Ferrari 250 LM – #5893

The third man

It was probably the case that Jochen Rindt was still taking a nap when his co-driver Masten Gregory drove into the pits in the early hours of 20 June 1965. Their Ferrari 250 LM (#5893) was in second place behind the 250 LM (#6313) of Dumay/Gosselin, but Gregory, who wore glasses, had problems with visibility due to dense fog. So Rindt was not present, but a certain Ed Hugus was. He had planned to start in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in his private Ferrari, but because his car did not arrive in France, he was available as a substitute driver (although he was not on the entry list). Hugus confirmed in a letter in 2005 that he actually stood in for Rindt – and a few years ago Ferrari adopted this account. How long Hugus actually drove, when Rindt woke up, will probably never be clarified; in any case, Dumay, who was clearly leading, had a puncture in the 21st hour, spent a long time in the pits – and Gregory/Rindt/(Hugus) drove #5893 to a victory that was as unexpected as it was unchallenged. The sixth in a row for Ferrari, the first for a Ferrari private team.

It was a race full of surprises anyway. The fact that the Ferrari 250 LM with the chassis number #5893 competed for the NART team of Luigi Chinetti was more of a coincidence. The car was completed in late 1964 and sold to Irene Young and her husband Walter through Chinetti; the couple also bought a second 250 LM, #5901. But somehow they didn’t know what to do with the two Ferraris, so they returned #5893 to Chinetti. Chinetti sent it to Piero Drogo, who gave the 250 LM a longer nose, then the car went directly to Le Mans, where Gregory/Rindt put the Ferrari in 11th place on the grid. More was not possible in this field, the Scuderia Ferrari sent a few 330 P2 and 365 P2, plus five 250 LM and the brand new 275 GTB. But even more powerful was the Ford line-up, two of the brand new GT40s with 7-litre engines, four more GT40s, five Cobra Daytona Coupés. The 250 LMs were considered reliable, but as a 1963 development, they were no longer among the fastest cars in the field. And Enzo Ferrari hated the 250 LMs; they had brought him no success but a lot of trouble. All 32 examples built were sold to private teams. After eight hours, all of the Ford GT40s had retired. Shortly afterwards, all of the Scuderia’s Ferraris were no longer in the race either. Instead, Gregory/Rindt took this surprising first place; Hugus is still not listed in the official winners lists to this day. (We have already told the story of the Ferrari 250 LM here, there is also a nice collection there.)

But that was not the end of the Ferrari’s racing career. In February 1966, Bondurant/Rindt finished an impressive 9th at the 24 Hours of Daytona. In 1968 it was again Daytona, this time with Gregory/Piper, who qualified in 8th place, but retired from the race after 101 laps. In the same year, Gregory/Kolb also drove the 24 Hours of Le Mans with #5893, retiring after 209 laps. Things went better a year later, with Posey/Zeccoli managing a fine eighth place at Le Mans. And it was not until January 1970 that the Ferrari made its last racing appearance, the 24 Hours of Daytona, with Luigi ‘Coco’ Chinetti/Gregg Young at the wheel. Although they only managed to qualify in 44th place, they brought the six-year-old Ferrari home in 7th place. 5893 is the only Ferrari to have competed in six 24-hour races – and all of them, presumably, with the same engine.

In 1970, Luigi Chinetti sold the Ferrari to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum. There it was maintained, exhibited and sometimes moved over the last five decades. At the beginning of February 2025, this unique vehicle will be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s in Paris, where more than 25 million euros are expected. We have more exciting automobiles in our archive.