All Ferraris are special, but the 250 LM holds an exalted place in the pantheon of Prancing Horse legends.
Not only is it viscerally beautiful, with a spine-tingling V-12 engine producing 320bhp, but it remains the last Ferrari to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans back in 1965.
A purebred racing car, several of the 32 Scaglietti-designed cars manufactured nonetheless made it on to the road, and this exclusivity – combined with its thoroughbred track pedigree – has seen prices reach stratospheric levels. In August 2015, a 1964 LM was sold by Sotheby’s for an eye-watering $17.6m.
The LM – named after the race it went on to win – was meant to be a replacement for the 250 GTO, competing in the GT class, but Ferrari failed to make the 100 examples required and the car took its place instead in the sports-prototype class to spectacular effect in the hands of Jochen Rindt and Masten Gregory.
A mid-engined layout enabled Scaglietti to wrap the flowing, voluptuous body around the chassis, and eminent Ferrari historian Marcel Massini, who has written a book about the LM, describes the car as “one of the most spectacular mid-engined sports cars ever built”.
With its low menacing stance – the car stands just 44 inches tall – and bulging rear arches flowing down to a kammback tail, the car is stunning from every angle.
The chances are none of us will ever get to see one of these super-rare beauties on the road, so the next best thing is probably to enjoy the Ferrari 250 LM doing what it does best – racing on the track at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in 2014, with Gunnar Jeannette at the wheel.