Rare Ferrari 330 LM in the June 1 Cavallino, Issue 219
This issue has already sold out, so popular was the story of the extraordinary and unusual Ferrari berlinetta, which was delineated so well by author and famed historian Alan Boe. It is the 330 LM, s/n 4381 SA, which was one of only four very special racing berlinettas made by Ferrari for serious international GT racing. It had the combined looks of the 250 GT Lusso and the 250 GTO, and unlike made hybrid designs that don’t work well, this combination produced a beauty in a class of its own. Plus it had a big four liter motor underneath, making it both beauty and beast.
From author Boe: “Much of the development and testing work on 4381 SA was done by British-trained engineer and Ferrari factory racing driver, Mike Parkes. A famous Sunday morning test run on the autostrada between Modena and Bologna with journalist Pete Coltrin on board in [another 330 LM] chassis 4725 SA saw Parkes hit 176 mph at one point. Then, at the Le Mans test day in April, 1963, Parkes managed to achieve a speed of 300 kilometers per hour (186.4 mph) down the legendary Mulsanne Straight, the first car to ever reach this milestone at Le Mans, thus affirming the model’s sleek, wind-cheating aerodynamic body and abundant torque and horsepower.
“The Ferrari 330 LM Berlinetta is that rare charismatic combination of fierce aggression and stunning beauty that only Ferrari, Pininfarina and Scaglietti could create in their Italian way. It’s a highly competitive model with great potential, but it was always destined to exist in the shadow of Ferrari’s 250 GTO. Although it won no major races for Ferrari, it did win the 1963 GT Prototype Championship, and it established lap and speed records at some of the sport’s most visible venues. It was fast. A 330 LM Berlinetta is rarer than a GTO, arguably as good looking, and an interesting experiment from Maranello in the company’s quest to compete successfully against the best that others could field against it and, like the GTO, all examples built have survived.”
Images from Peter Singhof, Jerry Wyszatycki and Michael Gregg.
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