What is worth more? History or originality?
12/21/2022
Only 32 Ferrari 250 LMs were built between 1963 and 1965. The car should actually have been homologated as a GT, but that would have required 100 cars. As a result, the mid-engined racing coupé had to compete in the prototype class. Nevertheless, chassis 5893 won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1965.
Chassis 5901 had a less glorious past, competing in only one race, the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1966, and this as a reserve car. This is why there are no impressive entries in the Palmares. At the same time, however, the car has remained largely in its original condition to this day, which is quite unusual for a racing car. Other 250 LMs crashed, were rebuilt with different bodies or even continue to exist only as "recreations" in the broadest sense.
Chassis 5901 will go under the hammer in February 2023 at the Artcurial auction in Paris on the occasion of the Rétromobile. Artcurial has not (yet) given an estimated price.
Not too many 250 LMs have been auctioned in the last ten years, but chassis 6045 changed hands in Monterey in August 2015 for CHF 17.2 million or EUR 15.8 million, while around CHF 9.3 million or EUR 8.7 million was paid for chassis 5899 in January 2015. While 6045 was also a largely untouched car, 5899 was battered in racing by Scuderia Filipinetti, among others.
The question now, of course, is whether potential buyers would value a car with no significant racing history in its original condition more than a car with a long palmares that has perhaps been rebuilt and repeatedly modified over its racing career.
Take a guess! How much do you think the highest bidder will pay for the 250 LM in February 2023? There is a good chance that this car will be one of the ten most expensive cars traded in 2023 at the end of the year.
