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!

A second dose of Dash

When the car arrived in Wellington in December 2018 it was duly taken along for entry certification. Vehicle Inspection NZ (VINZ) found some wrongly wired lamps and switches — not too bad — but, much more significantly, some poor welding repairs. As the structural problems were probed more thoroughly, we realized the previous owner’s restoration would not do and we needed an upgrade. Dash had made it into the country but it would take some time and money before he would be free to explore any of New Zealand’s scenic highways.
We took the car to our new home in Johnsonville in the northern suburbs of Wellington and I pored over the car in detail to figure out what was next. There were lots of new parts on the car and a very perky reconditioned drivetrain but the chassis needed serious work.

Lunch with… Jim Palmer

In the 1960s, Hamilton’s Jim Palmer won the prestigious ‘Gold Star’ four times and was the first resident New Zealander home in the New Zealand Grand Prix on five consecutive occasions. He shared the podium with Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham, Bruce McLaren, Graham Hill, Jim Clark, Denny Hulme, Jackie Stewart, and Chris Amon. The extent of his domination of the open-wheeler scene in New Zealand will probably never be matched or exceeded. Yet he’s always been modest about his achievements.