1964 Ferrari 250LM

[BERNARD "HOT ROD" KRON]

Ferrari 250LM
(more photos below)

This is the Academy kit of the 1964 Ferrari 250LM, a GT coupe intended to succeed the 250 GTO as an FIA homologated Grand Touring car to be sold both as a racing car and a street run machine. It was planned as Ferrari’s first rear-engine GT.

First introduced in the Fall of 1963, Ferrari had assumed that the car could be approved (homologated) as a streetable Gran Turismo machine in much the same way as prior dual purpose GT cars like the 250GT SWB and the 250 GTO. This is to say that the FIA would allow Ferrari to begin taking orders and producing the cars against the orders written The assumption was that in this manner eventually the required number of cars would be built and offered for sale. But the FIA became far more strict about what they intended by a production GT and increased the number of examples needed to 100 from 50, and expected production to be started in advance of actual sale of cars to customers, and to be continuous thereafter until all 100 were produced. As a result only 32 250LMs were ever produced and the car was never homologated as a production GT. Despite this the car was quite successful as a prototype race car and indeed was the last Ferrari to win the 24 hours overall which it did in 1965 driven by Masten Gregory and Jochen Rindt. 2 other 250LMs finished in the top 10 that year, placing 2nd and 6th.

My model is not a replica of any single car but has elements of typical privateer 250LMs of the era. It’s finished in Tamiya TS-8 with Duplicolor Universal White racing stripes. The kit is a curbside so there’s no motor or chassis, but it’s otherwise quite accurate and detailed. I made one major change by swapping out the stock wire wheels for Campagnolo “Cromodora” magnesium wheels which were introduced at about the same time as the 250LM. Several privately entered 250LMs raced with the Campagnolos, finding that their lower unsprung weight and greater rigidity improved handling. The wheels and tires I used are resin aftermarket pieces made by Curbside MasterCasterS and are sold on eBay here: www.ebay.co.uk/sch/jwhi7752/m.html?item=143706523517&hash=item217593877d%3Ag%3Ao64AAOSw9SVeIv7A&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562 . Quality and delivery time were both excellent and they are highly recommended. The Dunlop Racing tire marking are from IndyCals.

The only other modifications included lowering the stance 2 scale inches and cutting out the door panels, as was done on the 1:1, and making door pull cables. The seat belts are decals from IndyCals. The white roundels backing the numbers are from Gofer Decals as are the large white Dunlop logos. All the rest of the decals, the license plate, numbers and Magnetti Marelli and Shell logos, are all home made.

Thanx for lookin’
B.