1955 Ferrari 121LM Spider by Scaglietti – RM Sotheby’s Monterey Preview

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Only in Monterey would crummy roadside motels be filled with Ferrari’s and Lambo’s!

And even around the corner from Pebble Beach, these special cars (and people!) only come out once a year.

RM Sotheby’s auction this week will be action-packed.  A favorite presale machine that deserves all the spotligght in the car world?

This 1955 Ferrari 121LM Spider.

It is the third of four ever made.  It is a shrouded-cockpit, single-seat racer in iconic French Blue.  A shrouded roll hoop behind the RHD steering setup is glamourous, as is the tiny perspex wind deflector.  Helmet or at least goggles definitely still needed!

And it raced proudly in the 1955 Mille Miglia and 24 hours of Le Mans.

This might be what Jerry Seinfeld would call “a dead man’s car.”  He says that when the only way to buy one is from a dead guy.  Because no living car enthusiast would ever sell it willingly!

RM Sotheby’s expects around seven million for this beauty when it crosses the block on August 18th.

1955 Ferrari 121LM Spider by Scaglietti

Lot 140

1955 Ferrari 121LM Spider by Scaglietti

To be auctioned on Friday, August 18, 2017

$6,500,000 – $7,500,000

  • The third of only four 121 LMs built
  • Campaigned by Scuderia Ferrari at both the 1955 Mille Miglia and 24 Hours of Le Mans
  • Owned and enjoyed for 40 years by two separate Californian enthusiast owners
  • Offered from two decades of single ownership
  • Matching-numbers engine and gearbox

Evolving from one of Ferrari’s earliest four-cylinder engines, Ferrari’s straight-six, starting with the Type 114, eventually led to the potent 121 LM. With a rather hefty displacement of 4,412 cc, this provided much more horsepower and torque than its predecessors. Fitted with three side-draft Weber carburetors, the engine produced a hearty 360 bhp. These were not numbers to scoff at, as this engine was over a liter larger in displacement and over one hundred horsepower more than Jaguar’s D-Type!

According to noted Ferrari historian Marcel Massini, the car presented here, chassis number 0546 LM was originally built as a 118 LM and later converted by the factory to 121 LM specification, the specification in which it is presented today. It is one of only two examples upgraded from 118 LM specification (the other being 0484 LM), and the third of four total 121 LMs constructed.

Photo Credit: Darin Schnabel ©2017 Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s