1959 Ferrari 250 GT TdF Coupe

Based on the 250GT LWB Berlinetta which won the 1957 Tour de France, Ferrari built 38 further 250GT Tour de France Single Louver Coupes for endurance racing in 1958 and 1959. This 1959 Ferrari 250 GT features coachwork by Scaglietti. Scaglietti was chosen because they possessed a great deal of experience working with lightweight aluminum. It is powered by a water-cooled, overhead-cam, V12 engine, with 2953cc displacement, with a power rating of 260 horsepower and coupled to a four-speed manual gearbox. The V12 engine displaced 250cc per cylinder, which accounted for the car's '250' designation.

Completed in March 1959, this Berlinetta was dispatched to Jacques Swaters' Ferrari dealership in Brussels for Armand and Jean Blaton, two wealthy brothers who competed using aliases to disguise their racing activities from their disapproving father. At the first major race in early June 1959, they entered the car in the Nurburgring 1,000 Kilometer race. It was rolled at a practice round. With a cobbled up make-shift windshield and some dents pounded out, this Tour De France model was first in GT class and 9th overall. Later that month at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Ecurie Francorchamps entered the car for drivers Leon Dernier, using the alias 'Elde' and Jean Blaton racing as 'Beurlys,' and after a fairly uneventful race, the duo finished a remarkable 3rd overall and won the 3 liter GT class, making it the highest placed Ferrari at the event. They completed 297 laps, just 26 behind the winning Aston Martin DBR1 of Englishman Roy Salvadori and the last Carroll Shelby from the United States. The only misstep occurred when Blaton lightly thumped the Berlinettas nose into a sand bank after overshooting the right-hand turn at the end of the long and very fast Mulsanne Straight.

After a few years in Europe, the car was taken to the United States in 1968, and there it was purchased by Manfred Lampe. Its current owner acquired the car in 2011 and has shown it at several Ferrari events. It still wears the distinctive livery it wore at Le Mans.

The Ferrari 250 GT 'Berlinetta Competizione' was so dominating in the 1956 Tour de France event that the long-wheelbase 250 GT Berlinetta became known as the Tour de France model.