Completed on January 14th 1965 today’s featured Ferrari 250 LM #6217 was delivered to Edoardo Lualdi-Gabardi, a well known racer and hillclimb competitor, in time to take part in the 1965 season.
Unlike chassis #5843 which I looked at a few weeks ago that has an extensive racing history, Edoardo appears to have used the car for primarily for hillclimbing a use to which it was eminently suited as evidenced by at least 8 overall wins he recorded in 1965 and at least a further four recorded in 1966 before Edoardo returned the car to the Ferrari factory.
This particular 250 LM carries a distinctive ‘Drogo’ long nose that replaced the standard Scaglietti item at the end of 1965.
Towards the end of 1966 #6217 was shipped to North America and ended up being converted for street use in New York of the same year.
In 1969 this Ferrari was traded for a Lamborghini Muira which with the benefit of 50 years of hind sight may not have been the smartest of financial moves.
Since then #6217 has resided in Gstaad Switzerland, Bologna Italy, Nelson New Zealand and Düsseldorf Germany before it was acquired by it’s present owner in the USA.
Edoardo Lualdi-Gabardi appears to have started racing by 1950 when he shared the #024 FIAT 500 with a driver named Ranzini with whom he came home 160th in the 1950 Mille Miglia completing the 1000 miles 20 hours, 10 mins and 51.8 seconds some 6 hours behind the winning #724 Ferrari 195 S driven by Giannino Marzotto and Marco Crosara.
Edoardo progressed through a variety of cars including a Dragada, Lancia, OSCA and numerous Ferrari’s to become a regular winner on the European Hillclimb Circuit.
He stopped competing somewhere around 1971 when he was the owner of the one off 2 litre / 122 cui flat twelve Ferrari 212E sportscar, though he is also recorded as having destroyed an Osella on a hillclimb in 1972.
When Ferrari 250 LM’s were first built in 1963 they came with a 3 litre / 183 cui V12 motor fitted.
Later examples like the one featured today were fitted with 3286cc / 200.5 cui motors good for 320 hp. The later cars with the bigger motors should have been renamed 275 LM’s according to Ferrari nomenclature in use at the time, but they were not.
As a result of the complete lack of factory support for it’s GT teams in 1965, stemming from the FIA governing bodies refusal to recognise the 250 LM as a GT car Shelby Cobra succeeded in winning the 1965 World Sports Car Championship, run for GT cars.
Just 32 250 LM’s, of the 100 required to be recognised as a GT car, were built between 1963 and 1965.
My thanks to John Aibel who kindly sent me the photo’s of today’s featured car.
Thanks for joining me on the “Drogo Nose Needs Fuel” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !
