Ferrari 250LM Tops Final RM Auction of the Year

This year Ferrari prices have exploded at auction. In August, a 275 GTB/4 NART SpiderFerrari 275 GTS/4 Spider ...Italy, 1967 > 1967 sold for $27.5 million, and a 250 GTOFerrari 250 GTOItaly, 1962 > 19646 photos
sold privately in early October for $52 million, the highest ever paid for a car.

RM Auctions finished out its year with the “Art of the Automobile” auction at Sotheby’s in New York, and it should come as no surprise that a Ferrari was the highest seller of the night.

The car was a 1964 250LMFerrari 250 LMItaly, 1964 > 19654 photos
, the first mid-engine Ferrari to be sold to private customers, and it sold for $14.3 million. It also took first in class and eighth overall at the 1968 24 Hours of Daytona.

The price could almost be considered a bargain. Ferrari built 32 of them, compared to 39 250 GTOs, and the 250LM was even faster than the GTO. The 250LM won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1965, the last Ferrari to take the overall win, and a feat that the 250 GTO never matched.

Mechanically, the cars had a body by Scaglietti wrapped around a space frame chassis. It used a 320hp and mid-mounted 3.3-liter V12 engine making around 300hp.

This specific car was number 24 of 32 built and was originally sold to a buyer in California who used it has his personal car for three years. He sold it in 1967 to a friend who quickly learned that he was allergic to the car’s fiberglass body and was quickly sold again to two racing drivers from Ecuador that decided to take the endurance. They added roof-mounted lights and entered the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1968 and placed 8th overall and first in class. A clutch failure knocked them out of the 12 Hours of Sebring a few months later. They attempted the 24 Hours of Daytona again in 1969 but retired from the race. The car raced in Ecuador and Peru until 1974 when rules changes limited it from racing. It was sold and changed hands several times until this auction.

The RM auction also sold a 1961 250 GT ConvertibleFerrari 250 GT Series I C...Italy, 1957 > present1 photo
for $2.035 million, a 1955 250 Europa GTFerrari 250 Europa Coupé...Italy, 1953 > 19532 photos
for $2.42 million and a 1959 250 GT Short Wheelbase Competition BerlinettaFerrari 250 GT SWB Berlin...Italy, 1960 > present5 photos
for $7.04 million.