the famous August 15–16 Pebble Beach auction.

With a body by Scaglietti, it went on to be the star of the event. As the actual display car from the 1966 Earls Court Motor Show, this 250 LM has never been damaged, despite being regularly campaigned throughout its life. At auction it managed to fetch an eye-watering US$17.6 million, or NZ$25.4 million, at the final fall of the auctioneer’s hammer.

Cheaper options at the same sale included a McLaren F1, which sold for NZ$20 million, while a Ferrari Enzo, originally built as a gift for Pope John Paul II, was a relative bargain — priced at a mere NZ$9.2 million.

Better get onto opening that KiwiSaver account!

1975 Suzuki RE5

Suzuki had high hopes for its RE5 Wankel-engined bike launched in 1975. It had started looking at the Wankel engine in the mid-60s and bought the licence to the concept in 1970.
Apparently all of the big four Japanese makers experimented with the design, Yamaha even showing a rotary-engined bike at a motor show in 1972. But Suzuki was the only one of the big four to go into production. Like many others at the time, Suzuki believed that the light, compact, free-revving Wankel design would consign piston engines — with their complex, multiple, whirring valves and pistons, which (can you believe it?) had to reverse direction all the time — to history.

Westside story

For the young Dave Blyth, the Sandman was always the coolest car and he finally got one when he was 50. “I have always had a rule. When you turn 50, you buy or can afford to buy the car you lusted after when you were 20. I was 20 in 1979 and the HZ Sandman came out in 1978. It was the coolest of the cool — I just wanted one,” he says. “Back then a Sandman cost $4500 new and a house was worth about $20,000. I made about $30 a week so it was an impossible dream then.”
Dave was heavily influenced by the panel van culture of the time. “I started with an Escort panel van and upgraded to a Holden HD panel van with a 186ci six cylinder. I started a van club, Avon City Vans.