The Ferrari 250 GT LWB Berlinetta aka “Tour de France”
Sunday, at the Goodwood Revival’s Levant Cup race, for vintage and classic Ferraris, there were a couple of them in the lineup. This was a terrific race where 22 Ferraris from 1950 to 1964 competed in a 20 min full on race on the track at Goodwood, UK.
After viewing the race, I did some calculations and figured that all 22 of the cars in the race would have cost the owners in period about $250,000.00 total ex factory. Continuing with my calculations I figured that today’s value for the cars as they appeared in the race Sunday have a fair value of about $250,000,000.00. Strong yes!
Below is a description of the Tour de France Competizione
Today the words “Tour de France” are associated with the long distance bicycle race, the highest-profile and most important race in the cycling world.
But from Y 1899 toY 1986 it was also a sports car race , and like the bicycle race, it took place over several days and in a wide variety of conditions. It included circuit races, hill climbs and a drag race , it required a very well rounded sport s car.
Ferrari had the “hot ticket” in the mid-1950’s.
The 250 GT LWB Berlinetta would dominate this race during 2-H of the frame, and racing versions of the 250 GT LWB would adopt the “Tour de France” name.
The 250 GT LWB Berlinetta Competizione was the most successful racing model of the whole 250 series, taking more wins than even the legendary 1962-1964 Ferrari 250 GTO. now the most expensive car in the world
Notably, the Tour de France cars served as the inspiration for the GTO, as the GTO was essentially just an updated version of the same idea a few years on. And even though it is a Competizione model, sold to be a racing sports car and bought new by racing teams, it is absolutely stunning.
Unlike the later GTO cars, there is little difference between the bodywork of the Competizione “Tour de France” cars and the regular 250 GT LWB Berlinetta.
The one I picture here, s/n 0897, being an early 250 model, the design is simpler than those to come along during the 1960’s, but it is very elegant and fast. The body was constructed by Scaglietti but was based on the design of the 250 Europa Coupe by Pininfarina , the first road going 250, which debuted at the Paris Motor Show just 2 years before the 250 GT LWB Berlinetta came along in Y 1956.
This being a Ferrari race car, the body is made of aluminum where as the 250 Europa was steel. The one big difference in the design is the addition of cooling vents in the front fenders, but this was the only thing that identified it as a racing Ferrari until the owner fixed the numbers on. This car is also one of the 1st examples of a 250 with covered headlights.
You might be expecting to see a stripped-out interior in a Ferrari race car, given how many GTOs have bare metal interiors and that this is not even a homologation car, but it is full-on racer.
There are some Tour de France cars without interiors, but this is not one of them. The car has a full interior, with leather seats, carpet and a full dash, of course it dded weight, but given the long string of racing wins that these cars racked up, that did not matter much
As with all 250’s, this car used a 3.0-liter version of the Colombo V12. Some version of this engine powered just about all Ferrari road cars during the ’50’s and ’60’s, as well as flagship models in the ’70’s and ’80’s, and it was a strong and versatile engine capable of driving the car 0-60 mph in 5 secs, and top speed of 148 mph. Fassst!
The 250 was the 1st Ferrari road-going car to use it, and the Tour de France sported an early version of it. Power ratings actually vary from car to car; this one is rated at 263 horsepower, but it is entirely possible that it was not always, as the engines can be very fine tuned by savvy technicians.
This car is fitted with its original engine that put out at least 237 horsepower when new, quite a bit for a 3.0-liter engine in Y 1958.
This engine has been rebuild by GTO Engineering, and the expectation is that some HP has been added to the engine
The Tour de France is not as rare as the GTO, and is therefore not nearly as valuable.
Ferrari built 77 Tour de France cars, making it “common” when compared to some varieties of the 250. Last year, the record for the most expensive car ever sold at auction was $38.5-M, for a 250 GTO. There is talk that private treaty transactions are in the $55-M plus range, depending on pedigree and provenance.
Even with its racing pedigree, the Tour de France does sell for as much. This car just sold at auction for $7.3-M. That is a lot of money for a car, but when we are talking about Ferrari 250’s, we are talking about money on a different scale.
Stay tuned…
Paul Ebeling
HeffX-LTN
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