Your eyes don’t deceive you. It might not look like it at first glance, but the car you’re ogling is, beneath the surface, as near as makes no difference a Ferrari Testa Rossa. Just three of these exotic open sports-racing Prancing Horses were built by the Works originally as two-litre four-cylinder 500 Testa Rossas to contest the 1956 season. Come the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which the Automobile Club de L’Ouest had restricted to 2.5-litre cars in light of the 1955 disaster, these three Ferraris were enlarged to 2.5 litres accordingly and rechristened 625 LM Spyders.

Their coachwork was, unusually, not the work of Scaglietti in Modena but rather Touring Superleggera in Milan, whose official connection with the Ferrari marque stretches back to 1948 and the 166 MM. Although similar to Scaglietti’s timeless 500 Testa Rossa in overall profile, the 625 LM Spyder’s body is simpler, shallower and less curvaceous. Those generous fairings aft the front wheels give an initial illusion of a pontoon-fender arrangement, while the low fairing tapering away into that round tail that could have been borrowed from the Lancia D24 of 1954. Okay, so it’s not as pretty as its production counterpart in the traditional sense, but the 625 LM manages to convey more purpose and aggression while retaining that fundamental 1950s soap-bar aesthetic. We think it’s absolutely fascinating.

Beneath the surface, this was pure 500 Testa Rossa: a punchy inline four-cylinder engine (we’ll cross the 625 LM’s 2.5-litre-sized bridge when we get to it a little further on), a sub-700kg weight, then-radical coil-spring suspension and a synchromesh gearbox, all of which resulted in performance that defied the car’s on-paper credentials. The lightweight, simple and torquey powerplant was the work of Ingegnere Aurelio Lampredi.

For years prior to the introduction of the 500 Testa Rossa (so named after the scarlet cam covers fitted to the engine, the first Ferrari to receive the now-hallowed nomenclature!) in 1956, Lampredi’s four-cylinder motors had been doing the business in Formula 1 and endurance racing. In the latter, the four-cylinder 750 Monza had helped Ferrari to beat Mercedes-Benz to the 1954 World Sportscar Championship – an almighty achievement.

On a more objective level, this is a truly wonderful car to drive. From behind that wide wooden-rimmed steering wheel, cocooned in that cockpit looking out across that long flowing bonnet, the 500 Testa Rossa is a car that begs to the driven harder and harder. And that engine… No, it’s not a 12 cylinder. But as a result it has a character all of its own. It’s gruff and noisy and begs to be revved higher and higher, at which point you’re rewarded with more and more power and acceleration.

As per the accompanying copies of its original factory build sheets, this Ferrari 625 LM Spyder was assembled in June of 1956. In its original 500 Testa Rossa specification, chassis number 0642 MDTR featured in a series of Ferrari factory publicity images before leaving Maranello, which were subsequently featured in the second volume of Jonathan Thompson’s Ferrari Album.

Chassis number 0642 MDTR won its maiden race, the IV Gran Premio Supercortemaggiore at Monza, where it was driven by Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins

The car made its competition debut in the IV Gran Premio Supercortemaggiore at Monza, where it was driven under the Works Scuderia Ferrari banner by two Brits: the 1958 Formula 1 World Champion Mike Hawthorn Mike Hawthorn and the three-time Formula 1 Grand Prix winner Peter Collins. Fitted with red wire wheels for identification purposes, this Ferrari was also driven by the American Formula 1 World Champion Phil Hill, though only in practice before Il Commendatore swapped him out for Collins. The move proved a master stroke, for the British duo won the 1,000-kilomtre race in decisive fashion, setting a new outright sports-car lap record (129.39mph) in the process. With Le Mans barely a month away, each of the three Touring-bodied Ferraris was returned to Maranello to be prepared for La Sarthe.

Duncan Hamilton tries this Ferrari 625 LM for size ahead of the 1956 24 Hours of Le Mans

In a bid to rein in the speed of participants following the devastating accident at Le Mans in 1955, which claimed over 82 lives, the ACO limited entrants to the 1956 edition of the French endurance classic to 2,500cc in displacement. Ferrari thus saw fit to fit its trio of Touring-bodied Testa Rossas with larger 2.5-litre inline four-cylinder engines derived from the 625 Grand Prix car. In order to increase the durability and longevity of the engine, the compression ratio was reduced and smaller carbs fitted. As per the Le Mans regulations of the time, a full-width windscreen was installed along with additional spotlights and illumination lights for the roundels.

Once again a Works Scuderia Ferrari entrant, chassis number 0642 MDTR was earmarked for the British bon vivant and 1953 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Duncan Hamilton and Marquis Alfonso de Portago, the Spanish aristocrat and playboy who earned a rightful place in Enzo Ferrari’s ranks with a raft of stellar performances. After 1955, tensions were understandably high ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. And those tensions were compounded when heavy rainfall plagued the start of the race. A mere 15 minutes in, De Portago fell foul of the conditions and this 625 LM was retired as a result.

Having been returned to Maranello, chassis number 0642 MDTR was reunited with its original two-litre engine, had its minor cosmetic damage repaired and offered for sale. As was typical of the era, this ex-Works Prancing Horse was acquired by Ferrari’s American concessionaire Luigi Chinetti, who imported the car to the United States and promptly sold it to Bob Publicker in Florida. In advance of a starring cover feature in Sports Cars Illustrated, this 625 LM was repainted yellow with red wire wheels.

This Ferrari’s first private owner was Bob Publicker, who painted it yellow and raced it on the popular North American sports-racing circuit

What followed were 10 years of racing on North America’s fiercely competitive sports-car racing circuit. And with a satisfying degree of success. Between Publicker and chassis number 0642 MDTR’s subsequent handful of owners, which included Bill Kimberly, nephew of the Kleenex founder and keen Ferrari racer Jim Kimberly, notable results included wins at Thompson Raceway, Lime Rock Park and in the Auburn Sports Car Races in Alabama. That was in addition to a plethora of podium finishes. Crucially, throughout its North American competition career, this Ferrari 625 LM remained in remarkably original condition.

Chassis number 0642 MDTR subsequently passed through the hands of a number of US-based owners, the last of whom was Steve D. Barney of North Carolina. In addition to entering several Ferrari Club of America Concours d’Elegance events, he also took the car to Italy to contest the 1987 Mille Miglia. In October of 1994, this Ferrari was exported to Japan, where it remained until 1999. During its short tenure in the Land of the Rising Sun, chassis number 0642 MDTR was exhibited extensively, including in La Festa Mille Miglia, a sort of Japanese Mille Miglia spinoff, which spanned 1,600 kilometres and was contested by 90 Mille Miglia-eligible cars.

This Ferrari 625 LM returned to the USA in 2003 when it was acquired by Charles T. Wegner. He showed it at several editions of the Cavallino Classic concours in Palm Beach and even raced it in the Shell Ferrari Historic Challenge. Crucially, he also had chassis number 0642 MDTR certified Ferrari Classiche, confirming the originality of the chassis, engine and suspension.

Satisfyingly, chassis number 0650 MDTR remained in the North America until 2025, passing through the hands of a small number of US-based collectors, the last of whom boasted a world-class stable of 1950s road and competition Prancing Horses. That all changed in the summer of this year, when we were able to source the car for a European client of ours and return it back across the Atlantic.

Boasting a clear and comprehensive history, as verified by the leading Ferrari historian Marcel Massini in his accompanying report, this 625 LM Spyder is among the most desirable 1950s sports-racing Ferraris we’ve ever encountered – a race-winning ex-Works Prancing Horse driven by not one but two Formula 1 World Champions including at Le Mans, powered by a brutish four-cylinder engine and clothed by Touring in a striking body. Whether it’s a historic road rally such as the Mille Miglia, a world-class concours d’elegance such as Pebble Beach or simply a stolen summer Sunday blast, chassis number 0642 MDTR’s new owner is in for a real treat. 

SOLD